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The Truth About Oral Contraceptives
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Despite documented cases of contraceptive drugs leading to serious medical complications, and even a WHO warning issued last year that oral contraceptives – especially when combined – are carcinogenic, women continue to risk their health and pop the pill.
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The Philippine Department of Health (DOH) has distributed some 11 million cycles of birth control pills per year nationwide for the past 30 years, until sometime in 2004 when the US Agency for International Development (USAID) started its gradual pull-out as a donor of the drugs. According to the Procurement and Logistics Services of the DOH, the supply of oral contraceptives (OCs) from USAID will keep coming only until the end of 2006.
It’s probably safe to assume that majority of those who consume these 11 million cycles plus the ones who get their supply from private hospitals, clinics and pharmacies are aware of the side effects. After all, it has long been established that besides abnormal bleeding, serious side effects of OCs include high blood pressure, blood clots, heart attacks, migraine headaches, bone loss, and menstrual problems after ending use of the drug. It is also no coincidence that women who have been on the Pill for years are finding they are infertile when they want children. This side effect is connected to the rapid aging of the cervix caused by this drug, which can lead to infertility.
Many, however, don’t know that in July of last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) through its International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) issued a warning that stated the increased risk of breast, cervix and liver cancer that results from the use of .
Pills and chemical abortion
But what majority of Filipinos seem to be unaware of is the abortive property of birth control pills. In other words, OCs not only alter the ovulation process; these are also designed to hinder implantation in the event that fertilization takes place.
Based on the research findings of birth control pill manufacturers taken up in The Physician’s Desk Reference, the Pill has three mechanisms:
1)inhibits ovulation
2)thickens cervical mucus, thereby hampering the movement of sperm towards the egg
3)thins out the uterine wall (endometrium), thereby rendering it unable to facilitate implantation of the fertilized egg
The first two mechanisms are contraceptive. The third is abortive.
When a woman taking the Pill discovers she is pregnant, it means that all three mechanisms have failed. The third mechanism sometimes fails in its role as backup, just as the first and second mechanisms sometimes fail. Each time the third mechanism succeeds, however, it causes an abortion. And this is entirely different from the case of a spontaneous abortion (“miscarriage” in layman’s terms)
Hence, the damaging physical effects of birth control pills don’t stop at the women who use them. These drugs also have an abortive component, bringing about the death of unborn babies in the earliest stages. Sad to say, not even the mother would know it when it happens.
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(** The Physician's Desk Reference is the most frequently used reference book by physicians in America. It lists and explains the effects, benefits, and risks of every medical product that can be legally prescribed. The Food and Drug Administration requires that each manufacturer provide accurate information on its products, based on scientific research and laboratory tests.)
More information at
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