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Opinion: Could precision medicine help women choose the contraceptive that works best for them?

Many women and girls are blindsided by adverse effects from the current array of birth control choices. It's time for a precision medicine approach.
Source: Rich Pedroncelli/AP

It’s not unusual for my friends to ask my advice about birth control. I’m not a doctor, but as a public health practitioner at a global health NGO who works to achieve universal access to contraception, I live and breathe contraceptives.

That’s why my friend Amanda came to me in distress about a copper IUD, which she had recently begun using after a host of other contraceptive methods gave her headaches and nausea. She was in pain enough to miss work. Should she wait it out, she asked me? Or would it be best to have

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