The research team analyzed data collected in a randomized placebo-controlled trial of 200 women that tested intracervical lidocaine gel as an analgesic during intrauterine device insertion.
Use of all barrier methods, but especially cervical barriers, dropped dramatically after the 1960s introduction of the combined oral contraceptive pill and the intrauterine device.
Taking a pill every day for most of your young adulthood or inserting a spindly plastic thingy -- otherwise known as an intrauterine device -- in your uterus?
