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| Evaluating life with hormonal birth control 50 years later. (Jessica Krinke/MEDILL) |
WATCH: Dr. Debby explains more about The Pill
The Pill celebrates its 50th birthday this year yet understanding regarding the ins and outs of hormonal birth control still remain in adolescence.
While just as effective as it’s always been, it’s not your mother’s pill anymore.
Milder modern versions of the contraceptive come with fewer headaches (literally) and offer women more options such as skipping their periods. Yet, despite progress, myths persist about side effects that run from weight gain to cancer and infertility.
“When they first came out in 1960, there were significantly higher levels of estrogen and that caused more problems with strokes and blood clots and things like that, even in young, healthy women. There’s also this marketing campaign of ‘low estrogen birth control,’ well they’re all low estrogen compared to what we used to have,” says Dr. Deborah Herbenick of Indiana University’s Kinsey Institute.
Ad campaigns, such as those for the Seasonique brand (Duramed Pharmaceuticals), remind women that “there is no medical need for a period while on birth control.” The brand allows for a period once every three months.
Since the bleeding experienced while on the pill isn’t a real “period” anyway, inevitable breakthrough bleeding often comes with long-term, uninterrupted use of the pill, according to Herbenick. Better to allow for bleeding that is predictable.
The human error factor of forgetting when staying on the pill at all times without a break has not really been studied, said Herbenick. Most manufacturers include seven days of sugar pills to reinforce the habit of women taking the pill everyday even when they do have the monthly break.
Herbenick cautions women to take the sugar pill placebos, inserted as reminders of daily use, since a late start using the next pack is risky due to already low levels of hormones.
According to Herbenick, the pill does more than provide birth control and may have changed how subsequent generations of women perceive pregnancy prevention and possibly their own bodies.
When the concept of controlling a woman’s fertility hormonally first debuted in the 1960s, the pill was only available to married women. But this was a break none-the-less to a generation of girls whose only available means of birth control had been the likes of diaphragms or vaginal sponges. Newer hormonal options such as the vaginal ring or external patches have been slow to catch on now. The pill is much preferred.
“At the time that [the ring] came out I was working in a family health clinic teaching young girls about their sexuality and I had one young woman go ‘Ew, that’s gross. Can my boyfriend put it in?’ Well, that’s going to be a problem if you break up, how are you going to get it out?”
