In my senior year of high school, I started taking a birth control pill to prepare for going to college. To me, starting the pill symbolized full body autonomy: I was able to utilize a product which second-wave feminism passionately fought for back in the 1960s and regulate my menses to make life more convenient. Prior to starting the pill, I imagined myself as a superwoman who, without the cramping, acne, and mood swings, would be unstoppable. To me, and millions of other women, the pill was the miracle drug.
Image Credit: www.popsci.com
Unfortunately, with most “miracle drugs,” there are side effects: The Pill was no exception. For three months, I suffered a myriad of symptoms my gynecologist had only vaguely mentioned to me. I remember her rattling off a multitude of effects from the Pill, ranging from irregular bleeding to depression to strokes. But the most worrying comment from her was that there was no way I could know which side effects I would have. She advised me to just start taking the pill and follow up with her every so often to make sure I was doing okay.
After a few years of frustrating side effects from the Pill, I decided to do a little digging as to why we are so ill-informed about it and other birth control methods. My major consideration was this: How could the FDA approve a drug with such a wide range of side effects, and with so little knowledge of who would experience these side effects? A bit of research led me to uncovering the dark history of the birth control pill.
In the 1950s, doctors John Rock and Gregory Pincus were desperate to create the first contraceptive pill and build a high demand for the drug’s potential market. Unfortunately, because of the conservative politics at the time, it was difficult to find volunteers to participate in trials needed to get the FDA’s approval. Eventually, a controversial solution was decided: The scientists decided to outsource the testing to the United States Territory of Puerto Rico. Their primary subjects were impoverished women of color who were not sufficiently informed of the contraceptive effects.
When the first trial started out, the doctors found that while the Pill was 100% effective when taken consistently and properly, the subjects suffered severe side effects including headaches and vomiting. The researching doctors credited the subjects’ complaints as being psychosomatic, meaning that these negative reactions were just caused by the psychological factors affected by starting a new medication. Rock and Pincus claimed the nausea, pain, and other adverse effects the women suffered were “all in their head.” There were even three deaths related to the Pill, though these deaths were never investigated. No further investigation was conducted to help prevent or understand the side effects. Soon after, the Pill was approved by the Food and Drug Administration and became readily available for women all over the United States.
By today’s standards; researchers, activists, and the general population would likely be horrified by the procedure used to meet FDA approval. Relatively risky medical trials had been outsourced to impoverished women of color who were ill-informed of the medication’s consequences. What’s worse, the accurate descriptions of side effects from trial subjects were ignored and seen as nothing more than complaining.
Fortunately, the Pill has gone through extensive (and ethically-driven) development since the 1950s and is a relatively safe medication. Unfortunately, because the adverse reactions were never properly studied, women taking the Pill today continue to be bitterly reminded of science’s failure to explain why our bodies react the way they do while taking the Pill.
As new technology is developed for women’s health, it is becoming more crucial to advocate for conduct of ethical and thorough research. Even today, doctors sometimes ignore the complaints of female patients and don’t provide the proper preventative care or treatment for them. With an increase of women in medical positions, both in research and as practicing doctors, as well as the continuously evolving ethical regulations, the hope is that we can understand and benefit women’s health in the future.
Bonus Feature
While conducting my extensive research, I found a cool interactive article which demonstrates how the Pill affects the menstrual cycle and female hormones.
You can find it here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/pill/sfeature/sf_cycle.html. If you are currently taking the Pill or are considering taking it, or you’re just a biology nerd, this is definitely the interactive activity for you!
With Love From HC,
Liz
Source:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/pill/peopleevents/e_puertorico.html