Irrespective of the place you’re on the gender spectrum, you may select to make use of contraception if there’s an opportunity you can get pregnant and also you don’t need to.

Not all people who find themselves transgender, nonbinary, or gender expansive select to get gender-affirming care. However some individuals do take hormone remedy as a part of their medical care to assist align their intercourse traits with their gender identification. Should you do, remember the fact that gender-affirming hormone remedy isn’t made for contraception, so that you shouldn’t depend on it for that function. 

Some individuals may also think about sure sorts of hormonal contraception for different causes. For instance, gender dysphoria – misery when your gender doesn’t match the intercourse assigned to you at beginning – can worsen if you happen to establish as male however have been assigned feminine at beginning and get your interval. Some contraception choices can reduce or cease your interval.

Contraception will not be designed for any specific gender identification. Something that cisgender individuals may select is offered for everybody. The kind of contraceptive that’s greatest for you relies on your state of affairs. 

“If it’s for a affected person with no different danger elements, any choice is offered,” says Beth Cronin, MD, an obstetrician-gynecologist in Windfall, RI. Issues that will have an effect on your determination embrace your well being, household planning objectives, and what unwanted side effects you’re keen or capable of dwell with.

Contraceptive counseling may also help you resolve which choice greatest matches your objectives, says Adam Bonnington, MD, an obstetrician-gynecologist in San Francisco. (Contraceptive is one other phrase for contraception.)

 

In case your objective is to keep away from being pregnant, it’s possible you’ll need to think about contraception if:

  • You’ve ovaries and a uterus, you haven’t gone via menopause, and you’ve got vaginal intercourse with somebody who has testicles and a penis. 
  • You’ve testicles and a penis, and you’ve got vaginal intercourse with somebody who has ovaries and a uterus who hasn’t been via menopause and doesn’t need to get pregnant.

You and your associate could need to focus on what you every need and what the choices are.

Trans males and nonbinary individuals: Should you take testosterone remedy (T) to curb female traits and convey out masculine ones, it is going to cease your durations. Some individuals assume meaning they’ll’t get pregnant. However whereas a being pregnant for somebody on this state of affairs is unlikely, it’s not not possible, Cronin says.

“We typically counsel sufferers that in the event that they’re on T and are having that sort of intercourse, they may get pregnant and they need to be utilizing contraception,” she says. 

Should you take testosterone as a part of your gender-affirming care, and also you need to get pregnant, you’ll should cease taking it.

Trans girls and nonbinary individuals: Some trans girls and nonbinary individuals take estradiol remedy as a feminizing hormone. That remedy received’t work as contraception. Neither will hormonal remedy that curbs masculine traits, as a result of it doesn’t utterly cease sperm manufacturing.

Should you haven’t had a vasectomy (when a health care provider cuts and seals the tubes that carry sperm) or orchiectomy (surgical procedure to take away the testicles), and you’ve got vaginal intercourse along with your associate, be certain that they use contraception in the event that they don’t need to get pregnant. You can even use a barrier technique, corresponding to a condom, however condoms don’t work in addition to different types of contraception.

Different sorts of hormonal therapies that aren’t contraception strategies embrace:

  • Cyproterone acetate
  • Finasteride
  • Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analogues

There are a number of sorts of contraception. The sort that’s best for you may not be proper for another person. 

Issues that may have an effect on your choices embrace:

  • How simple it’s to make use of
  • Value
  • Attainable unwanted side effects
  • Misconceptions you have got about it
  • Issues that make it laborious to get contraception
  • Discrimination or bias
  • Your relationship along with your physician

Speak to your physician you probably have questions on your choices.

Condoms

Condoms will assist shield you from sexually transmitted ailments (STDs). However to keep away from being pregnant, you also needs to use one other type of contraception.

If condoms are the one type of contraception you employ – and you employ them completely, each time you have got vaginal intercourse – there’s a few 2% probability that you can get pregnant. However most individuals don’t all the time use them appropriately, driving up the percentages of getting pregnant to about 13% if you happen to’re not utilizing a second type of contraception. 

IUDs

Intrauterine units (IUDs) are formed like a T. A health care provider inserts an IUD into your uterus for long-term, extremely efficient contraception. It’s a fast course of, however you’ll need to be sure to’re comfy with that.

There are 5 sorts of IUDs permitted within the U.S. 4 of them launch very small quantities of the hormone progestin, which is not going to trigger any feminizing results. The fifth sort is a nonhormonal copper intrauterine machine (you may hear these referred to as Cu-IUDs). 

Unwanted side effects can embrace vaginal recognizing (the place there’s solely slightly little bit of blood) and bleeding. Some individuals additionally get cramps associated to their IUD. However most individuals keep on with the IUDs, in keeping with a 2021 research printed within the Journal of Midwifery and Girls’s Well being. That research was primarily based on a survey of 105 trans males and gender numerous individuals with IUDs who had been assigned feminine at beginning. The IUDs have been “properly tolerated,” the researchers wrote, with few individuals searching for to take away them due to unwanted side effects. 

Progesterone-only strategies

Progesterone is a hormone that your physique makes. Progestin is an artificial model of it. 

Progesterone-only strategies of contraception embrace some IUDs (levonorgestrel intrauterine methods), implants, pictures, or capsules. Speak to your physician about it first. 

Photographs or IUDs might show you how to cease or reduce bleeding out of your vagina. To keep away from bleeding, it’s possible you’ll need to select a way just like the progestin-only implant, IUD, or shot, Bonnington says.

Mixed hormonal contraceptives (CHCs)

Mixed hormonal contraceptives (CHCs) embrace patches, capsules, and the vaginal ring. They comprise estrogen and progestogen. There isn’t sufficient feminizing hormone in these contraceptives to have an effect on testosterone remedy.

Should you’ve had high surgical procedure (surgical procedure to take away breast tissue to create a extra masculine chest), medicines with estrogen – corresponding to contraception capsules, patches, or the ring – may make your breasts really feel tender or sore. “Some individuals observe some bloating and issues like that, however it’s actually going to rely on the individual,” Cronin says.

Extra everlasting choices

There are additionally extra everlasting types of contraception. Both associate can get a vasectomy or tubal ligation (surgical procedure to chop, tie, or block the fallopian tubes). Each procedures will assist forestall conception.

Many transgender and nonbinary individuals say they’ve been discriminated in opposition to or in any other case not handled respectfully in well being care settings.

Generally one of the best ways to seek out LGBTQ-friendly suppliers is thru phrase of mouth from household or pals, Cronin says. Native LGBTQ organizations usually have an inventory of suppliers they refer individuals to, Bonnington says.

Indicators the supplier is LGBTQ-friendly can embrace:

  • A posted signal with nondiscrimination insurance policies that embrace gender identification and expression protections
  • A ready room with instructional brochures, magazines, or posters about transgender well being
  • A toilet labeled for all-gender use
  • Consumption varieties that ask on your appropriate title, pronouns, gender identification, and intercourse assigned at beginning
  • Suppliers who’ve their pronouns on their title badges

Nonetheless, he says, these aren’t ensures {that a} supplier or clinic is LGBTQ-friendly.

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