Ep. 182: Why are women still complaining about birth control??

Why do women seem to be so fed up with birth control? I mean, they should just be grateful not to be pregnant, right? Wrong. Recently, a client sent me an article where researchers question the experience of women on birth control and I just had to respond. Maybe your own side effects and experiences have been doubted? Maybe you've been told it's all in your head? Well, that is unacceptable and today's episode dives into why. In this episode we talk about: 

• Birth control aspects that women most often complain about
• What some medical professionals say about birth control 
• Misinformation about birth control and natural birth control options
• Female empowerment and informed decision making 
• What the surge of fertility awareness methods suggests about women
• The power of the female community 

NOTE: This episode may not be appropriate for all audiences due to references to libido, condoms, etc. 

Resources: 

• Referenced NPR article
• Restorative Reproductive Medicine Academy
• Begin your own confident fertility awareness journey
• Substack article: Yes, why DO women keep saying birth control has side effects? 

Research: 

• https://www.bmj.com/content/388/bmj-2024-082801.long
• https://khn.org/news/large-danish-study-links-contraceptive-use-to-risk-of-depression/
• https://naturalwomanhood.org/new-shocking-reasons-hormonal-contraceptives-tank-womens-sex-drive/
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S001078242200213X#:~:text=The%20clinical%20trial%20used%20to,peak%20mucus%20as%20a%20surrogate.

Transcript

Caitlin Estes (00:00)
Welcome back to the Woven Well podcast. I read a story in the last few weeks that I just thought maybe I would reply to. It's not because this particular article is wildly different than all the others. I actually think it's a pretty good representation of articles that I've been seeing a lot of over the last few years, and people will send them to me every once in a while. If you ever see an interesting story that you think I might like, certainly send it my way. ⁓

But I just decided to reply to this one, respond to this one. Again, not because it's super special, but because I think the topic is really important. recently on NPR, there was a short story kind of questioning this increasingly common claim that birth control is dangerous. And in recent years, there really has been a noticeable backlash against the many side effects and risks of birth control. Some which are life threatening, like doubling the risk of heart attacks and strokes even in young healthy women and others that are more life-altering like increased likelihood of depression or decreased libido. So recognizing this NPR decided to ask some medical professionals for their opinion. What do you think those medical professionals said? I'll tell you three main things. One, birth control has long been considered safe. Two, alternatives are ineffective, and three, the greatest risk to women is an unexpected pregnancy. I gotta tell you, this is a prime moment for the women's healthcare industry to stand up and say, we hear you, we believe you, and we're gonna do better. Instead, what we get is, are you sure it's the birth control? 

Because control is safe, you know? Maybe you're mistaken. Are you really experiencing side effects? Could it just be stress? Not getting enough sleep? Aren't you just glad you're not pregnant? There is an enormous amount of researched and peer-reviewed data detailing the noted side effects of hormonal contraception. You don't have to look far to find that. I encourage you to look online for it and just type in your question and follow it with research or look up By Its Fruit. This is by Dr. Naomi Whittaker and she has so many research articles indexed there for you. The Restorative Reproductive Academy that she has, there's so much data available out there for you. You can find it. But even if there weren't these kind of studies,

The human experience should matter so much that any pain or troubling symptoms should be acknowledged and explored regardless. The response to the claim of birth control side effects should not be, you're mistaken, but let's explore this, period. There's really other no response in my opinion. Now, they've been provided information about these natural

So for those who cry misinformation about birth control, the data that they provided about natural alternatives was woefully deficient. In the article, it talks about the natural, and they're using quotes here, the natural methods that are being, again, pushed by online influencers instead of effective hormonal treatments. So those are their words, that these online influencers are pushing these natural alternatives instead of effective hormonal treatments. They say that it can be done using an app or by taking your temperature daily. And anyone who listens here, we've been putting out episodes for three years now, knows neither one of those things are universally true for fertility awareness methods.

You know, on our podcast, we educate our listeners about effective methods of fertility awareness and natural family planning all the time. Can you use temperature? Absolutely. But it's only one of several reproductive biomarkers that can be confidently used to avoid or conceive a pregnancy. So at Woven, Woven Natural Fertility Care, we don't use temperature at all, ⁓ which is really great for those of us who don't want to get up early every single day, even when we can sleep in or maybe you don't sleep through the night or get three hours of sleep at once. There are several reproductive biomarkers that you can use and it's important to understand that. But the article talks about the effectiveness of natural methods, their effectiveness data comes from the study of one app, not a modern evidence-based method. This is like using a condom to describe the effectiveness of contraception as a whole. Yeah, it's in the category of contraception, but is it an accurate picture of contraception's effectiveness and limits? Still, their study shows that even this app can be 91 to 92 percent effective at avoiding pregnancy, which I'll be honest, I was really impressed by that.

I mean, that's worth considering when the typical use effectiveness of the birth control pill is 93%. So ultimately, we're talking about a 1 % difference. 1%. Are they saying that 1 % is worth all the side effects and risks? Because it sounds like women are saying it's not.

Maybe women are saying repeatedly and with passion that their hormonal health, libido, mental health, cardiovascular health, and longevity and more are more important than a 1 % increase in the possibility that they'd conceive an unexpected pregnancy. The article states that the claims about birth control being dangerous are coming from TikTok influencers of poor quality.

Can I ask, how is the quality of a woman's experience to be measured? Is it by the platform on which she shares it? Is it the professionalism of her backdrop and camera? Is it the number of research studies that she quotes? What does she have to prove? Yeah, we don't deny it. The complaints are coming from average women who are experiencing side effects on birth control.

But this article suggests that we ought to go to the medical professionals for their opinions instead. My question is, who can tell us more about their experience on birth control? The women taking it or the doctor prescribing it? When will we believe women? When will we value their experience? They want to know why these complaints about birth control side effects just keep coming?

Because women just keep experiencing them. We're repeatedly assured that that couldn't be the case. And instead of nodding our heads and feeling silly for having asked in the first place, we are using our collective voice in the only way we know how. On social media and in bathrooms and coffee shops and church lobbies, we are passing along to others what we found to work for us.

Why are natural approaches taking off? Why are so many women turning to natural family planning options? Well, for one thing, they're effective. We're not living in the 19th century and neither are our fertility awareness methods. We know more about the female body today than ever before, and that knowledge is accessible to you and practical for women. For another, these natural methods do not demonize our female bodies, but teach us the care, nurture, and respect of them. I've got to tell you how this article ended because it is still sticking with me a couple of weeks later. It was with a quote by a doctor reminding women that their greatest risk of all would be an unplanned pregnancy.

A response to that is an episode for another day, but what I will say is that many women are tired of being told that their birth control can't be dangerous, but their own bodies can. This is why women across the political and religious spectrum are picking up the use of modern, evidence-based fertility awareness methods.

These methods acknowledge the female design, not as a disease to be treated or a risk to be mitigated, but as a design that contributes to our health and is simply an expected part of being female. We are not less than because we are female and we do not have to become more male in order to be equal. Fertility awareness methods validate our concerns for our health and our need for knowledge about our periods, hormones, and fertility. Fertility awareness methods say to women, your body is cool and you're capable of understanding it, which I affirm. Fertility awareness methods celebrate our potential to bear children and our ability to participate in that choice. Yes, there are risks to pregnancy, yet women make that choice every day.

Women using fertility awareness methods make that choice every day. We're not victims. We can be informed participants. Why is this not okay? Why are women belittled and made to feel like extremists for making this informed choice? Yeah, women are talking. And this fertility education is healthier and more empowering and it's spreading like wildfire among women.

Modern evidence-based fertility awareness methods are being used by green environmentalists, conservative homemakers, die-hard feminists, Christian moderates, and everyone in between. And those are from my clients, okay? Why? Because this is not a political issue or a religious issue. It's a dignity issue. Instead of hearing our frustrations and our pain, validating them and responding with suggestions and solutions, we're told, that can't be true.

This is the best option for you and really you should be grateful. We disagree. Women don't have to be medical researchers in order to understand their anatomy and physiology. Women don't need to be doctors in order to make informed decisions about their health and family planning. Women don't need to have a degree to have a valid opinion and experience. Yeah, we're talking about it.

Single women, married women, left-leaning women, right-leaning women, Catholic women, Protestant women, career-focused women, home-focused women. We're talking about it on Substack, in living rooms, on podcasts, in group chats, and yes, even on TikTok. We're talking. The question is, will they listen? These are the kind of conversations that we want to have with women. No matter what kind of woman. And if you want to join us, listen each week and take a minute to leave a review so that other women are more likely to see our episodes and hear our information. Share this episode or another favorite with a friend. If you prefer written content, then we have articles like these. In fact, this was originally on Substack, available on our Substack at wovenfertility.substack.com. If you prefer to watch, we're on YouTube as well. Yes.

Women like you and me are talking about the things that matter most to us. It may not be fancy, but it's real, and that's powerful. As always, thanks for listening as we continue to explore together what it means to be woven well.