Posted on 12/04/2017 3:34:09 PM PST by markomalley
When today’s feminists say “reproductive rights,” they’re usually referring to the “right” to taxpayer-funded abortion and contraceptives. But many feminists conveniently ignore a far more basic “reproductive right”: the right of a woman to know whether the prescriptions she takes may increase her chances of committing suicide. According to a new study, some do.
“In a study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, researchers in Denmark report that women taking hormonal contraceptives — like birth control pills, the patch, the ring and hormonal IUDs — have up to tripled the risk of suicide as women who never took hormonal birth control,” Time reports, adding:
Among women who used hormonal contraceptives currently or recently, the risk of attempting suicide was nearly double that of women who had never used contraceptives. The risk was triple for suicide. The patch was linked to the highest risk of suicide attempts, followed by IUD, the vaginal ring and then pills.
The study, published on November 17, followed nearly half a million women for an average of more than eight years. Notably, the risk for suicide and attempted suicide is still low. Of the women researchers tracked, 6,999 made a first suicide attempt and 71 committed suicide. Across the United States, overall suicide rates have risen from 11 per 100,000 individuals in 2006 to 13.26 in 2015. Women are more likely than men to attempt suicide, but men are more likely to succeed.
When compared with women who never used hormonal contraceptives, the suicide uptick among hormonal contraception users was alarming enough for researchers to conclude that “use of hormonal contraception was positively associated with subsequent suicide attempt and suicide.”
The study, which can be accessed here, has still not been picked up by mainstream news outlets such as The Washington Post and New York Times. Planned Parenthood, which was founded on “the revolutionary idea that women should have the information and care they need to live strong, healthy lives,” has also been silent, instead focusing on advocating for “birth control for all.”
The study, titled “Association of Hormonal Contraception With Suicide Attempts and Suicides,” follows a November 2016 study by the same researchers that discovered an alarming link between hormonal birth control and depression. Published in JAMA Psychiatry, that study found that women who used hormonal birth control had a 40 percent increased risk of depression after six months of use, compared to women who didn’t. Some types of hormonal contraceptives carried an even greater risk, and younger women were at even greater risk when using hormonal contraception.
Of the findings, the authors noted, “Health care professionals should be aware of this relatively hitherto unnoticed adverse effect of hormonal contraception.”
The 2016 study was more widely reported by the mainstream media, but a look back at Planned Parenthood’s press releases from that time period shows the nation’s largest abortion provider, which claims to be “an informed educator” for women’s reproductive health, once again said nothing.
Hormonal contraception has been around since 1960. According to the National Institutes of Health, hormonal contraceptives have been used by at least 500 million women alive today. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that more than half (53 percent) of girls aged 15-19 are on the pill.
With so many women and young girls using contraceptives, how did this seemingly obvious link between hormonal birth control, depression, and now suicide go “unnoticed”? Certainly, it’s an open secret among women who’ve experienced more than a few emotional mood swings. Moreover, what side effects do we still not know about for hormonal birth control? Could the pill also be causing anxiety, or other mental illnesses? What about physical side-effects?
There’s no shortage of money to study these questions. In 2015 alone, the contraceptive industry brought in $19.8 billion. The federal government has devoted huge resources to examining the pill, but rather than focus on side effects such as depression and suicide, it has devoted much more time to studying a woman’s ability to access birth control, essentially putting the cart before the horse.
Hormonal birth control was so liberating for modern women that, in the heat of it, we failed to demand the most basic knowledge that every patient has a “right” to know—information about the risks and potential side effects.
Instead of battling over who should pay for contraceptives, it would be wise for feminists and their allies at Planned Parenthood to take a step back and examine what we still don’t know about hormonal birth control and why. But don’t expect that to happen anytime soon. Planned Parenthood profits from prescribing “birth control,” making this research a potential financial problem for their goals.
Ultimately, it’s a woman’s choice whether contraceptives are right for her. But for those who really care about empowering women, a good place to start is by equipping them with the “right” to make an informed decision about their reproductive health. According to this latest research, their lives may depend on it.
“Humanae Vitae” and the Catholic Church’s continued solid stance on the matter solidified my decision to be confirmed Catholic.
Then again, denying your femininity, delaying childbirth for a time, or even altogether, resulting in a life that is increasingly lonely and self centered ....could also affect one’s psychological state.
Not to mention allowing yourself to be used by anyone who breathes.
After a while, it all becomes really empty. But that’s not supposed to happen — according to the feminists.
Wonder what the hara-kiri rate for transgenders will be in a few years? Probably double the homosexual suicide or homicide rates? An unhappier/unsatisfied lot you’ll never find.
With some of these studies, there are other things going on in someone’s life. Sometimes those other things contribute to a state of depression and suicidal tendencies.
I’m sure they must try to “control” for that, but I’m not convinced they always get it right.
I take these sorts of revelations with a grain of salt.
If my significant other were using these types of contraceptives, I’d sure be on top of it to see if she couldn’t use something else.
I was detailed on competing medications for nearly 30 years. One company would come in with their information. A second and sometimes a third would come in with theirs.
There were always conflicting findings. After a while you realized you couldn’t always take these studies as the ‘absolute truth’, you would like to.
I would caution folks not to accept this report without listening to rebuttal arguments.
I suspect there is a real likelihood the impact of these finding will become less significant over time, as other information becomes available.
So just when she's supposed to be carefree and certifiably sterile, she's cranky, affectively dulled and really hard to jolly into it.
So if she does it, she feels used, and if she doesn't he feels cheated for no good reason, since she's supposed to be really into it now that she can't get pregnant.
With all the risks of copying the current politicized language, I daresay it's part of the long-running War on Women: that is, women as women really are: women who ovulate, conceive, gestate, lactate: fully functioning and complete in every detail.
That's because we --- men and women --- have somehow become convinced that men don't want real whole natural women. They want boys with boobs.
Hormones control almost everything in your body, and your body keeps them all in a very narrow range. Messing with these ranges is going to have major consequences for a person’s body.
Expanding on that, straights, gays, and transgenders are probable the three tiered groups.
The baseline would be the straights.
The increased suicide rates might be expected among homosexuals.
The highest suicide rates of the three groups, might be expected to be among the transgenders.
I don’t gain pleasure from this assumption. I just suspect it’s the reality.
IMO, God knew from the beginning what the best lifestyle would be, and He laid that lifestyle out as the model to be adopted.
As we veer off God’s plans in life, we generally run into varying degrees of trouble. Some folks then blame God.
I’d like to suggest folks re-connect to God, try to follow His game plan, and see if that doesn’t resolve a big portion of the depression they experience.
Striving to live a good life, has it’s rewards.
I will say that I am a great big sinner. I certainly do not think all straights live on some high moral plane above Homosexual and Transgenders.
We all have our work cut out for us.
Please identify the differences between the two respective characterizations.
While correlation does not show cause and effect - this is interesting..
It is strange that I had just looked at some older studies - and have wondered if BC is at the center of our societal decay.. I think it likely could do Permanent harm.
This shouldn’t be new - I remember talking to a lady back in the ‘70s that said the BC made her feel bad and cry all the time. I think the FDA has been looking the other way due to PC politics..
It is not a good idea to try to fool mother nature.. the endocrine system is much too complex for humans to truly understand.
1962 - when BC was introduce really changed the world - I don’t think for the better.
I’d be glad to attempt an answer, but I’m not quite sure what you mean.
It’s true, I HAVE been feeling rather thud-headed today.
Could you rephrase your question?
Hormonal birth control is like spaying in dogs ... it’s such a handy thing that nobody really wants to know about the downside. And I think it’s the same with vaccination.
The veterinary profession is starting to find this out.
You referenced, in the last sentence of your previous post, one characterization of women that you alleged men don’t want and one characterization of women that you alleged men do want.
My request is for an in-real-life differentiation between women you feel match the first characterization and women you feel match the second characterization.
“Then again, denying your femininity, delaying childbirth for a time, or even altogether, resulting in a life that is increasingly lonely and self centered ....could also affect one’s psychological state.”
This could be the root cause of the depression, not necessarily the chemical makeup of the pill.
Messing with Mother Nature will have its consequences.
Hey!
As long as they have a true, scientific control group of women who’ve never taken hormonal birth control....
PERHAPS THEY COULD INVESTIGATE THEIR RATE OF BREAST CANCER?
Extensive birth control and abortion put together fueled depopulation. Depopulation is not a good thing. The short film “Demographic Winter”. Gave some explanation about that.
It kinda makes sense.Mess with a person’s basic chemistry and you never know what unintended,unpleasant,consequences might ensue.
For purely shallow reasons, I didn’t want to go on the pill when I got married. I didn’t want to gain weight. Predictably, we had our first baby almost ten months to the day of our wedding.
It was later that that I learned about all the negatives of hormonal birth control and I am so grateful that I never took it. And even more thankful that we have the three unplanned blessings who would never be here if we were “careful”.
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