13The Diabetes Care Gap Most Women Never Hear About7 min read

Birth Control Counseling Falls Through the Cracks

One of the clearest gaps the data revealed involves contraceptive counseling. Among women with diabetes, fewer than half reported receiving birth control counseling. For women without diabetes, that figure was around 62 percent. The difference is not trivial. Unplanned pregnancies carry elevated risks for women with diabetes, including complications for both mother and child. Proper contraceptive counseling helps women make informed decisions about timing and family planning in the context of their condition. When that conversation doesn’t happen — whether because the visit is too focused on glucose levels or because no one thinks to raise it — women lose the opportunity to make choices with full information.

Cancer Screenings Are Being Missed Too

The research found that women with diabetes were 10 to 20 percent less likely to receive cervical cancer screening compared to women without the condition. Cervical cancer is highly treatable when caught early, and routine screening is a straightforward, well-established tool for catching it. The same principle applies to breast cancer screening. Missing these screenings doesn’t create an immediate, visible problem — but over time, delayed detection means delayed treatment and worse outcomes. As Dr. Neha Narula, a primary care physician at Stanford University School of Medicine, put it: the downstream consequences are high-stakes, not theoretical.