Publication Date

1-1-2024

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology

DOI

10.1016/j.ajog.2024.02.006

Abstract

Background: In July 2023, the US Food and Drug Administration approved the first nonprescription oral contraceptive, a progestin-only pill, in the United States. Transgender, nonbinary, and gender-expansive people assigned female or intersex at birth face substantial contraceptive access barriers and may benefit from over-the-counter oral contraceptive access. However, no previous research has explored their perspectives on this topic. Objective: This study aimed to measure interest in over-the-counter progestin-only pill use among transgender, nonbinary, and gender-expansive individuals assigned female or intersex at birth. Study Design: We conducted an online, cross-sectional survey from May to September 2019 (before the US Food and Drug Administration approval of a progestin-only pill) among a convenience sample of transgender, nonbinary, and gender-expansive people assigned female or intersex at birth who were aged 18 to 49 years from across the United States. Using descriptive statistics and logistic regression analyses, we estimated interest in over-the-counter progestin-only pill use (our outcome) overall and by sociodemographic and reproductive health characteristics (our exposures). We evaluated separate logistic regression models for each exposure. In each model, we included the minimally sufficient adjustment set to control for confounding pathways between the exposure and outcome. For the model for age, we ran a univariable logistic regression model; for all other exposures, we ran multivariable logistic regression models. Results: Among 1415 participants in our sample (median age, 26 years), 45.0% (636/1415; 95% confidence interval, 42.3–47.6) were interested in over-the-counter progestin-only pill use. In separate logistic regression models for each exposure, there were higher odds of interest among participants who were aged 18 to 24 years (odds ratio, 1.67; 95% confidence interval, 1.33–2.10; vs those aged 25–34 years), those who were uninsured (adjusted odds ratio, 1.91; 95% confidence interval, 1.24–2.93; vs insured), those who currently used oral contraceptives (adjusted odds ratio, 1.69; 95% confidence interval, 1.17–2.44; vs non-users), had ≤high school degree (adjusted odds ratio, 3.02; 95% confidence interval, 1.94–4.71; vs college degree), had ever used progestin-only pills (adjusted odds ratio, 2.32; 95% confidence interval, 1.70–3.17; vs never users), and who wanted to avoid estrogen generally (adjusted odds ratio, 1.32; 95% confidence interval, 1.04–1.67; vs those who did not want to avoid estrogen generally) or specifically because they viewed it as a feminizing hormone (adjusted odds ratio, 1.72; 95% confidence interval, 1.36–2.19; vs those who did not want to avoid estrogen because they viewed it as a feminizing hormone). There were lower odds of interest among participants with a graduate or professional degree (adjusted odds ratio, 0.70; 95% confidence interval, 0.51–0.96; vs college degree), those who were sterilized (adjusted odds ratio, 0.31; 95% confidence interval, 0.12–0.79; vs not sterilized), and those who had ever used testosterone for gender affirmation (adjusted odds ratio, 0.72; 95% confidence interval, 0.57–0.90; vs never users). Conclusion: Transgender, nonbinary, and gender-expansive individuals were interested in over-the-counter progestin-only pill use, and its availability has the potential to improve contraceptive access for this population.

Funding Number

1R21CA256759-01

Funding Sponsor

Tourette Association of America

Keywords

contraception, equity, equity: gender expression or identity, equity: sexual orientation, family planning, health disparities, health policy and health economics, LGBTQ+ health, transgender patient care

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Department

Psychology

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