5 Medical Reasons to Avoid the Contraceptive Pill
For fifty years, the contraceptive pill has been promoted as a panacea for the most serious ‘problem’ women have to face: pregnancy. But many pro-life people, and especially Catholics, have had grave moral reasons for avoiding use of the pill. [See this post for a Catholic mother’s experience of the pill.] Now, mainstream medicine is beginning to wake up to the fact that taking the pill has serious health risks for women; below are just five of those risks.
NOTE: all links used in the text below are to secular sources - none will take you to data from pro-life organisations.
1. Increased risk of HIV and STDs:
The use of some contraceptives leads to an increased chance of contracting STIs including HIV. A 2015 research project from Monash University investigated the pill’s action to find out why its use was related to an increase in AIDS in women from developing countries. The project was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to the tune of 1 million dollars.
2. Changes in the Brain:
According to this study, the function and structure of healthy women’s brains alters after using artificial contraception. These changes are thought to affect psychological wellbeing and begin after as little as 3 months of contraceptive use. Hormonal contraception has been found to decrease grey matter in some areas of the brain, and reverses the polarity of connectivity between different parts of the brain.
3. Increased Incidence of Crohn’s Disease:
Research is coming to light that shows the contraceptive pill causes as much disruption to the gut as antibiotics. This article studies the effects of oral contraceptives on the gut and mentions a Harvard University study which shows a 300% increase in the risk of developing Crohn’s Disease among users of the pill. Quitting use of the pill is documented as leading to long-term remission of the disease.
4. Risk of Breast Cancer:
This article from the website breastcancer.org, tries to play down the link between use of the contraceptive pill and breast cancer, and all the sites I checked stated that the risk of developing breast cancer disappears after the pill is discontinued. However, the author makes the following statements, based on one US study in particular and confirmed by many others:
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high-dose estrogen birth control pills more than doubled the risk of breast cancer
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ethynodiol diacetate (a type of progestin) birth control pills also more than doubled the risk of breast cancer
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triphasic birth control pills with an average dose of 0.75 mg of norethindrone (a type of progestin) more than tripled the risk of breast cancer
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other types of birth control pills, including low-dose estrogen pills, WERE NOT linked to a higher risk of breast cancer
Additionally, women who have a history of breast cancer in the family increase the risk of developing that cancer by taking oral contraceptives.
5. Risk of Death:
Over 190 women have died while taking Yas and Yasmin (see 2011 article here). These two formulations of the contraceptive pill are popular with under-18 girls. The Ortho Evra patch has killed at least 50 women (see 2008 article here). The patch increases the risk of blood clots and strokes by delivering more estrogen than other forms of hormonal contraception. This 2013 article examines the Nuva Ring and cites studies that show a 56% increased chance of developing blood clots when this device is being used, and a residual risk for the rest of a woman’s life.
Conclusion:
Far from being a miraculous solution to a woman’s ever-present ‘problem’ of fertility, widespread use of the pill has led to many health hazards, and in some cases, death. At the root of this search to reduce fertility is a rejection of a woman’s most wonderful trait; her ability to conceive and bear children. When women again learn to appreciate their fertility, there will no longer be recourse to these dangerous hormonal experiments, which enslave women to pharmaceutical companies and make health risks an acceptable price to pay for sterility.
