Health tip

6 Things You Need to Know About the Pill
By Karen Springen

The pill prevents your body from producing its own hormones

All Pills that contain estrogen and progestin prevent pregnancy by stopping ovulation and by thickening the cervical mucus. They prevent your body from putting out its own estrogen and progesterone so you’re not double-dosing on hormones.

Not everyone can take the Pill

The death risk for smokers over 35 is six times higher than for nonsmokers and women with a history of blood clots, heart attack, stroke, liver disease, or breast cancer should consider different options.

The Pill won't make you infertile

Women over 35 who run into trouble getting pregnant when they go off the Pill should blame their age, not the oral contraceptive, says Columbia University OB/GYN Dr. Katharine O’Connell.

You don't need to take a break from the Pill

“Take a break when you want to get pregnant,” says Dr. Anita Nelson, an OB/GYN professor at UCLA. “Otherwise, there’s no reason to stop.”

The Pill is not an egg preserver

Eggs still sit in your ovaries, get old, and die off. “Both the quality and quantity will decrease, regardless of whether you’re on birth-control pills,” says Dr. Melissa Gilliam, an OB/GYN at the University of Chicago.

The Pill doesn't raise breast-cancer risk

And, in fact, it decreases the chance of ovarian cancer by 30 to 50 percent and of endometrial cancer by 30 percent.