Social media often spreads contraceptive misinformation, causing fear and shaping young women’s expectations.

The "nocebo effect" can lead women to experience side effects based on negative beliefs about birth control.

Misinformation and anxiety drive some women to stop contraception or switch to less reliable methods.

Most sexually active women in the U.S. use contraception to prevent pregnancy. Following the U.S. Supreme Court's Dobbs ruling, which overturned Roe vs. Wade and paved the way for abortion bans across the country, access to contraception is critical to safeguard personal autonomy, prevent unwanted pregnancies, and advance health equity, particularly in states that ban or significantly restrict abortion access (Smereka et al., 2025).

In addition to legal hurdles, young women's access to reproductive care is often further limited by barriers such as affordability, a lack of nearby providers, and the rise of social media misinformation. Social media influence, combined with the “nocebo effect”—in which negative expectations contribute to perceived side effects—has led some young women to stop contraception use.

Teen and young adult patients are the most vulnerable demographic targeted and influenced by misinformation. Young women report to their doctors increasing concern about side effects rather than the effectiveness of the birth control pill, a trend which aligns with the rise of social media influencers who promote “natural methods” of birth control like fertility awareness methods (in reality, among the least effective methods to prevent pregnancy, because they are so difficult to use correctly).

How Does Contraception Coverage on Social Media Affect Young Women?

Nearly half of women ages 18-25 heard about birth control on social media in the past year, according to the 2024 Women’s Health Survey (WHS), a nationally representative, cross-sectional study of 3,901 U.S. women aged 18-49. TikTok has a flood of videos from content creators, naturopathic doctors, and others in the loosely-defined wellness field, focused on the negative effects of the birth control pill (BCP).

Some posts show videos of young women crying to show how unhappy the pill can make one feel. Other accounts describe symptoms the creator reportedly experienced, some of which are attributed to an unverified condition called "post-hormonal birth control syndrome."

Thousands of such videos about birth control side effects exist—yet there’s often no way to verify which creators are medical experts, or who is presenting accurate information. Although most women are unaffected by social media misinformation, young women are most affected by misinformation on social media

About 14 percent of women aged 18-25 have considered altering their birth control after coming across this kind of information on social media. When women aged 18-29 trust influencers and see them as experts, they tend to prefer less effective non-hormonal methods like fertility tracking, even if already using hormonal birth control (Pfender & Caplan, 2025).

The Nocebo Effect and Hormonal Birth Control

A placebo can make patients feel better because they believe it will. But when patients feel worse because they expect to, it’s called the nocebo effect.

An exploratory study by Reid & Webster (2025) examined whether psychological factors related to the nocebo effect are associated with side effects from oral contraceptives (OC). They used a cross-sectional online survey of 275 mostly young, white women in the U.K. to analyze how beliefs about medications, expectations of side effects, perceived sensitivity to medications, anxiety, and trust in medicine relate to reported OC side effects.

Women who expected more side effects, believed medicines were harmful or overused, and had less trust in medical development were more likely to attribute symptoms to the pill. The more side effects they expected, the more likely they were to stop using contraceptives, according to the findings.

Policy-Driven Roadblocks and a Lack of Trust in Medical Experts

Access to contraceptives can be life-changing for young adults when they can access them. There are already significant barriers to accessibility, including affordability, and contraceptive deserts that lack reasonable access to health centers, which primarily affect low-income, minoritized groups (Kreitzer, 2021). According to Power to Decide, 19 million women of reproductive age live in contraceptive deserts and thus need access to publicly funded contraception. About 1.2 million lack access to a local health center offering all birth control options.

In a contraception desert, women may have to take time off work, find child care, and sometimes travel long distances, all of which can delay care, are a financial burden, and likely increase anxiety in young women already mistrustful of medical care.

More roadblocks to access are in the works. Amid an overhaul of the Title X Family Planning Program, the Trump administration removed contraception from its new guidance, shifting the focus to family formation, healthy pregnancies, and fertility tracking rather than the comprehensive reproductive health services the program was known for.

Combating Birth Control Misinformation and Ensuring Access

Comprehensive contraception education is a public health tool. Young women with anxiety and mistrust of medicine and the medical field who rely on social media for information are at risk of being influenced to stop BCP use based on false information.

Health care providers, educators, psychologists, and other professionals should be aware of this risk and steer young women to medical doctors for factual information about contraception. Medical doctors should be prepared to address common misinformation spread on social media with their patients.

Kreitzer RJ, Smith CW, Kane KA, Saunders TM. Affordable but Inaccessible? Contraception Deserts in the US States. J Health Polit Policy Law. 2021 Apr 1;46(2):277-304. doi: 10.1215/03616878-8802186. PMID: 32955562.

Pfender, E. J., & Caplan, S. E. (2025). The Effect of Social Media Influencer Warranting Cues on Intentions to Use Non-Hormonal Contraception. Health Communication, 40(8), 1428–1442. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2024.2402161

Pfender EJ, Tsiandoulas K, Morain SR, Fowler LR. Hormonal Contraceptive Side Effects and Nonhormonal Alternatives on TikTok: A Content Analysis. Health Promotion Practice. 2025;26(3):407-411. doi:10.1177/15248399231221163

Reid, L., & Webster, R. K. (2025). Exploring the Relationship Between Medicine-Related Beliefs and Side‐Effect Experience Among White Oral Contraceptive Users in the UK. Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health. doi.org/10.1111/psrh.70012

Smereka MI, Vivas-Valencia C, Testa A, Byrne JJ, Cheng C. Expanding Access to Quality Reproductive Health Care After the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization Decision. Obstet Gynecol. 2025 May 15;146(2):195-201. doi: 10.1097/AOG.0000000000005927. PMID: 40408645.

There was a problem adding your email address. Please try again.

By submitting your information you agree to the Psychology Today Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy

© Psychology Today