Birth Control Health Center

News and Features Related to Birth Control

31. Which Birth Control Pill Is Safest?
    

    Aug. 13, 2009 -- When it comes to the risk of blood clots, some oral contraceptive pills are safer than others, according to new studies by European researchers. "Oral contraceptives with levonorgestrel and a low dose of estrogen are associated with the lowest risk of venous thrombosis [blood clots]

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32. Testosterone Tested as Male Contraceptive
    

    May 6, 2009 -- After decades of delay, hormonal birth control for men may be a step closer to reality. Monthly injections of a testosterone-based contraceptive were 99% effective for preventing partner pregnancy in what researchers say is the largest trial ever of a hormone-based male birth control

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33. The New No-Period, No-PMS Birth Control Pills
    

    In the beginning, there was Seasonale -- the continuous birth control pill that offered women four periods a year. Women grabbed the chance to opt out of their periods. If you don't need it, why put up with it? Today, "the pill" has been finessed even more, with lighter-period or no-period birth con

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34. More Women Ask for Birth Control
    

    Aug. 13, 2008 -- More U.S. women are getting birth control services, according to a national data review. Researcher Jennifer Frost, DrPH, with the Guttmacher Institute in New York, analyzed data from women ages 15 to 44 who were surveyed as part of the National Survey of Family Growth. Information

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35. Birth Control Pill Yasmin Goes Generic
    

    June 24, 2008 -- The birth control pill Yasmin is about to get a generic version, and a generic version of the oral contraceptive Yaz is also in the works. That news comes from Bayer, the drug company that makes Yasmin and Yaz, and Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc., which will market generic Yasmin and Yaz

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36. Doctors Not Telling Women About Plan B
    

    June 19, 2008 -- Despite widespread misinformation about emergency contraception -- the so-called morning-after pill -- only 3% of women's doctors discuss Plan B with them. The finding comes from data collected during face-to-face interviews with 7,643 women aged 15 to 44. The interviews were conduc

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37. No More Periods
    

    Karen Manser hated her periods. "I just had a horrible time. They made me miserable. Sometimes I would lay curled up like a little ball in the bed in pain." So she did something drastic: she stopped her periods cold. At 44, she hasn't menstruated in 10 years. Now, women are quickly catching on to wh

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38. Contraceptive Pill: Cancer Protection
    

    Jan 24, 2008 -- Oral contraceptives cut women's risk of ovarian cancer for more than 30 years after they stop taking them -- giving the pill a net anticancer effect. Each five-year interval of oral contraceptive use cuts a woman's ovarian cancer risk by up to 29%. The longer a woman uses the pill, t

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39. Stronger Warning for Birth Control Patch
    

    Jan. 18, 2008 -- The FDA today strengthened its warning on the risk of serious blood clots in women using the Ortho Evra birth control skin patch. The warning about venous thromboembolism -- clots in veins that may be life-threatening if they travel to the lungs and cause pulmonary embolism -- isn't

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40. Long-Term Birth Control: New Implants and Patches
    

    Birth control pills aren't for everyone. If you've forgotten your pills too many times -- or can't take them -- there are plenty of options. The birth control patch (Ortho Evra), vaginal ring (NuvaRing), and three types of birth control implants (Mirena, Implanon, and Essure) offer long-term birth c

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