Is the Pill Safe?
OCPs are an extremely safe form of contraception. It is estimated that women who become pregnant will have more complications from the pregnancy compared to someone on the Pill. One estimate says that for every 100,000 women who carry a full-term pregnancy, 10 will die from the pregnancy, whereas two deaths might be attributable to the Pill. Put another way, Pill use decreases a sexually active fertile woman's chance of death fivefold compared to pregnancy. Interestingly, a woman who smokes has a 250 times greater chance of death from the negative cardiovascular effects resulting from cigarette smoking, and an eightfold greater risk of death by auto accident, than by Pill use. Most women who hear that OCP use is life-saving are astounded that these facts are not widely publicized.
Benefits
Women who use OCPs, when compared to their non-pill counterparts, have fewer occurrences of acne, cystic breasts, ovarian cysts, painful periods, lower occurrences of anemia, pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy, and osteoporosis.
The most controversial topic that concerns women is whether long-term use of hormones can cause cancer of the breast and uterus. The best evidence to date suggests that the Pill has been strongly associated with a decreased risk of cancers of the ovary and uterus. Cervical cancer is not increased in Pill users although some rare forms of endocervical cancer have been found to be more common. Breast cancer seems to be detected more often in women younger than the age of 35 years during the first five years of Pill use. Experts attribute this fact to Pill users having more frequent physical exams by their healthcare providers. The breast cancers found in these women were also easier to cure, due to their local occurrence and tendency not to spread. This fact is also consistent with no overall greater lifetime risk of breast cancers among Pill users.
