THE IUD MAKES A BIRTH-CONTROL COMEBACK. “The IUD is 20 times more effective than birth control pills, the patch or vaginal ring, according to a 2012 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. That is because the IUD virtually eliminates the risk of human error.” It most emphatically does not, however, protect against STDs. Of course, neither do those other methods.

But the main reason for the IUD’s fall from popularity isn’t science, but fearmongering from the Dalkon Shield lawsuits.