The Birth Control Patch

Filed in archive Birth Control on February 2, 2007

Teenage pregnancies seem to be on the decline. This is good news. However, the rate is still far too high. Statistics taken from Family First Aid indicate that there are over 800,000 such pregnancies ever year, the majority to unwed mothers.

Kids in their teens, with raging hormones and little thought of the consequences, don't want to mess with condoms. They forget to take their pills and have no idea, nor do they care, about how the rhythm method works. They need a simpler method that they don't need to think about every day or every time they have sex.

Ortho Evra offers just such a solution - the birth control patch. How does it work? Kids Health tells us:

The combination of the hormones progesterone and estrogen in the patch prevents ovulation (the release of an egg from the ovaries during a girl's monthly cycle). If an egg isn't released, a girl can't get pregnant because there's nothing for a guy's sperm to fertilize.

The hormones in the patch also thicken the mucus produced in the cervix (which sits within the vagina and acts as the opening to the uterus), making it difficult for sperm to enter and reach any eggs that may have been released. The hormones can also sometimes affect the lining of the uterus so that if the egg is fertilized it will have a hard time attaching to the wall of the uterus.

CAUTION!
Like the birth control pill, their can be serious side effects like blood clots. CBS News tells us that the FDA has issued a warning to users of the patch.
The Food and Drug Administration warned users of the popular Ortho Evra birth control patch that they are being exposed to more hormones, and are therefore at higher risk of blood clots and other serious side effects, than previously disclosed.

So it comes down to choices. A teenage pregnancy or the risk of health problems. The final decision is up to the parent.