Orlando’s Planned Parenthood clinic is offering pain-relieving medication for those seeking placement of an intrauterine device for contraception.
The clinic is offering IV sedation to encourage more women looking for protection to receive the procedure, as the state restricts access to abortions.
IV sedation is also accessible in Sarasota, Tampa and Fort Myers clinics.
After the state’s six-week law on abortions went into place in May, Planned Parenthood began seeing more patients asking about IUDs, said Dr. Robyn Schickler, chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood in Southwest Florida.
“I hear, ‘I can't get pregnant because of how it is in Florida right now.’ They're so afraid just to be pregnant, let alone the worry of access to abortion,” Schickler said.
According to the American Medical Association, female contraception use in all forms fell between 2019 and 2022. However, there was a temporary increase in the month following the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade, which returned the issue of abortion to state governments.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 20% of women ages 15 to 49 were using IUDs between 2015 and 2019.
About 78% said the implantation procedure went well, but 80% reported feeling discomfort or pain during the procedure.
Dr. Schickler said that’s been true for a long time.
“It can be traumatic for some individuals,” she said. “I don't think it's new that people have been having pain from this.”
What is new is that Planned Parenthood’s IV sedation offering falls in line with the CDC’s new guidance on IUDs. The CDC stated that the use of lidocaine might be useful in managing a woman’s pain during the procedure.
Scheckler said the CDC’s acknowledgment of women experiencing pain in this procedure is a big change from the past.
“I think it's a little bit of culture change,” she said. “There's also, historically, just been this lack of listening to, particularly, women about pain. If they have complaints or reports of pain, they are less likely to be believed.”
IV sedation has been available at the clinic for a long time, Schickler said. Only now has it become standard to offer it to women unprompted, whereas before it was something that providers could suggest if a woman was experiencing anxiety about the procedure.
IV sedation is a mixture of two medications that go into the patient's vein. The medications are midazolam and fentanyl. The former is a sedative that helps people relax and is often used prior to surgical procedures. Fentanyl, an opioid, is used in a small, precise dosage to reduce pain.
“This is how fentanyl is technically supposed to be used in the medical setting. In a safe setting, we are watching the patient's vitals the whole time,” she said.
Sheckler thinks offering a way to mitigate the pain from the procedure will invite more women to receive IUDs. but another roadblock still to overcome is the cost.
IUD procedures are not covered by insurance and can cost between $800 and $1,000, Schickler said. The cost of an uninsured IV sedation is $50 at Planned Parenthood.
“We worked it out so that we made it as affordable as possible for people, but depending on insurance, it may or may not be covered because it may not be considered ‘medically necessary’ by the insurance,” she said.
Florida’s abortion landscape is up to voters in November’s general election. Proposed constitutional Amendment 4 would bar lawmakers from banning abortion before a fetus is viable and would undo Florida’s current law that ban most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.
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