By Emily Brown
“The pill is great. It’s worth using even if you are not sexually active because it will give you a glowing complexion; it will make your period lighter and you will cramp less. As a young girl, you must go on the pill.”
This is the common rhetoric I hear all the time about the birth control pill. I heard it throughout middle school, high school, and college by my schoolmates, friends, and doctors. These phrases and this mindset are incessantly pushed on young women.
At my typical annual checkup, whenever the pediatrician or nurse found out that I was not on the pill and was not at all interested, he/she treated me like I was stupid or ignorant. I heard a constant barrage of the “benefits” of the pill and how it was here to “help” and “protect” me. The doctors would tell my mother and me how the pill was for the betterment of my health. It was crazy how shameful, how ignorant, and how stupid they made me feel when I was in the examination room. On one particular instance, my pediatrician actually kicked my mother from the examination room because I said no to the pill. He wanted to ask me alone in case I wanted to change my mind!
As alarming as this sounds, it is quite common. Dozens of young women I went to high school and college with told me very similar stories about their dreaded doctors’ visits. They too were made to feel dumb and ignorant because they refused birth control.
Constantly hearing these words from medical professionals, it becomes very easy for young women to succumb to the myth that the pill is here to “help” or to “protect.” Some of my closest friends have been on the pill because the doctors recommended it to help with their periods or to calm their hormones. Every day, young ladies are deceived into using the pill without knowing all of the health complications tied to it. This is because they are not being told the WHOLE truth!
Young ladies must be told that the pill contains powerful steroids that constantly remain in their bodies and alter their hormones. Young women must also be told that, because of promiscuous behavior often associated with the “safe” feeling that goes along with using the pill, they can have an increased risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases. Furthermore, they must be told that the pill has been linked to cancer, fatal blood clots, and other medical side effects. And, last but not least, the pill can cause a chemical abortion, killing the tiniest and most innocent among us. This is not the protection or help that most young women are seeking.
As a founding member of ALL Life Defenders—American Life League’s new youth initiative—I am ready and willing to join with young ladies everywhere and provide the critical information they need to make smart decisions about birth control. Our mission is to empower young women and counteract the deception surrounding birth control. But, most importantly I plan on interacting on a personal level with young ladies at schools and other locations, talking with them so they can defend themselves against the tide of our contraceptive culture. Every single lady deserves the truth and should have access to individuals who will sympathetically inform them about the problems surrounding birth control.
Visit the ALL website for more information and to empower yourselves, your daughters, and all of the precious females in your lives. We are grateful for your prayerful and financial support in this effort.
Emily Brown graduated from Mount St. Mary’s University in May 2015. She began working for American Life League this summer and is a founding member of its new youth department, ALL Life Defenders. She plans on educating and collaborating with young adults all over the country to empower the new generation!