By Jenn Giroux
Who would have ever guessed that contraception would move to center stage in women’s health and in the political arena in 2010? The New York Post reported that a Wicked actress sued Bayer pharmaceutical company, claiming the popular birth control pill Yaz caused her to have a stroke at age 27. According to the US Drug Watchdog site, the serious side effects of birth control pills such as Yaz and Yasmin are potentially putting millions of women at risk for stroke, heart attack and even death. Also, women who have used the pill are now getting breast cancer in their 30s. (Prior to the pill era, breast cancer was a postmenopausal women’s disease.) Next time you are at the pharmacy, ask for the insert information inside the very box that is provided to the consumer when they purchase a contraceptive. For instance, on NuvaRing’s (a common contraceptive) web site, risks associated with the drug include blood clots, strokes, heart attacks, high blood pressure, heart disease, gallbladder disease, liver tumors, and cancer of the reproductive organs and breasts.
How many doctors are telling women who go in for contraceptives about these stunning statistics? Women who use hormonal contraceptives for a minimum of 4 years prior to their first full- term pregnancy have a 52-percent higher risk of developing breast cancer (Mayo Clinic Proceedings). Women who use a hormonal contraceptive for more than 5 years are 4 times more likely to develop cervical cancer (International Agency for Research on Cancer). Instead, many doctors convince married and single women to go on contraceptives when they come into the office.
Natural family planning (NFP) is a highly reliable form of not only spacing children but helping couples to conceive. Recent studies have shown it to be 99-percent effective. It’s amazing more doctors aren’t encouraging their patients to effectively use NFP, which has no risks associated with it.
Now, as the undeniable medical evidence mounts which confirms the damage contraceptives have done and continue to do to women’s health, one may ask why, for years, mainstream and even [some] pro-life organizations have ignored this. In addition, it has been revealed that our elected officials are trying to force our tax dollars to pay for birth control under “preventative” medicine that taxpayers and insurers will be forced to pay for under the Affordable Care Act. It is time that every pro-life organization stands up and resists with all their might. Not only are these contraceptives damaging to women’s health, but these class A-1 carcinogens are also causing chemical abortions (in excess of 250 million since the 1960s). For every U.S. child born, an estimated 2 children are killed in the womb from surgical abortion and abortifacient contraceptives (National Center for Health Statistics Division of CDC, 2003; International Pharmacists for Life, 2003).
It’s clear that it is time for expansive and comprehensive education against contraception use. The very life and health of women and the country depend on it. As we watch this all play out, it is easy to think that “crazy is the new normal”—sex outside of marriage, doctors prescribing class A-1 carcinogens and women, through hormonal contraceptives, chemically aborting possibly one baby every month.
That’s definitely CRAZY. But it will never be normal.
Jenn Giroux is a registered nurse, wife, mother of nine and executive director of HLI America, a new initiative of Human Life International. HLI America brings Americans the truth about human life, the beauty of children, and the devastating and harmful physical and spiritual effects of contraception in America. This article is reprinted with permission.