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THE intrauterine devices inserted into the womb to prevent pregnancies can get lost inside the body and wiggle their way up to the brain.

Well, no, of course they can’t. But this is the type of myth about IUDs that a few people believe. And it’s not just the uneducated who are getting it wrong. Even medical textbooks are riddled with mistakes, a survey by Eve Espey and Tony Ogburn of the University of New Mexico has revealed.

IUDs got a bad rap in the 1970s after a few women died from severe infections after miscarrying with the IUD in…

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