When Emily Cataneo decided to attend a reproductive rights rally in her home of Raleigh, North Carolina earlier this year, she knew she wanted her outfit to represent the cause. She donned a pro-choice t-shirt, a “clinic escort” vest from her volunteering gig at a women’s health clinic, and an appropriate accessory: an earring made out of her removed intrauterine device, or IUD.
Just over a year before, Cataneo, 34, had gotten her IUD taken out when it expired, yet instead of letting the doctor throw it in the trash as medical waste, she opted to take it home and turn it into a piece of jewelry. “The IUD has a really cool shape – it almost looks like an earring that somebody would design, with the copper wrapping on it and the bold T-shape,” the journalist tells Teen Vogue. “I thought it was perfect.”
After some necessary sanitizing and the addition of a slim hook, Cataneo created statement IUD earrings that just so happened to have been inside her body for the last 10 years. “I figured that the protest would be the perfect venue to wear some jewelry made out of my IUD,” she says now. “It definitely gets the message that I want to send when I go to a protest, which is that reproductive justice and sexual health are normal topics that we should be talking about and integrate into our daily lives, that aren’t shameful and shouldn’t be hidden.”
According to a report by the health research and policy institution KKF, 14% of women ages 15-44 who used contraception between 2015 and 2017 had an IUD, the (highly-effective) small, T-shaped device inserted into the uterus to prevent pregnancy. And while the majority of those devices are tossed out once they’re removed, a growing number of women are choosing to keep their IUDs – and (after a good cleaning) turn them into keepsakes like jewelry.
For some of these people, one main reason for this decision is its unusual nature. Clara Burke-Dey, a 23-year-old preschool teacher in Minneapolis who recently showed off her IUD-made necklace on TikTok, says that she loves wearing “unconventional” jewelry whenever possible (she notes her “homemade decapitated Barbie doll head earrings” for reference). Transforming her IUD after its 2023 removal “came rather naturally,” she adds – even though her OB-GYN laughed in surprise when Burke-Dey asked if she could keep the device.
“I’m pretty sure that’s a question she doesn’t hear often,” she notes.
To create her necklace, Burke-Dey simply took off the device’s strings and then looped a chain through the hole in the bottom where the strings were previously attached. She hasn’t yet debuted the jewelry in public outside of TikTok, but plans to soon. “Wearing my IUD necklace makes me feel empowered,” she explains.
Jessica Maskin, 30, echoes this sentiment. The Raleigh-based clinical researcher previously worked at Planned Parenthood, where she (with permission) took home a few unused, expired IUDs, and with the help of a jewelry-making kit and some pliers, turned them into earrings. The jewelry, she says, not only makes her feel powerful, but acts as a tribute to IUDs’ substantial help in preventing pregnancy.
“Getting an IUD in the first place was a huge quality of life increase for me, both in terms of having reliable birth control” and controlling heavy periods, explains Maskin, whose own removed IUD is currently sitting in a specimen jar on her dresser. The device, she adds, “holds a lot of emotional significance for me.”
Of course, not every person is comfortable with the idea of a necklace or earrings made from a device that was once in someone’s uterus; Cataneo, for instance, reports with a laugh that her husband was “a bit grossed out” by her decision, if ultimately supportive. Some people who aren’t into IUD-made jewelry yet still want to display their passion for reproductive freedom instead opt to buy IUD-shaped jewelry (but made from different materials) on Etsy or other sites, or keep their device in a commemorative display case.
But there can certainly be a thrill in wearing one’s IUD out in the world. Like Cataneo, Maskin tends to wear her earrings to reproductive justice protests and rallies, where she enjoys the often surprised yet delighted reactions of strangers and friends who notice the unique jewelry. “I’ve had a lot of people who are like, ‘those are weird anchor earrings!’ They don’t realize that they’re IUDs,” she says. “But anyone who’s recognized what they are has loved them.”
For some jewelry wearers, people’s occasional confusion over their accessories just emphasizes why they made them in the first place. Cataneo, who says she was raised in a fairly “sex-negative environment,” says that her IUD jewelry reminds her of her intention to “educate the next generation of young girls” on birth control and reproductive freedom.
“I think doing something like turning your IUD into jewelry is a bit shocking, it’s a bit funny, and it opens up that conversation in a way that feels funny and acceptable,” she explains.
That impact can already be seen. On a viral TikTok posted by influencer Jorie Jaden, in which she displays a necklace made from her IUD, not a small number of the comments are some variation of, “what’s an IUD?”
Many TikTok users took the opportunity to inform their peers on what an IUD is and how it works to prevent pregnancy, even answering specific questions on its implantation and removal.
“There is still so much stigma surrounding women and their reproductive health,” says Burke-Dey. “It’s a topic that deserves more recognition, and less shame.” And one piece at a time, IUD jewelry is undoubtedly helping lead the way.
