Page 8
University Daily Kansan, December 7, 1987
8
Birth control pills convenient, effective but risky
By JANICE GUNN Staff Reporter
Consider these facts:
- Birth control pills cause 300-350 deaths a year.
- deaths by 2014.
• Of the 8 million women who use them,
70,000 become pregnant anyway.
- annual studies prove some women pil-users increase their risk of developing harmful or fatal side effects such as blood clotting disorders, fetal birth defects, gallbladder disease, liver tumors, jaundice, abnormally high blood pressure, vision loss or cancer of the liver, liver cysts or breast.
- Commonly, women develop pill-related complications such as severe headaches, weight gain, irrational moodiness, swelling breasts, darkening of facial skin pigments or a noticeable loss or gain of appetite.
According to a leading physician and expert on contraceptive technology, Robert Hatcher, it is difficult to determine why some women develop serious complications and others do not.
Hatcher is the director of the Emory University Family planning program and an associate professor of gynecology and obstetrics in Atlanta.
Women run a higher risk of developing the serious disorders listed above the older they are, and if they are smokers, have family histories of blood clotting, heart attacks, strokes, gallbladder disease, cancer, or if they suffer epilepsy, asthma, hypertension or migraine headaches.
However, some women who are perfect candidates for taking the pill—women 19 years old and good family or medical histories—still die or suffer serious
complications from taking the pill. Hatcher said in a recent interview.
Patty, a 21-year-old Overland Park senior, said she used the pill for almost three years but switched to the diaphragm recently because she was afraid of the side effects she experienced and other risks of the pill.
"I feel much better using a diaphragm because they really don't know the effects of the pill yet," Patty said. "The pill changes your body with chemical hormones and I don't like that. I feel much better with the diaphragm. If you have to harm your body for sex, it is not worth it."
With every woman's new supply of the pill, the Food and Drug Administration requires the supplier to include a pamphlet that points out well-known risks of taking the pill to women as well as risks they may not know.
But 8 million American women take the pill despite the risks because it is the most effective and convenient method available to free women of the worry of unwanted pregnancies, Hatcher said.
Repeatedly in medical studies, the pill proves to be 99 percent effective. Alternative methods of birth control, such as the IUD, condoms, foam, diaphragms with spermicide and the method, can be 53-94 percent effective.
Of more than 20 women who are college-age or older and presently take the pill or have taken it in the past, most experienced a pill-related complications.
None of the younger women had experienced serious complications or had taken the pill over five years. Some of the women who were over 20 and took the pill longer, however, did experience serious complications.
Hatcher said that women who took the pill for an extended length of time
could develop more serious problems that would surface later in their lives.
Marcy, a 52-year-old Kansas City area woman, took the pill for eight years until she was 47, as prescribed by her doctor to help regulate her menstrual cycle as well as to deter an unwanted pregnancy.
"to took them for that long, past when I should have, until I finally switched doctors and was taken off of them," Marcy said. "suffered impaired vision and got more varicose veins along with feeling depressed all the time."
Debbie, a 31-year-old Kansas City area woman, said that for the first three years she used the pill, the only medication she needed, a feeling of depression for no reason.
"I used the pill for a total of four years, and during the fourth year, I developed abnormally high blood pressure." Debbie Kane said. "I put the pill again, but I think the pill is the safest form a woman could use if she doesn't want a baby."
The younger women also experienced side effects, but they were less severe. A few experienced no complications.
"My experience with the pill was real scary. I had side effects on the lowest dosage they give," Lydia said. "I fainted in the bathroom one time at work and had dizzy spells. My doctor said I would never be able to them."
Lydia, a 21-year-old Wichita junior, said she took the pill for only two months when she first needed a birth control method three years ago.
Another 20-year-old student who is married, Rebecca, said she had no side effects from the pill, but would not take them for an extended period of time.
"For me, with going to college and working, we couldn't afford to have a baby right now, so I have to take the
pill," she said. "The pill is the easiest method of birth control for me because having an abortion isn't an option we would consider. I’m considered a low-risk pill-taker by my gynecologist, but I still don’t take them too long because they have absolutely no idea what all the effects are."
Besides the effectiveness, some women prefer spontaneity in their sex lives that using the pill allows, Hatcher said. Other methods require women to take the time to apply spermicide or insert a diaphragm.
"It's not a rational process for a woman to decide what to use," Hatcher said. "The woman might want to consider her lifestyle and pattern of sexual behavior before she chooses a contraceptive."
If she is careless and might leave the spermicide or diapragm behind, the better form of contraception for that woman is the pill, but on the other hand, some women are careless about taking the pill very morning, he said.
Joan, a 21-year-old Topeka senior, said she experienced weight gain and headaches from the pill but took them because they were the most effective
"I've tried other contraceptive forms and if you were in a prolonged relationship, I think any other form would be awkward," she said.
Susan, a 22-year-old Wichita senior, said she had nausea for the first two months she took the pill, but her doctor said she wasn't pregnant. A few months she had no complications.
"I strongly support the pill," Susan said. "I've had no problems. I can find as many people who support it as do not. I am a smoker, so as I get older, I simply take it four years and then go off a year, but if I need to, I'd go right back on them."
Kansan finds challenges in the priesthood
By MICHAEL ROBINSON Staff Reporter
Vince Krische is a tall, lean man
Although his dark brown hair is laced with gray, he looks much younger than his 43 years. He has the quiet, young looking face of a reserved Dek Van
There is nothing physically striking about Krische, and he seems to be a soft-spoken, ordinary middle-age Kansan.
Vince Krische is a Roman Catholic priest.
But the life this middle-age Kansan leads is far from ordinary.
"I love the freedom," he said. "It seems as if the whole world is open to you.
And to the many Catholic students at
the University, he is known as the head
of the St. Lawrence Catholic Campus
Center.
Krische has been a priest since 1964, and he said he was still not sure why he entered the priesthood. But he does know why he has stayed.
"I really love the challenge of the priesthood."
president.
That challenge presents itself to him constantly, he said.
He told of how, after returning from a trip, he received a phone call late one
ngent from Kentucky. The father of a KU student had died. The caller wanted the student to convey the news to her.
"It's a real powerful experience to go to a person and be there in that moment, to be able to share in really intimate or profound moments of people's lives, whether good or bad," he said.
Krische was born and reared in Topeka and attended Hayden High School there, a Catholic school. He was one of seven children.
"My mom and dad were active in the church." he said.
He said he had an uncle and an older brother who were also priests.
At the end of his senior year in high school, he decided to become a priest, and the next year he entered St. Thomas Seminary in Denver. He later went to Catholic University in Washington.
Before coming to the University five years ago, Krische was at a parish in Johnson County and then at Washburn University.
He said he enjoyed working at KU.
"I love the university environment, and I love higher education," he said.
"Here at the University of Kansas we have a microcosm of the world," he said. "We have people who will be in positions of leadership in the future."
love higher education. Krische said that the University was a gathering of many gifted people that being a campus priest allowed him to work with those people and challenge their principles and ideas.
"The greatest challenge is to seek to make the students' faith a vibrant and dynamic faith."
In trying to achieve that goal, Krische said, he ran into two problems. One is the number of students who are reluctant to contribute for some other form of religion.
rney say, 'I used to be a Catholic and now I'm a Christian.' That hurts," he said.
The other problem he has to contend with is lack of interest about religion altogether.
"There are a number of students who are indifferent about their faith," Krische said. "I really believe that you have to approach campus ministries from the same frame of mind that a missionary approaches people."
He said that trying to overcome those problems did not discourage him but that there were times when he questioned his faith or the Roman Catholic Church's stand on a particular issue.
"I think that there's always a healthy creative tension," Krische said. "The stronger you believe, the more uneasy you become."
1here are times when I get down", he said. "I question my own adequacy. I guess every day I question being a new commitment, a day is a day of new commitment."
But he supports a birth control vaccination called Depo-Provera. No known complications or deaths have been reported by users in 80 countries, Hatcher said.
But he said that the church was flexible enough for him to deal with his questions.
Hatcher agreed that the pill was the most effective form of contraception available in the United States and that she would take to take the risks to avoid pregnancy.
Krische said that he though more students were turning to 'religion because many things previously taken for granted were no longer true.
Come see if you are good enough.
It can be a great summer job, or The First Step. It's fun, professional experience, and great exposure to people interested in Fun visions are waiting to discover you!
"That's the whole creative dynamics I find in the church," he said.
Many of our former cast members have used their experience at Worlds of Fun as a stepping stone to performing in their own style.
If selected, you can earn over $4,800 performing six days per week in the summer, and weekends in the spring and fall.
Worlds of Fun in Kansas City will soon conduct an audition tour throughout the Midwest in search of performers to be featured in the spectacular musical productions of our exciting 1982 tenth anniversary season.
"They realize there are many certainties that were guaranteed in life that no longer hold water," he said. "I think that students are committed more and more to the spiritual dimension of their own personalities.
Should you be unable to attend this one, we will also conduct auditions in Kansas City on January 9, 16, 17 and 19.
Come see if you are good enough.
"The thing that encourages me the most is the number of students who come up here and for the first time can understand what is important, but still maintain their values."
For more information and a complete auction schedule,
contact the Show Productions Department. Words of Fun
4545 Words of Fun Avenue, Kansas City, Missouri. 64161
(816) 459-9276
Thursday, January 14. 1982 3:30-6:00 p.m.
The Closest Audition:
LAWRENCE, KANSAS Kansas University
... the best stage experience in the Midwest.
No jobs are available for dramatic actors, or instrumentalists
Kansas Union - Big Eight Room
7:16 Teen Girls Huge
7:25 Play by play with Tom Hedrick
Kansas University
Post Ted Owens Show
7:10 Ted Owens Pregame
"The flagship station of the KU Sports Network"
on
"It's absolutely ridiculous to me that the U.S. does not allow Depo-Provera birth control shots that last for three months." The hospital has been no known deaths. We have a pill that kills 300-350 people a year when the other method is available," he said.
***Editor's note. All of the women interviewed requested that their last names not be used to avoid embarrassment by their peers. Some of the first names are the same, some middle names were used and others were changed at the request of each woman.
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