Long Term Effects Of Birth Control (Essay Example)

In modern-day America, the attention is on birth control and all of the benefits of taking it, but the adverse effects have not had much time in the spotlight until these past five years. These effects have a significant impact on women daily, especially teenagers. Every packet of birth control comes with an information sheet listing every possible side effect, yet women all across America continue taking the pill. Research has proven that birth control has very detrimental side effects and can be very harmful. The type of birth control that causes these side effects is the pill, so birth control should have an age requirement. An age requirement would be a policy rather than an action, because the age requirement would have to be set and go through different groups and organizations that make it a policy.

Birth control can severely affect teenagers with depression short term and long term; almost half of the women that use birth control as teenagers are at a higher risk of the depression years later. People don't always realize the severe long-term effects of the pill on teenagers and all women in general. A study showed, "The use of oral contraceptives during the teenage years can have an enduring effect on a woman's risk for depression." Many women and men think that the pill is an easy and safe way for women to prevent pregnancy and many other things that the medication can offer, but birth control has many effects on a person's well-being. The pill changes the hormones in a woman's body and can make someone a completely different person without even realizing that it is affecting their mental and physical health. Depression may not make sense to most or even seem like anything to be genuinely worried about, but depression has led to 700,000 suicides. It is a severe cause to be concerned about, especially in teenagers, when dealing with depression and school. Most teenagers are managing jobs; the unwanted and added stress can be a lot of teenagers. Depression is a severe matter and can lead to suicide, and many teenagers struggle with this daily.

Birth control is a very needed product in America. It lessens the chances of abortions, health issues, and many more. However, with the damaging effects on women, physical and mental, with all of the issues it can cause, something needs to be done to protect the millions of women and teens in America. A few suggestions for a possible fix to the problems this medication causes could be; altogether banning the pill, adding an age restriction to ensure that the female taking the pill is of an appropriate age to deal with the outcomes of the pill. A once-a-year evaluation to see how the pill affects the specific individual and if they need to be taken off the medication or switched to a different dosage. Due to long-term effects even after getting off the pill, adding an age restriction would stop the side effects at such an early age and minimize the long-term fallout.

Adding any age restriction on medication has to go through the FDA. Which then leads to taking a deeper look into the pill. Looking at the pros and the cons to see which outweighs the other. When a medication has more pros than cons, the entire process of the age restriction gets thrown out, but because of the potentially life-threatening issues that birth control causes, there would not be any doubt that it would get passed. Since this solution has to go through the FDA, it is a policy.

Adding an age restriction on a contraceptive such as birth control can help the users in many different ways. Making the pill only accessible to people 18 or older allows women to fully grow into what most consider the "adult" age. In addition, birth control has many side effects teenagers should not have to encounter, such as depression, anxiety, and many internal health issues. 18 is when most females are almost entirely developed and are no longer growing, and studies have shown what drugs can do to teenagers when they have not had time to develop fully. Suicide is a severe and genuine thing that happens in teens' lives daily, a medication that could add or multiply to that is just not worth it, regardless of the benefits.

Birth control has many positives and has been proven to help millions and work miracles, so banning the pill is not the route to go. It is a great medication and helps with many different internal and external health issues. However, there are more cons than pros regarding the medication.

Research has shown all of the various effects of taking the pill and how much it negatively affects the women of America. A medicine that is solely designed to help women with painful periods and many more health benefits, yet it hinders the happiness of the drug users. These issues prove that taking the pill at such a young age is not worth it.