To prevent pregnancy after sex, U.S. teenage girls and young women are more likely to rely on unproven strategies such as prayer, exercise and jumping up and down than they are on evidence-based methods such as Plan B emergency contraception, according to a new study.

The study, published in The Journal of Sex Research, is based on a survey of 1,259 girls and women between the ages of 15-29. A quarter of the 633 respondents who reported having sexual intercourse and were not pregnant said they had used a post-coital method to prevent pregnancy.

Of those, about 9% said they’d used evidence-based emergency birth control such as Plan B or a copper intrauterine device.

But about 16% used methods without proven efficacy, including prayer (9.4%), douching (6%), jumping up and down or exercising (3.3%), ingesting something by mouth (1.9%), punching one’s stomach or uterus (1.4%), taking medicine or vitamins (0.9%), inserting something vaginally (0.5%), or using an enema (0.2%). About one-fifth of this group used more than one method — praying and douching being the most common combination.

These types of methods were more common among minors and non-white respondents.

“There is a need to better understand what is underlying these practices or the use of these strategies,” said Riley J. Steiner, an associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and one of the authors of the study.

“We really don’t want young people to be seen as misguided or to be judged for these practices,” she said. “They’re trying things, and so how do we best support them to meet what their goals are?”

The release of the study comes on the heels of the Trump administration cutting and reshaping programs such as Title X and the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program, created to lower the rate of unintended pregnancy and to inform people of safe and effective options for preventing pregnancy.

In August, a federal judge blocked the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from implementing sweeping changes to grants under the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program, amid an ongoing lawsuit brought by Hennepin County, Minnesota; King County, Washington; an Iowa Planned Parenthood affiliate; and SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change, a nonprofit advocacy group. However, grant funding that has already been cut won’t be restored for now, the judge ruled.

The Trump administration has cast doubt on the safety of hormonal contraception, which is increasingly perceived as controversial on social media.

“In our current environment where there’s a lot of mis- and disinformation online and structural constraints that make it hard to access medically evidenced contraceptive methods, it does make sense that people are behaving in broader ways to try to manage that risk,” Steiner said.

But she also noted that the study found the lack of information on contraceptive methods was more likely to drive people to choose post-coital methods rather than concerns about hormones or an inability to obtain clinical care.

Meanwhile, sex education varies widely across the country. And this year several states modified their sex education policies, according to an analysis by SIECUS.

In Alabama, Republican Gov. Kay Ivey signed a law requiring sex education to be focused on promoting “sexual risk avoidance,” updated terminology for “abstinence-only” instruction. The law prohibits sex education before fourth grade and prohibits school districts from partnering with organizations that do not promote “sexual risk avoidance,” as well as organizations that provide or promote abortion.

Instructors are prohibited from teaching students about birth control, but parents can opt out of sex education classes.

Currently, 15 states offer abstinence-only sex education, according to SIECUS.

In Wisconsin, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers signed a law requiring instruction on adoption as part of sex education. In Arizona, Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed a bill that would have required instruction on adoption and newborn safe-haven laws whenever contraception or sexually transmitted infections are mentioned. The state already requires instruction to refer to adoption and parenting as the “preferred choice” over abortion.

Three states – Alabama, Louisiana and South Dakota – enacted laws requiring or requesting instruction on fetal development in schools or the viewing of a fetal ultrasound or animated video, such as the “Baby Olivia” video developed by anti-abortion groups.

In California, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed bills requiring instruction on human trafficking and dating abuse and digital violence.

Stateline reporter Sofia Resnick can be reached at sresnick@stateline.org.

More than half of women of reproductive age have seen or heard the false claim that hormones in contraceptives are harmful, and about 4 in 10 have been exposed to the false idea that hormones in contraceptives limit your ability to get pregnant in the future, according to a new survey.

The survey by KFF, a nonprofit health research organization, also found that about a third of women between the ages of 18 and 49 have seen or heard the inaccurate assertion that natural family planning methods are just as effective as hormonal birth control, and a similar percentage have been exposed to the erroneous idea that emergency contraceptive pills cause abortions.

According to the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists, long-acting reversible contraception and hormonal birth control are much more effective at preventing pregnancy than fertility awareness-based methods such as menstrual cycle tracking.

A large majority of reproductive age women said health care providers are their most trusted source for reliable health care information, with 85% saying they trust them a great deal or a fair amount. In contrast, only 26% said they trust U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for reliable health information, and 48% said they trust federal health agencies. About 25% said they trust AI tools and chatbots, and 14% said they trust  social media and social media influencers.

Kennedy has made several statements related to reproductive and sexual health that contradict the medical consensus, including that prenatal exposure to Tylenol and COVID vaccines may be linked to autism. Under Kennedy, HHS has shifted the focus of federal family planning and pregnancy prevention grants away from expanding contraceptive services and toward promoting childbearing or what’s known as restorative reproductive medicine.

The KFF survey found that among 3,538 women of reproductive age, about 35% said they saw or heard something about contraception on social media in the past 12 months.

Of those who saw social media posts about contraception, 78% said they had used contraception in the past 12 months, with 62% using hormonal methods. Of those, 8% stopped and 9% started a new method because of something they saw or heard on social media.

But for a larger share of this group, contraception-related posts led to further consultation, either with a doctor (19%) or online or from AI (36%). Women ages 18 to 25 were more likely to consult AI or the internet (46%) compared with women ages 36 to 49 (29%).

Stateline reporter Sofia Resnick can be reached at sresnick@stateline.org.