Trista Sutter advertises permanent birth control through US Weekly

Trista Sutter, 36, was the first and most successful contestant on the Bachelorette. She married the hot poet firefighter she met on the show in a televised wedding in 2003, Ryan Sutter, 34, and they now have two children together and live in Colorado. Trista just had her second baby, a daughter called Blakesley Grace on April 3. Trista and Ryan also have son Maxwell Alston, who turns two in July. The two aren’t wasting time figuring out their plans for future birth control. Trista just announced that she’s going to get a probably heavily sponsored sterilization procedure in which she has inserts put in her fallopian tubes from a company called Essure. The company’s rep was all too willing to confirm the news to US Weekly:

The former Bachelorette star — who is also mom to Max, 20 months, with husband Ryan — has signed up for a permanent birth control procedure called Essure, the company’s rep confirms to Usmagazine.com.

“Now that we have the two healthy children we always dreamed of, Ryan and I have decided that our family is the perfect size, and we want to devote our time and energy to them,” says Sutter, who has suffered birth complications, including gestational diabetes and preeclampsia.

Essure is a minimally-invasive procedure performed in a doctor’s office in about 10 minutes, the rep explains to Us. Small, flexible micro-inserts are placed within a woman’s fallopian tubes through the cervix without incisions. Over the next three months, the body forms a natural barrier around the micro-inserts to prevent sperm from reaching the egg. The procedure — which 250,000 women have undergone — is 99.8 percent effective.

“It’s a safer, nicer way to go about a permanent birth control,” the rep says, adding that Sutter will probably have the procedure this June.

Adds Sutter: “After looking at all my options I realized that Essure is the best fit for me and my lifestyle. I like it because the procedure can be performed in my doctor’s office without general anesthesia, and the quick recovery means I can get back to my life and my family right away.”

Trista told Life & Style in October when she announced her pregnancy that this was the last one for her and that she would probably get her tubes tied afterwards. I bet that’s when this company approached her about being a spokesperson.

This story gives me pause because it definitely sounds like a paid ad. I’m also skeptical of this type of birth control because I have friends who have had problems with permanent and semi-permanent birth control shots and inserts. One of my friends gained over 30 pounds after getting the Depo-Provera shot and it really seemed like her whole personality changed. She became depressed and withdrawn and it didn’t seem like a coincidence. Another friend actually got pregnant while on Depo-Provera. And a third used the now-outlawed Norplant arm inserts and experienced permanent scarring.

This is not Depo-Provera or Norplant but I can’t help but think it carries similar risks. (Update: this is non-hormonal and different than both of those methods, see below.) Trista needs to make some cash, though, so she’s promoting this procedure, which will probably work out fine for her. A lot of people appreciate birth control you don’t have to remember to take every day and it works well for them. Does it cross a line when a reality show celebrity advertises a pharmaceutical type product in a gossip magazine? It’s as good a place as any by some estimates as they also seem to have those covert ads for luxury items and high end body care products. Hopefully this isn’t just birth control sway for Trista and she’s earning some money for promoting this.

Update: Thanks to Nony and Wendie and everyone who pointed out that Essure is non-hormonal and works like having your tubes tied by causing scar tissue to form in the fallopian tubes. I should have looked this up and am sorry for confusing it with hormonal methods of semi-permanent and permanent birth control.

Trista, Ryan and Max are shown on 4/2/08. Credit: PRPhotos