The Pill: social phenomena
By BARBARA PHILLIPS and ERIC MORGENTHALER
(Editor's note: This is the first in a series of four articles about oral contraceptives. This article, which deals with the medical aspects of the Pill, will be followed by articles on doctors' feelings about the Pill, the Pill at KU and the Pill on other college campuses.)
In November of 1959, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved for the first time the public sale of a pill designed for birth control.
Since then, the number of brands of oral contraceptives sold in the United States has increased tenfold. Today between four and five million women in the United States take the Pill.
According to one recent doctors' study, the Pill has been received with "extraordinary, immediate enthusiasm" by young American women.
ALTHOUGH RESEARCH ON THE PILL is necessarily incomplete, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is authorized by law to approve drugs for marketing, has given unreserved approval to all oral contraceptives on the American market.
In a report released last August, the FDA said that on the basis of present knowledge there is no evidence that oral contraceptives are unsafe when taken as directed. However, the report pointed out that scientific research and medical data are inadequate to either completely insure the safety of the Pill or to define its possible dangers.
Conclusions similar to those reached by the FDA study have been drawn by the British government and the World Health Organization. The Pill is today considered the most modern, most effective method of birth control yet conceived by man.
ORAL CONTRACEPTIVES ARE BELIEVED to prevent conception by working directly on the pituitary gland (the body's master gland) and on a brain center called the hypothalamus.
The pills contain synthetic hormones which act much like the female sex hormones, estrogen and progesterone. The contraceptive role of the pills is believed to be similar to the role these two hormones play during pregnancy.
The levels of the two sex hormones increase in a woman when she is pregnant, signaling the pituitary gland that no more egg cells are needed. The pituitary then stops stimulating the ovaries' production of egg
cells. Oral contraceptives are believed to effect the same results.
A WOMAN TAKING ORAL CONTRACEPTIVES may experience some of the conditions usually associated with pregnancy, such as nausea, weight gain, swelling of the hands and feet and changes in the skin or hair. These side effects, doctors believe, are similar to the effects of pregnancy because the synthetic hormones in the pills cause the same hormone increase which occurs naturally in the pregnant female. It is the increase of estrogen and progesterone in the body which causes a pregnant woman to experience these side effects.
Studies show these side effects are most noticeable when a woman first takes oral contraceptives. They subside with longer use.
The most commonly used oral contraceptives cost about 10 cents a pill. They cannot be legally obtained without a doctor's prescription. They are taken for either 20 or 21 days each month, starting with the fifth day of the menstrual cycle. Menstration usually begins each month a few days after the pills have been stopped.
TWO BASIC TYPES OF PILLS are on the market today. One is a combination of synthetic estrogen and a synthetic progesterone, progestin. These pills include Enovid, Ortho-Novum, Norlestrin, Norinyl and Provest.
The second type of oral contraceptive is made up of two sequential pills. An estrogen component is taken daily for 16 days, and a progestin component is added for five days.
A new type of birth control pill being tested by Syntex Laboratories of Palo Alto, Calif., is said to eliminate the side effects which pills often have. It works directly on the ovary rather going through the pituitary gland and the hypothalamus.
THE CHIEF INGREDIENT of this new pill is chlormadinone. Like the main component of the other pills, it is a synthetic progesterone. But researchers at the laboratory have found that small doses of chlormad are as effective as large doses of the synthetic progesterones now being used in oral contraceptives.
The new pill contains no estrogen, the hormone which is believed to account for such side effects as weight gain. It is taken every day of the month, instead of only part of the month. It does not prevent ovulation or menstruation.
Researchers believe the Syntex pill prevents conception by thickening the cervical mucous, blocking the passage of sperm into the uterus.
A recent article in Newsweek reported that the new contraceptive has been tested on 764 "highly fertile" Mexican women over an extended period of time. Only one pregnancy was reported that could be blamed on the ineffectiveness of the pill.
ALTHOUCH PILLS CAN be taken by most young women, there are certain medical conditions which preclude the possibility of a woman's using pills. These include a history or presence of genital or breast cancer, liver disease or certain conditions caused by clots in the blood vessels.
Since the introduction of the Pill, questions have been raised about its effect on women's health. But to date, evidence of reported medical problems has not been great enough to warrant the withdrawal of any oral contraceptive from the market.
The pills, in fact, have so completely proved themselves that the FDA recently lifted the time limitations that it had always imposed on the use of pills.
UNTIL ITS AUGUST REPORT, the administration had limited the use of the oral contraceptives by individuals to maximum periods ranging from 18 months to four years, depending on the brand of pills.
But in the report the FDA concluded, "There are no scientific data to justify the imposition of a time limitation on oral contraceptives."
In particular, the report said the pills are apparently not causes of cancer, blood vessel conditions or disorders of body chemistry. But it indicated there is still not sufficient evidence available for a positive judgment and the FDA will continue to study the effects of the oral contraceptives in hopes of reaching more definite long-term conclusions.
BECAUSE OF THEIR RELIABILITY, their availability and their simplicity, oral contraceptives have been immediately accepted by women over the world and by world health organizations.
A five-year survey study recently published by Dr. Norman B. Ryder of the University of Wisconsin and Dr. Charles Flilestoff of Princeton said that 40 per cent of American women under the age of 30 have used oral contraceptives. But the report said that less than 10 per cent of the women over 40 have taken the pills.
The study also noted that a "substantial number of Catholic women are using oral contraception," despite their church's ban on artificial birth control.
Prentice replies to criticism
To the editor:
Very obviously many people have been reading more things into my letter of November 10 than I wrote. Therefore I would like to redirect their attention to what I actually wrote.
First of all, I would like to direct Marc Fisher's attention to my "blinding logic" which he referred to in his third paragraph. If he will reread my first letter, he will see that the two statements he refers to do not refer to the same question.
THE FIRST STATEMENT refers to the question of to whom Watkins Hospital should give contraceptives, and the second statement refers to pre-marital intercourse, not contraceptives. As such, the questions, although somewhat related to each other, are distinctly different. In his haste, Marc Fisher also failed to see that I did not originate the second statement as he gave me credit for doing; I merely quoted it and agreed with it.
J. Gary Brown is another who obviously closed his eyes to what I actually wrote. Nowhere in my letter did I say that I was against contraceptives, per se. As a matter of fact, Mr. Brown, I am married and my wife is taking birth control pills. This fact should also dispel any ideas Mr. Brown has that sex is a source of frustration for me.
Answering Marc Fisher's last question, I say certainly two people can be in love without being married. However, it is generally agreed that love forms a very good foundation for marriage. If I am wrong, please correct me.
I'M NOT SURE what brought abortions into the picture, but if Mr. Brown would like my personal opinion on the subject, I'll be glad to provide it: I feel that under certain circumstances abortions should be legalized. Satisfied?
Perhaps I should have stated in my first letter that one of the main facts which I base my
position on is this: Watkins Hospital is not the sole source of contraceptives. If it were, my feelings might be quite different. However, since there are other private means of obtaining contraceptives, I remain firm in my belief that Watkins Hospital should not issue contraceptives to single students.
ANOTHER POINT I see I should clarify is my analogy to murder. The only point I was trying to make through this analogy is as follows: if the consequences (punishment) resulting from committing a murder were abolished, would there not be a substantial increase in the murder rate? Similarly, if the consequences (pregnancy) which could result from premarital intercourse were abolished, would there not be a substantial increase in pre-marital relations? This was the only point I was trying to make by the analogy, and I am sorry if it did not come through clearly.
And if Robert Hugh Gerner feels that my argument is so poor as to be insulting, I have this to say to him: one of my instructors who disagreed with my stand discussed the matter with me at some length. At the end of our discussion, he agreed that, considering all of the facts including my personal moral and religious views, I could reasonably justify my argument.
Criticism and differences of opinion can be very helpful and stimulating; but please, if you are going to criticize me, make sure you criticize a valid point and not just something you have dreamed up.
DO NOT
READ
THIS
NOTICE
James Prentice
Columbus, Neb., sophomore
2
Daily Kansan
editorial page
Wednesday, November 16, 1966
At other schools...
THE DAILY EMERALD of the University of Oregon reports that Sigma Chi fraternity at Oregon State has delayed the initiation of a pledge of Japanese ancestry because of the objections of a San Diego alumni. The president of the chapter says that the pledge will be initiated despite the alum's objections.
However, if the man is initiated over the alum's protest, the national fraternity will automatically revoke its charter. On the other hand, if the chapter does not initiate the man because of the ancestoral objection, it will be violating fraternity and sorority operational guidelines set down by the State Board of Higher Education.
Freshman students at WITTENBURG UNIVERSITY are no longer being graded on an A-F scale. This year the conventional system was replaced with "H" (Honors), "S" (Satisfactory) and "F" (Unsatisfactory) grades. The new grading system, which does not apply to upperclassmen, is aimed at reducing the pressures freshmen face during their first college year.
THE DAILY REVEILLE of Louisiana State University reports that students at LSU are displeased with their football coach. At a student gathering in "Free Speech Alley," the suggestion was made that students boycott LSU's game with Mississippi State to show their disapproval of the head coach's ability.
THE UNIVERSITY DAY
kansan
Solving KU for 77 of its 101 Years
serving KC for 77 of its 107 years
KANSAN TELEPHONE NUMBERS
Newsroom—UN 4-3646 — Business Office—UN 4-3198
The Daily Kansan, student newspaper at The University of Kansas, is represented by National Advertising Service, 18 East St. St., New York, NY 10026. Students are required to attend second class postage paid at Lawrence, Kan., every afternoon during the University year except Saturday and Sundays. University holidays and examination periods. Accommodations, goods, services and employment advertised in the University Daily Kansan are offered to all students without regard to color, creed or national origin.
The opinions expressed in the editorial column are those of the students whose names are signed to them. Guest editorial views are not necessarily the editor's. Any opinions expressed in the Daily Kansan are not necessarily those of The Universal $z$ of Kansas Administration or the State Board of Regents
NEWS AND BUSINESS STAFF
Assistant Managing Editors
Judy Faust, Joan McCabe,
Barbara Phillips, Steve Russell