Is the Depo-Provera Lawsuit Real? (Answer: It Is!)

Here’s a little experiment for you. Google “Depo-Provera horror stories” and watch the links populate. You’ll find shocking quotes from women who say they were blindsided by adverse side effects while or after using the Depo shot.

During the last 15 years, for example, Our Bodies, Ourselves – the organization and website evolved from the book by that title (orig. 1970) many different times shared personal experiences from women who at one time used the long-term birth control in a syringe.

Editors used these testimonies to warn about the increased risks of Depo’s synthetic hormone progestin, a derivative of progesterone that suppresses ovulation to prevent pregnancy.

“This is terrible and I don’t understand why the facts were not clearly outlined for me. This is serious stuff [that] I would like to have considered during my selection process, but was only really told about the benefits of Depo and just the bone density side effect and altered cycle.”

“I am a living nightmare and I feel constantly on edge. How can this injection be legal? I am from the UK and I wasn’t given any serious/rare side effects of this injection. I feel helpless!!!”

Who Uses Depo-Provera?

The NIH (National Institutes of Health) estimates that 74 million women globally use Depo for birth control. The FDA approved the injection, originally developed by Upjohn, for contraception in October 1992, but it had already been used since the 1950s for “menstruation management” and later to treat certain cancers.

Women were wowed. It’s no secret we hate having to remember to take a pill every single day to avoid flirting with accidental pregnancy. “It only takes once!” my grandmother harped when I was a teen. Depo was nicknamed simply the “shot,” and sales skyrocketed.

But a few years in, the hype fizzled when women began reporting adverse side effects. First, there was the issue of bone mineral density loss (BMD): the FDA had only granted approval in 1992 for contraception on the condition that the manufacturer complete a post-approval study investigating the increased risk for osteoporosis. It’s about 1.7%.

More than a decade later, the FDA demanded that Pfizer add a “black box warning” for bone loss to Depo packaging, the agency’s strongest alert for pharmaceuticals and medical devices.

The initial cluster of problems was bad enough without the news we’re about to impart. Early on, Depo caused osteoporosis, cycle irregularity, heavy & ongoing bleeding, nausea, weight gain, and mood changes resulting from subcutaneous progestin injections lasting three months per dose. (Sidenote: Research indicates the risks are less significant when progestin is taken by mouth.) The woman who said she felt helpless would have had no other option than to wait for the hormone to wear off.

Who knew? No warnings signaled serious consequences – though some doctors alerted patients to the possibility of mineral bone loss and unpredictable periods. Pfizer did, by the way, settle a Depo-Provera osteoporosis lawsuit in Canada for $1.9 million.

Are There Other Depo-Provera Risks?

Yes. A shakeup study published in 2024 by the British Medical Journal (BMJ) revealed that progestin, when injected subcutaneously, increases by 5.6% the likelihood of (mostly) benign tumors called meningiomas growing large enough to press against brain tissue and disrupt neural function.

Is There A Depo-Provera Lawsuit?

Yes, still in the early stages. Following release of the BMJ study in March 2024, the first Depo-Provera lawsuit was filed in October 2024, by a woman recently diagnosed with a meningioma tumor after using the injections for 17 years.

Meantime, multiple other women are fueling the lawsuit.

IS DEPO-PROVERA LINKED TO TUMORS?

Yes, according to the important BMJ case-control study.

The heightened risk, according to the research, is again a consequence of progestin’s internal presence in the body via deep muscle injection. The fact that progestin can cause hormonal issues, even cancer, is not news.

The news is that progestin injected into deep tissue, especially when present for a prolonged period, can trigger cell mutation in the network of nerves protecting the brain and spinal cord. Depo-Provera brain tumors are born in this network.

For lack of immediate symptoms, however, diagnosis is difficult until vision, speech, personality, or balance are noticeably, quite suddenly affected. Seizures and memory loss may also present unexpectedly.

Yes, good that the tumors are usually benign. Not good that they can grow slo-mo to exceed half the size of one’s forehead. Also not good that they can interrupt brain signals by pressing against delicate brain tissue, causing worrisome symptoms to disturb everyday routines out of the blue.

Here’s a partial list of symptoms associated with meningioma:

migraines (often worse in the morning)
double vision
blurred vision
personality shifts
hearing loss
slurred speech
seizures
loss of balance

How to File a Lawsuit Against Depo-Provera?

ACFW’s history with birth control is deep. The Depo Brain tumor lawsuit is not our first rodeo.

We helped force Bayer to take ESSURE off the shelves after nearly 60,000 women reported serious injury and 115 women had died.

We’re now fighting Big Pharma over the non-hormone PARAGARD IUD’s risk of breaking internally upon attempted removal by a professional, which has been linked to serious health problems in women.

We’re also fighting Big Pharma manufacturers to force them to stop telling IVF candidates (anxious, hopeful parents) that PGT-A add-on tests are either crucial or accurate. They’re neither – just an expensive, counter-productive, even dangerous, marketing gimmick.

Can ACFW Help Me Take Action?

Yes! Our deep concerns and efforts, however, are aimless without you. We encourage you to contact us if you’ve experienced health issues or other life disruptions from using Depo-Provera or any misadvertised drug or medical device.

We are here to walk you through the first steps in your journey to find fairness. When you’re ready to tell us what happened, we’re ready to help you understand the next steps. We only work with attorneys who take cases on a contingency fee, meaning they assume all upfront and interim expenses to prepare for presenting your case, no matter how long it takes.

The law firms we partner with (in this case, their wheelhouse is dangerous drugs & product liability) would not wage such a bet with their own time and resources if they didn’t believe they could achieve a positive result for you, which is the only way they get paid.

For our services, we charge you nothing. Ever. We’re here to educate you and help you get started with a Depo shot lawyer, and remain accessible to you until the process is finished.

Why? Because we want women universally (you) to reclaim your power after an unfair, avoidable life derailment. Because it’s a straight up mission. Because we believe our most important purpose is liberating women in a world that needs a little shoving to change some things for good.

We’re here 24/7/365. We want to help.