Risky New Illinois Law Will Allow Women to Access Hormonal Birth Control Pills from Pharmacist

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker recently signed a bill that would allow women to access hormonal birth control pills over the counter. While this may sound well and good, it could put thousands at risk.

About 25.1% of women who are sexually active choose oral contraception, also known as the birth control pill. Many consider it one of the easiest options to prevent pregnancy—however, it also can cause women to experience varying degrees of complications.

Oral contraception works by having women take one pill a day, with three weeks being the hormone and one week that’s a placebo. Essentially, the pill releases progesterone, a hormone produced during pregnancy, to mimic the condition so the woman stops ovulating. In addition, it also thickens the “cervical mucus to keep sperm from entering the uterus” and “thins the lining of the uterus so that a fertilized egg is less likely to attach.”

But this can result in complications, ranging from mild to severe. Some of these mild reactions can include: spotting between periods, nausea, breast tenderness, headaches and migraines, weight gain, mood changes, missed periods, decreased libido, vaginal discharge and eye changes.

Generally, some women have also felt physically and emotionally terrible while taking the pill and made the decision to stop it.

The effort of attempting to prevent pregnancy can also result in death, with roughly 300 to 400 women dying every year due to blood clots caused by hormonal birth control.

For example, a British woman died while on vacation in the United States after she developed deep vein thrombosis, a potentially deadly blood clot, during her flight from the U.K. to San Francisco. Doctors determined that her birth control was the likely culprit.

A young 20-year-old woman in North Carolina died due to blood clots in her lungs caused by birth control pills, which she received from Planned Parenthood. She had complained about back pain and was seen at an urgent care clinic, but physicians were unable to diagnose the actual problem, attributing the issue to “muscle-strain.”

A citizen petition against the use of hormonal contraception, specifically estrogen-progesterone and progesterone-only pills, has suggested that the pills can increase the risk of breast cancer, cervical cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, systemic lupus erythematosus, depression and suicide, and venous thrombosis and cardiovascular events. There are also some others, including multiple sclerosis, bone fractures, body mass effects and urogenital problems.

The pill is also not just prescribed for birth control, but also used to help women with acne as well.

Though every drug carries risk, these potential life-threatening and life-altering complications are rarely mentioned to women, especially at a location like Planned Parenthood.

One comment gathered for the petition explains, “2 years ago, my daughter died from a blood clot in her brain caused by the birth control, Yasmin. It was prescribed to her for acne and she believed it was safe. She had no risk factors, no clotting disorders. In the hospital, the doctors told us they see 3-5 patients EVERY WEEK with blood clots from birth control. That’s one hospital in a small metropolitan area in Wisconsin. I can’t imagine what other hospitals are experiencing…”

If a drug can result in these types of complications and death, why is it being given out with minimal oversight in the state of Illinois? Because the abortion industry wants it.

After signing the bill, Planned Parenthood Illinois Action tweeted, “Thank you Gov. Pritzker for signing HB135, improving #birthcontrol access through direct pharmacy dispensing! Still, more needs to be done to expand access for all. 26 states have already expanded Medicaid coverage for family planning services. It is time for IL to do the same.”

Planned Parenthood doesn’t care about the lives of preborn babies, but it also clearly doesn’t care about the women who are being given birth control pills either. What this bill does is allow women to access birth control without a physician’s supervision, which is more likely to result in complications and abortions as well, which is a boon to the abortion industry.

It also puts women at massive risk because they think because it’s simply available from a pharmacist that it’s safe, when that isn’t entirely the case.

Every woman has the right to choose the contraception method that works best for her, but women should also be aware of what risks there might be to their health and life. Making birth control pills readily available, without a physician’s oversight, is not a great idea.

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