From WNYC Studios. I'm Brian Lerer. This is my daily politics podcast. It's Friday, March 22nd.

Tuesday of this week was a landmark day in the history of the accessibility of birth control, at least in

New York State. Governor Hockel signed a bill into law that allows over-the-counter sales of three

types of birth control, the pill, the patch, and the ring, and she said this.

It's a new day. You now have access, easy access to the contraception that you choose to fit your own personal health care needs because it is your body and it is your choice.

But as it happens, this landmark moment of progress comes amid a growing wave of disinformation about at least some forms of birth control on social media, discouraging women

from using them. This is happening on TikTok, which so many girls and young women see and elsewhere,

and behind at least some of it, there is what the Washington Post calls an underlying conservative

push. Let's discuss with Lauren Weber, a Washington Post accountability reporter,

focused on the forces promoting scientific and medical disinformation. Her new article is called

Women Are Getting Off Birth Control Amid Misinformation Explosion. Lauren, thanks for joining us.

Welcome to WNYC. Thanks for having me. First, to introduce

you, that's some job title you've got there. Accountability Reporter focused on the forces

promoting scientific and medical disinformation. So there's enough of that going around that it's

worthy of its own beat at the Washington Post now?

Oh, let me tell you, I'm a busy gal these days. I'm sure as you've seen, and I know as you've talked about on the show, we've seen quite a lot of misinformation and disinformation really get

accelerated in the social media age. And I think in part two, with the COVID pandemic, the trust in medical institutions

really took a nose dive. So we're seeing a lot more of this these days. And I see you've

been reporting recently on the Florida Surgeon General spreading misinformation amid a measles

outbreak. Also what one of your articles calls the lucrative world of COVID misinformation, just for some

context for our listeners. But let's talk about birth control. This is about a category called

hormonal contraception. Would you describe that and what kinds of birth control it includes?

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