Last Friday the New York Times published an article focusing on the potential health concerns of using two popular oral contraceptives, Yaz and Yasmin. While this information is certainly important and the risks of serious side effects including blood clots and stroke should absolutely be considered when thinking about what type of contraception to use, the article failed to discuss the risk of health issues during pregnancy. Studies have found that 4 to 5 per 100,000 reproductive age women who are not taking birth control pills will develop thrombosis. Among women taking low-dose birth control pills that risk increases to 12 to 20 per 100,000. Among pregnant women the risk is even higher--48 to 60 per 100,000. So when we hear about the increased risks of serious side effects such as blood clots and strokes we need to ask ourselves: "Compared to what?"
In addition to providing us with the scary news, I wish there were more articles about the women, men and families who are thankful for reliable birth control methods such as the pill. A recent report from the Guttmacher Institute found that nearly half of women reported that they wanted to reduce or delay their childbearing because of economic concerns--clearly family planning is as important as ever.
There are lots of other great methods of birth control available, but like anything in life there are trade-offs for each one, and we all have to find the one that fits us best (check out our Birth Control 101 page for more information). While most methods have side effects (and these should be discussed with your doctor), consider the potential alternative--an unplanned pregnancy.
Why do we expect so much more from our birth control pills than from other medications we take?
Wasn't the article comparing risks of taking birth control with drospirenone (Yaz, Yasmin, Ocella) compared to other synthetic protestins (other birth control pills)? Yes. And they did, in fact, cite David Grimes as saying that a pregnancy carries a much higher risk of blood clots than the apparently elevated risk of taking drospirenone over other older synthetic progestins for birth control.
Seriously, it's a bit disingenous to accuse the NY Times of being negative toward birth control in that article. The reason this story exists at all is the FDA has intervened with Bayer citing misleading advertising and questionable manufacturing quality and because some women are suing Bayer after experiencing adverse events. Yaz/Yasmin has eclipsed Ortho Tri-cyclen as the most popular oral contraceptive for American women recently, and the Times is absolutely not out of line for spotlighting that there is some controversary with regard to Bayer's practices and the relative safety of their product. Shouldn't we be a bit more positive toward journalists reporting actual stories regarding (women's!) public health even when they don't necessarily serve our particular political agenda?
The birth control pill. Yaz, has been linked to life-threatening side effects such as strokes, blood clots, and heart attacks. Since 2004, at least 50 deaths have been reported in women taking Yaz and contraceptives made with similar ingredients. There is more information on this disturbing problem at http://www.yaz-may-cause-strokes.com/.