Another Sort of Feminism: 7 Risks of the Pill

I had promised a drink to one of my former students when he turned 21 years old. The time had come. Instead, he asked for an iced tea (he had drunk too much the night before) and a request: “Can you help me convince my girlfriend to get off the birth control Pill? I’m worried about the health risks.”

I come from a family of various medical professionals (father and grandfather are both physicians) and a long line of very strong-willed women. Feminism is in my big fat Middle-Eastern blood. It probably wasn’t easy for my dermatologist to recommend the Pill only for me to spew out all the health risks and ask her why she would be recommending something that could be harmful to my health when I am already in good health. Besides the acne.

But what about women who suffer from extreme PMS symptoms or PCOS? Or who just want a convenient way to avoid pregnancy? Are the Pill’s health risks worth it for those women? I don’t believe the Pill or other hormonal contraceptives are worth the health risks they pose to women.

Read on at U Catholic.