In addition to providing safe, private, highly effective birth control, the pill also can offer many non-contraceptive health benefits. For example, the pill has been shown to decrease the risk of the most common cancers in women. One of these is ovarian cancer, the most lethal gynecological cancer in the United States. Research indicates that with 10 to 12 years of oral contraceptive use, a woman's risk of this deadly disease is reduced by 80 percent. This protection against ovarian cancer may be attributed to the suppression of ovulation and gonadtropins by the pill.
Endometrial cancer is the most common gynecological cancer in the United States.
Research indicates that oral contraceptives protect against this disease as well, by providing the progestins needed to oppose estrogenic stimulation. Although the rate of risk reduction may vary by the progestin formulation in the pill, the overall rate is about 50 percent. In addition to protection against ovarian and endometrial cancers, the pill can provide many other non-contraceptive health benefits, many of which can span a woman's lifetime. The health risks of pregnancy must be balanced with any potential health risks of the pill. There are a number of common misperceptions about the pill, and one of these is that it will cause weight gain.