The rise of Ozempic babies: Popular weight loss drug found to lower efficacy of birth control pills

By Abby Amoakuh

Published Mar 27, 2024 at 12:16 PM

Reading time: 1 minute

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Images courtesy of TikTok

Women on TikTok are reporting surprise pregnancies while taking the popular weight loss medications Ozempic and Wegovy. These pregnancies occur even if the women are on birth control, creating a new phenomenon that has been dubbed “Ozempic babies.”

However, as women who have struggled with infertility, or are older and thought they were past their childbearing years celebrate their miracle pregnancies, health experts and drug makers are issuing warnings about the potential side effects. Cue dramatic music…

Ozempic and Wegovy slow down stomach emptying so that the consumer feels satiated for a longer time, causing them to eat less and lose weight. Nevertheless, this also affects how food and medications are absorbed. Both drugs fall within the e GLP-1 drugs category, which are known to cause the failure of oral contraception and boost fertility.

Jonathan Kaplan, a plastic Surgeon in San Francisco known as @realdrbae on TikTok, pointed out that this side effect isn’t new or unknown. When Ozempic submitted its Food and Drug Administration (FDA) paperwork, it was fully aware of these side effects.

It is advised that people use alternative methods of birth control, such as condoms, caps, sponges, spermicides, or copper intrauterine devices when they are using these diabetes drugs.

Hell to the no. The drugmakers are currently advising to cease taking the drugs when trying to conceive or being pregnant, because like so many other medications, they weren’t properly tested on pregnant people.

Individuals who were either pregnant or trying to become pregnant were excluded from GLP-1 trials. Thus, not enough data is available to establish whether GLP-1 is associated with birth defects, miscarriage, or adverse outcomes for either the mother or the baby, according to Healthline.

Netizens are currently marvelling at the idea of becoming skinny and having a baby at the same time, all through the magical drug of Ozempic. Others are laughing at the sheer irony of taking Ozempic for weight loss and ending up with a baby.

A small fraction of the web is taking it too far as always by hypothesising what an Ozempic-grown baby would look like.

The answer, according to Twitter, is scary. The term “Ozempic baby” in itself evokes the image of a weirdly skinny-looking baby. Nothing to joke about really.

For now, it seems like the drug is less of a fertility booster and more of a reason to explore non-hormonal contraception.