I was flicking through the New York Times the other day and found a multimedia presentation about the proposed introduction of a contraceptive pill that will allow women to stop their periods indefinitely to accommodate for women with busy lifestyles who simply do not have the time to deal with the ordeal that is ‘the time of the month’. I appreciated the comments of one of the woman who opposed the introduction of the contraceptive pill asserting the effects of the medication are relatively unknown. I’m in total agreement. Since the introduction of the contraceptive pill, women have basically been reduced to lab rats; all those hormones being pumped into our bodies, time will be the best judge of the effects. Actually, we are already beginning to see the fruits with scientific research linking the use of contraception with cancer as well as blood clotting.
Marginalisation of women is also occurring with regards to the likes of cloning, foetal tissue experimentation, and IVF. For instance, the extraction process needed for cloning experimentation and IVF has been described as invasive and uncomfortable, requiring several visits and multiple injections of hormones. The short-term effects of the procedure include, pain associated with intramuscular injections, hot flushes, bloating, moodiness, headaches, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, respiratory difficulties, and weight gain.
Additionally, often the extraction process requires the extraction of more than one egg. There is increasing evidence that what is coined the “super-ovulation process” is associated with serious health risks. Up to 10% of women who undergo the process experience a serious condition known as ovarian hyper stimulation syndrome. When this occurs thirty or more eggs start to develop simultaneously, fluid leaks out of the blood vessels and collects in the abdomen. Sometimes this condition can lead to death and six women are known to have died from it in the UK alone. More serious symptoms can require hospitalisation and include unintended pregnancy, renal failure, intrauterine polyps, ovarian cysts, thromboembolism, adult respiratory distress and haemorrhage from ovarian rupture, and future infertility.
Also, there is evidence of negative long-term effects of this treatment. Dr. Suzanne Parisian, a former chief medical officer of the US Food and Drug Administration and researcher in genetics and developmental biology, asserts ‘many of the drugs used during these procedures have not been adequately studied for long-term safety…This is not widely understood and has led to significant misunderstanding about the risks involved for women who donate eggs,’ whether for reproductive purposes or for research cloning. Clinical reports also associated infertility with ovarian cancer.
Succintly, women are being marginalised at the expense of profit. To be frank, there’s a lot of money in the reproductive rights industry and as we all know morality is often sacrificed for profit. Reproductive rights are sold through the media as promoting the freedom of women to do what they want with their bodies. Yet in reality what is driving the introduction of contraceptives, the push for the use of women’s eggs, and experimentation on foetal tissue is, put simply, cash.
This isn’t freedom; it’s objectification at its best. Once women finally wake up, truly the era of “reproductive rights” will be historically viewed as a very dark time for women where marginalisation had reached its peak. Once again, I say it loudly (you may have to vividly imagine as the medium doesn’t really permit sound) GET YOUR HANDS OF OUR OVARIES!
Well, I believe contraceptive pills that control women’s periods are nothing new, though… Whilst not all kind of oral contraceptives regulate period, some do – the most common one being combined oral contraceptive pills which contain both progestogen (similar in effect to natural progesterone) and oestrogen. This type has been in used in the US since the 60s or 70s, I think.
Usually they are packaged for either 21 days or 28 days; those days are marked for the cycle. Within the 28-pill package, there are 21 pills and 7 (usually different-coloured) placebos or sugar pills. These placebos have no particular effect – as its name suggests – but are included to help those women to take the pills out of habit. Like they might forget to take it again once they refrain for a week. These women would have their periods within this one week time, so in a sense it regulates their time of the month…
Some people argue that this no-pills-week is given just to ensure the women that they are not pregnant for they’re having periods still.
If contraceptive pills are taken continuously without this one week break, the women would not get their periods; they would have it back once they stop taking the pills. If the women take pills for continuous three months, they would still get app. a week of menstruation once they stop the pills. So it gives the “benefit” of less frequent menstruation. There is this three-month version of the pill called Seasonale.
But taking continuous pills for three months or so could increase the risk of bleeding through. In the case where women want to stop their periods completely, usually this bleeding would not happen anymore after almost a year of consuming the pills. Of course there are many other side-effects of birth control – known and unknown. Major known effects are like increasing the risk of strokes, heart attacks, etc.
Oh btw, I AM NOT PROMOTING CONTRACEPTIVE PILLS HERE!!!!!
Filia,
Reading your post again, I think the question should be: Are these women willing or forced to do so?
The medical community is not free from guilt, but women should also respect themselves first.