From: tas@pegasus.com (Len Howard)
Newsgroups: talk.abortion
Subject: Re: safe contraceptives (was Response to "Bible and Abortion")
Summary: risk figures of contraceptives vs no contraceptives
Keywords: relative risk
Date: 8 Apr 92 03:05:10 GMT
Followup-To: talk.abortion
Organization: Pegasus,  Honolulu

In article <1992Apr6.164237.2688@shinobu.sgi.com> cj@eno.corp.sgi.com (C J Silverio) writes:
>In article <1992Apr6.004458.29336@pegasus.com>, Len Howard writes:
>|In article <SFRAZIER.92Apr2170709@cs.ulowell.edu> sfrazier@cs.ulowell.edu (Scott Frazier) writes:
>|>[...] Personally, I
>|>believe that the abortion issue will not be settled until a safe,
>|>affordable, reversible, and 100% effective female contraceptive is
>|>available.  
>|Scott, please excuse me for intruding, but I must submit that a safe,
>|affordable, reversible, and >99% effective female contraceptive IS
>|available now, and it is just not being used.  Oral contraceptives
>|meet close to your criteria. [...]
>Safe?  *I* won't use it.  The side effects can be too
>extreme.  The increased risk of cancer is not a risk
>I'd like to take.  Would *you* accept those side-effects?
>Some women can't take the Pill. Those women deserve
>better alternatives.
>cj@eno.corp.sgi.com      C J Silverio/Brahms Gang/Berkeley CA 94720

CJ, I don't know if you are male or female, but since you say *YOU*
won't use them, I will assume you are female.  Due to the flap
surrounding everything on this group, I think it is necessary to
provide the medical evidence so people can judge for themselves about
the safty or effectiveness of the OCs.  OBVIOUSLY, it is safer to use
abstainence as a method of birth control, but I doubt that many will
accept that.  So we are left with comparing the risks of the various
methods of birth control with the risks of pregnancy.  And here are
the figures.

Estimates of Mortality from Contraceptive use.
 
The table indicates the mortality rate associated with different
methods of contraception at different ages.  These estimates
include the combined risk of death associated with contraceptive
methods plus the risk attributable to pregnancy in the event of
method failure.  Each method of contraception has its specific
benefits and risks.  The study concluded that with the exception
of oral-contraceptive users 35  and older who smoke and 40 and
older who do not smoke, mortality associated with all methods of
birth control is less than that associated with childbirth.  This
information is based on older birth control pill dosages reported
in 1983.  The pills in use at the present time are much lower
does which has resulted in the finding by the FDA that OCs in
non-smokers are safe for use to age 50.
 
Annual number of Birth-related or Method-related Deaths
associated with control of fertility per 100,000 nonsterile
women, by fertility control method according to age.
 
Method of   15-19   20-24     25-29     30-34     35-39   40-44
control
None **     7.0     7.4       9.1       14.8      25.7      28.2
 
OC non-     0.3     0.5       0.9       1.9       13.8      31.6
smoker
OC smoker   2.2     3.4       6.6       13.5      51.1      117.2
 
IUD*        0.8     0.8       1.0       1.0       1.4       1.4
 
Condom      1.1     1.6       0.7       0.2       0.3       0.4
 
Diaph/      1.9     1.2       1.2       1.3       2.2       2.8
spermicide
Periodic    2.5     1.6       1.6       1.7       2.9       3.6
abstinence
 
*Deaths are method related    ** Deaths are birth related only
All other figures are method + birth related deaths.
 
This information is taken from the PDR, the MOST conservative
source possible.  I don't think there is any basis for any
allegation that the OCs are not safe as long as they are not used
in the contraindicated conditions, which are as follows:
Thrombophlebitis or thromboembolic disorders
Past History of above
Cerebral-vascular or coronary-artery disease
Known or suspected cancer of the breast
Cancer of the endometrium or other estrogen dependent neoplasia
Undiagnosed abnormal genital bleeding
Cholestatic jaundice of pregnancy or jaundice with prior OC use.
Hepatic adenomas or carcinomas
Known or suspected pregnancy.
 
As you can see, there is a significant risk to pregnancy itself.
There is no such thing as risk-free life.  The death rate from
auto accidents is much higher than from pregnancy.
So let's not try to confuse the issue by unsubstantiated claims. 
If, for some reason, one does not wish to use OCs, that is fine. 
But that does not make the method unsafe for others.  There is
too much sensationalism associated with birth control pills in
the media as it is, because it will sell newspapers due to the
millions of women taking the pills.  So let's keep our facts
separate from our prejudices.
 
Shalom,                          Len Howard MD