Also, I found on the NuvaRing website, that these hormones also increase the risk of gall bladder disease and liver tumors.  The side effects are listed in bold print on the websites of the companies that produce the “medications”.  But women still ignore them.

What needs to start happening is if someone is on it, they need to talk to a reliable friend who will help them get off of it. Or a priest if possible!!

They SCREAM at us; “The Church has no business in MY bedroom”.  The Truth can hurt but only at 1st, Blessings follow ie; those who follow the Church’s recommendation of NFP(not the old Rhythm Method) don’t have any bad side effects. [It can even be used to promote pregnancy.]  This warning from St. Paul applies;  “For those who recieve (Eucharist / Communion) unworthily… For this reason many are weak & sick among you” 1Corinthians 11. 29-30

That’s wonderful that you found an alternative therapy to help you, but oral contraception helps a lot of women for various ailments, myself included.  You’re making very large generalizations.  I wish we could all understand that there are millions of people in this country, and we all have different bodies, and it’s each woman’s right to decide (hopefully in an educated way) what is right for her own body.  Assuming that all women are coerced or duped by doctors is offensive.  There are a lot of very smart women out there who are able to make their own decisions, again, myself included. 

Your article did not mention the higher risk of blood clots.  I know of two people who had pulmonary embolisms and were in danger of dying.  In both cases, the doctors (different
doctors in different states) stated the cause was birth control pills.   Another pulmonary doctor told me that most cases involving young women are caused by the pill. 

                19 yrs ago I learned most
profoundly the meaning of this statement, when my son was 11 and a boy, not
even his close friend, told me he would do sacrifices for my son’s vocation. He
never noticed, but those words hit me like I had heard the voice of God, that
moment. Those words shat thru me, changing me into someone I had never been
before. Since then, that statement 
lights my life at every level, not like a lighthouse in the fog, not
like headlights of my car in the rain, not like a candle during prayers, but
like the sun, brilliantly detailing the intricacy of how love rules every
moment, every thought, every step, every temptation to not.
                Nine years ago, my husband and I
moved to Omaha, NE. and shortly after, I went to volunteer at a large parish of
mostly Spanish people. Very quickly it became evident what God was drawing my
eyes to see. The Hispanics have NO ACCESS to Natural Family Planning here,
none. The parishes don’t teach it, the radio station tells all about free love,
and their doctors press them ferociously to use contraceptives but better yet
to get sterilized, that is the most practical of all. To date, I have met two
24 yrs old sterilized at 21, irrationally pressed by their doctors to do so.
Countless of married women are been sterilized without knowing what they
signed, and some never signed anything, just went to deliver her second or
third child.
                So I became a Natural Family Planning
teacher and I use this statement in my classes as an introduction to Natural
Family Planning. What would you do for love?
                The classes teach couples how to
use their conjugal fertility strategically as to space their children according
to their plans, life styles, financial situations, even careers and vacations,
using what is there naturally already, the rhythm of nature. No, it’s not the
rhythm method, nor the calendar method, but the understanding of how to notice
one’s own fertile time.
                We, women, learn to know the
time of fertility, the moment of ovulation. Try it, it’s incredibly
empowering.  It is true control of one’s
own body, one’s own sensations, one’s own choices, yes, one’s own choices are then
blatantly clear.
                As opposed to what??? Any woman
using contraception will tell you about the headaches, sore breasts, moodiness,
weight gain, depression, and some more sensitive ones will tell you that they
know they are used, just used, not loved.
                Some may be aware of the side
effects, worst yet are the consequences:  the many cancers killing women the past 30 yrs,
such as breast, cervical or ovarian cancer, permanent changes to the cervix, blood
clots, birth defects of the children conceived while on the pill, strokes,
shrinking womb, greater susceptibility to AIDS due to the weakening of the
immune system, irreversible bone loss, decreased libido, acne, hair loss, back
pain, and the knowledge that the pill does not always prevent pregnancies, so early
undetected abortions are a reality, no one knows just how frequently it happens.
                That brings back the initial
question. What would she do for love?…Take contraception, even though it may
kill her, for her guy?
                But, what would her guy do for
love?? Keep her on contraceptives to “love” her often? Or to take her off
contraceptives to love her deeply?
            Current statistic for divorce rates
is 51% across all faiths but it is .2% among NFP users, and for the  prayerful ones….? divorce rate is.02%.
               So what would you do for love?                                                                                                                                                      
Yolanda Bello http://theoutlawedgod.wordpress.com

And I would scream back “The government has no business in MY religion!”

Thank you for writing this, Ms. Giroux! The FDA in December said that it would have to consider new safety measures on newer forms of hormonal contraceptives because of the many reports of blood clotting. How horrible that women have to risk their lives for the FDA to realize that the dangers of hormonal contraceptives should be taken seriously. The fact that these problems have existed since the inception of the Pill and are ignored but so many doctors still push them while not knowing a thing about NFP methods is the real “war on women.”