In December 2025, the Food and Drug Administration added a warning to the label of the birth control shot Depo-Provera about a potential increased risk of meningioma, a tumor that starts in the thin layer of tissue covering the brain and spinal cord. 

The decision followed a lawsuit by more than 1,000 women against Pfizer, which claimed the manufacturer knew these risks and failed to warn consumers. 

Most meningiomas—up to 85 percent—are not cancerous. Some are small and symptomless, and just need careful monitoring; others require surgery to remove. Still, nobody wants a brain tumor, even if it’s benign. So the label change made headlines, and prompted alarmist posts on social media about the dangers of Depo. 

I was instantly suspicious of these stories. 

Misinformation about birth control runs rampant online, and influencers don’t often deliver nuanced messages about sexual health. My Google searches on Depo and brain tumors brought up tons of law firms with information about this link—but they were all soliciting new plaintiffs, presumably looking to make money off lawsuits. 

For the first time in my professional life, I also wasn’t sure I could trust the FDA because of the Trump administration’s anti-science and anti-contraception bent.  

So I dug into the research and gut-checked my findings with an expert. 

Depo-Provera has pros and cons

Joely Pritzker is a family nurse practitioner and the senior director of health care at Power to Decide, a non-partisan, non-profit organization that provides information about contraception to both individuals and providers. Pritzker helps people make contraceptive decisions all the time. 

She pointed out that the FDA added this warning to the packaging information that comes with Depo-Provera in the same way that the IUD packaging mentions ectopic pregnancy as a rare but possible side effect. 

“That’s not a reason why someone wouldn’t choose [an IUD],” Pritzker said. “It’s a reason to be doing better counseling around what people should be aware of if they’re using that method.”  

The same should be true of this new information about Depo. 

All hormonal contraceptive methods essentially work the same way: They block ovulation and thicken cervical mucus. Without ovulation, there’s no egg to fertilize, so you can’t get pregnant. Thicker cervical mucus acts as extra protection by keeping sperm from getting into the reproductive tract. 

Picking the “best” birth control is really about choosing the kind that works best for you, as an individual. The pill may be right for someone who is good at remembering it every day; someone else might prefer the ring because they only have to change it once a month. With the........

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