SEASONALE BIRTH CONTROL BLOG

Birth control pill shortage almost over

November 30, 2006

A shortage of two popular brands of birth control pills should be over soon, a family doctor told CBC News on Wednesday.

Dr. Dara Maker said drugstores in Canada are still out of stock of Triphasil pills, but she has been told supplies should be replenished in three weeks.

Stocks of Alesse, meanwhile, are already 50 per cent restored. In three weeks, Alesse should be fully restocked.

“Most drug stores are dispensing it at about one pack at a time, so most women can get their Alesse,” said Maker, who works for Women’s College Hospital in Toronto.

Maker has been in contact with Wyeth, the American pharmaceutical giant that makes both brands of pills. The shortage occurred after a production problem in one of Wyeth’s plants in South America in August.

Maker said women who are having trouble getting their prescriptions filled should talk to their doctors about the possibility of switching brands.
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She said there are 15 to 20 different kinds of pills available in Canada and chances are women can find a substitute pill that will suit their needs.

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She said there is absolutely no health risk to making a switch.

“It can be very anxiety-provoking, especially if women have tried a couple of pills and finally found one that seems to suit them,” she said. “But there are no health risks to changing pills, they just might get a few side-effects when they try a new one.”
Switching brands is safe

She said women can switch brands for one month and switch back when stocks of Alesse and Triphasil are replenished.

“But some women might find if they switch they are actually happier with the new pill,” she said. “They might find the side-effect profile is better for them, that they’re happier with the new pack.”

She said she would advise women to keep an extra pack of birth control pills in storage, just in case. Birth control pills don’t usually expire for a year or two, she said.

She also suggested women should never wait to the last minute to refill a birth control prescription. They should see their pharmacist at least a week before their last pack runs out.

“Because on any given day your particular drug store may be short of whichever pill you’re using.”

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Birth-control foe to head family planning office

November 28, 2006

In yet another outrageous attack on women’s basic rights, the Bush administration has named Dr. Eric Keroack, a fierce opponent of reproductive rights, to be the deputy assistant secretary for population affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services. This would install him as leader of the office that runs government-funded teen pregnancy, family planning and abstinence-only programs.

National women’s and pro-choice organizations have decried this nomination and called for massive pressure on the administration to stop it.

This appointment would give the anti-birth-control Keroack enormous power over federally funded family planning programs and their financing. It does not even require congressional confirmation. It is yet another offering to Bush’s ultra-right allies.

Keroack is from the religious-based ultra-right sector, which played a big role in getting Bush elected president. Although an obstetrician-gynecologist, who is sworn to “do no harm,� Keroack has a long history of railing against abortion rights, birth control, and sex education, all crucial to women’s reproductive health.

He is the “medical director� of an organization called “A Woman’s Concern,� which runs six bogus “crisis pregnancy counseling� facilities in Massachusetts whose aim is to stop abortions and contraception. Its Web site says that promotion of “birth control is demeaning to women, degrading of human sexuality and adverse to human health and happiness.� (www.naral.org) Its fraudulent allegations even claim that birth control use increases unplanned pregnancies and abortion rates.

The doctor is also a member of the Medical Advisory Council of the Abstinence Clearinghouse, a key supplier of abstinence-only education, which also attacks birth-control use. In this capacity, he preaches abstinence-only to women and young people, and is known to verbally assail women’s sexuality in his speeches. (Feminist Daily News Wire, Nov. 17)

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This appointment is also a major attack on poor women. Whoever holds this office supervises the allocation of Title X funding under the Public Health Service Act. This is $283 million in annual grants “designed to provide access to contraceptive supplies and information to all who all who want and need them, with priority given to low-income persons.� (Washington Post, Nov. 17)

The program sustains 4,600 family planning clinics that assist 5 million low-income and uninsured women each year; a disproportionately high number are women of color. Free or low-cost services are provided. These include birth-control supplies, information and counseling, pregnancy care, physical examinations and cancer and HIV screenings.

The Department of Health and Human Services reports that it is the only federal program whose single aim is to provide family planning and reproductive health care. The Title X funding is crucial to the delivery of these services to those who need them the most.

It is clear that with this appointment the Bush gang intends to undermine family planning programs, and, in fact, will stop at nothing to eradicate women’s fundamental rights and reproductive health.

This administration has shown it will continue unabated to push through its ultra-right agenda despite the overwhelming sentiment of the people of the United States who support contraception and abortion rights and availability—vital cornerstones of women’s rights and health care. Once again, the Bush gang has demonstrated that it will continue the vicious assault on these rights in an all-out campaign to overturn them.

But as the victory against the right-wing abortion ban in South Dakota shows, the mass struggle can stay the hand of the virulent right-wing attacks on women’s rights.

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Dems oppose birth-control foe as family-planning chief

November 22, 2006

Several Democratic lawmakers asked the Bush administration Monday to replace its new family-planning chief because he has worked for a health provider that opposes the use of birth control.

Dr. Eric Keroack’s record as an opponent of birth control and abortion makes him a poor choice to oversee a $280 million reproductive-health program, seven House Democrats said in a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt.

“We are concerned that Dr. Keroack has promoted policies — including the refusal to distribute contraception even to married women — that directly conflict with the mission of the federal program,” the letter said.

Keroack last week was named head of HHS’ Office of Population Affairs, which funds birth control, pregnancy tests, breast-cancer screening and other health services for 5 million poor people annually. HHS estimates that the program helps to prevent 1.3 million unwanted pregnancies each year.

The office also oversees a $30 million program that encourages sexual abstinence among teens.

An HHS spokeswoman said Keroack is a skilled doctor and a nationally recognized expert on preventing teen pregnancy.

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“We have confidence that he’ll perform his duties effectively and in accordance with the law,” HHS spokeswoman Christina Pearson said by e-mail.

Keroack previously served as medical director for A Woman’s Concern, a chain of Boston-area pregnancy clinics that advise against the use of contraception and advocate abstinence as a way to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

Keroack has spoken at abstinence conferences across the country and has written that people who have more than one sex partner have a diminished neurological capacity to experience loving relationships.

His appointment does not need to be approved by the Senate, but Democrats will have the power to force him to testify when they control Congress next year.

One of those who signed the letter, California Rep. Henry Waxman, will be chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, while New York Rep. Louise Slaughter is expected to chair the Rules Committee. Others sit on committees that oversee HHS and control its budget.

“Less than two weeks ago the American public made it clear that they want a middle-ground approach to our nation’s most pressing problems,” New York Democratic Rep. Nita Lowey said. “Unfortunately, this appointment says loudly and clearly that the president simply did not get that message.”

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Studies Show Essure Procedure is Permanent Birth Control Option for Women Not Suitable for Tubal Ligation Surgery

November 21, 2006

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Conceptus, Inc. (Nasdaq:CPTS), developer of the Essure® procedure, the first and only FDA-approved, non-incisional permanent birth control method available, announced today that new independent study data released at the 35th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Gynecologic Laparoscopists (AAGL) shows the Essure system eliminates risks associated with traditional surgical sterilization for many women not eligible for permanent birth control.

Unlike surgical tubal ligation, which involves cutting, clipping or burning a woman’s fallopian tubes, the Essure procedure does not require any incisions and can be done in a physician’s office under local anesthesia. Tiny, lightweight Essure coils are passed through the cervix and inserted into the fallopian tubes, forming a permanent blockage. Women typically return to normal activity within a day after the Essure procedure, rather than a week or more following tubal ligation surgery.

“Considering the risks associated with tubal ligation, including potential trocar injuries, infections at the incision site and complications associated with general anesthesia, we encourage physicians to educate patients about the benefits of the Essure procedure,� said Mark Sieczkarek, president and chief executive officer of Conceptus. “The studies presented at this year’s AAGL – each of which is a first-of-its-kind undertaking – are further proof of the safety and efficacy of the Essure procedure for all patients, particularly those where a tubal ligation is either contraindicated or where the surgical risks are high.�

One study, Historical Risk Factors, Are They a Contraindication For Office Essure?, presented at AAGL by Mark Levie, M.D., and Scott Chudnoff, M.D., of Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Montefiore Medical Center in New York, showed successful placement of the Essure device among women with historical risk factors that could affect tubal cannulation. More than 92 percent of women in this study successfully had the Essure device placed.

“Women with histories of pelvic inflammatory disease, sexually transmitted disease, termination of pregnancy and cesarean section can still have highly effective placement of the Essure device in an in-office setting,� said Dr. Chudnoff. “These women do not need to undergo the risks of a laparoscopic sterilization procedure under general anesthesia in an operating room simply due to prior risk factors.�

A second study, The Impact of Obesity on Office-Placement of Essure, also conducted by Drs. Levie and Chudnoff, suggests the Essure procedure can be performed on obese women in an office setting with excellent success rates. In this study of women with an average body mass index (BMI) of 36.2, nearly all had a positive experience with the procedure. In the obese group, successful placement of the device was achieved in 74 of 81 (91 percent) obese women, compared with 101 of 110 (92 percent) women in the non-obese group.

“Obese patients are better candidates for the Essure procedure than for a laparoscopic tubal ligation under general anesthesia,� commented Dr. Chudnoff. “There are simply fewer potential complications for these women with an office-based procedure that does not require general anesthesia.�

“The studies present positive news for women in search of permanent birth control who may not be candidates for laparoscopic tubal ligation due to the associated risks,� said Dr. Levie. “With the Essure procedure, risks are minimized. In my experience, this also has contributed to high patient satisfaction.�

A third study, The Essure Micro-Insert System for Hysteroscopic Sterilization in Women with Cardiac Disease: 19 Cases, by Drs. S.A. El-Nashar, M.R. Hopkins, D.J. Driscoll and A.O. Famuyide of the Mayo Clinic in New York, documented 19 women with heart disease, all of whom had successful placement of the Essure device with no intra-procedural complications. The women in this study had cardiac disease, including adult congenital heart disease (ACHD) and valvular or ischemic heart disease (V/HD); factors that would place them in a “high-risk� category for both pregnancy and surgical tubal ligation.

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Additional findings from a Dutch study presented at the meeting by Michel Vleugels, M.D., entitled Management of Patients for Essure Sterilization in the Outpatient Department Without Any Anesthesia at All, demonstrates the Essure procedure can be performed successfully with no need for anesthesia. Of the 273 women documented in the study, the placement success rate was 94.1 percent with a very low overall pain score (2.7 on a scale of 0–8).

About the Essure® Procedure

The Essure procedure, approved by the FDA in 2002, deploys a soft micro-insert into the Fallopian tube through the cervix using a minimally invasive transcervical tubal access catheter. Once in place, the device is designed to elicit tissue growth in and around the micro-insert to form an occlusion or blockage in the fallopian tube. An Essure procedure does not require cutting or penetrating the abdomen and can be performed in a less costly procedure setting without general anesthesia. A woman is able to return home about 45 minutes after the procedure is completed. There is a three-month waiting period after the procedure during which women must use another form of birth control. The Essure procedure is 99.80% effective (based on four years of follow-up data). The Essure procedure has been demonstrated in a small portion of the women undergoing clinical studies to be 99.74% effective (based on 5 years of follow-up). Five-year follow-up of all patients in clinical trials is ongoing.

About Conceptus

Conceptus, Inc. manufactures and markets the Essure Permanent Birth Control system, an innovative medical device and procedure designed to provide a non-incisional alternative to tubal ligation, which is currently the leading form of birth control worldwide. The availability of the Essure procedure in the U.S. is expected to open up a market currently occupied by incisional tubal ligation and vasectomy, which combined account for more than 1 million procedures annually.

Additional information about the Essure procedure is available at www.essure.com or by calling the Essure Information Center at 1-877-ESSURE1. Additional information about Conceptus is available at www.conceptus.com or by calling 1-877-ESSURE2.

Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this press release are forward-looking statements, the accuracy of which is necessarily subject to risks and uncertainties. Discussions regarding performance of Essure in the office setting, lower risk associated with Essure and other matters discussed in this release, may differ significantly from the discussion of such matters in the forward-looking statements. Such differences may be based upon factors such as strategic planning decisions by management, re-allocation of internal resources, decisions by insurance companies, scientific advances by third parties, and introduction of competitive products, as well as those factors set forth in the Company’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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Letters: Pharmacists birth control

November 20, 2006

In the 2005 Wisconsin legislative session, a bill was proposed that would allow pharmacists to refuse to fill a prescription based on his or her personal beliefs (SB 155 or AB 285). A variety of medication can be denied, including emergency contraception and other forms of birth control.

The Federal Drug Administration has approved birth control and emergency contraception as a safe and effective form of pregnancy prevention. The American Medical Association provides evidence that emergency contraceptive is a preventative measure only. It does not induce abortion.

Birth control is a basic health-care right for all women. Emergency contraception has a limited time-frame (72 hours) after intercourse for which it can be used to prevent pregnancy. If pharmacists are allowed to deny these medications, the number of women seeking abortion services may increase and sexual assault victims may have difficulty accessing emergency contraception.

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Pharmacists are guided by the profession’s code of ethics to focus on meeting clients’ needs, including reproductive ones. Pharmacists are simply a mediator source between a woman and her doctor.

For more than 40 years, the privacy between a woman and her doctor has been legally granted. Pharmacists should not be given the right to make moral judgments and scrutinize women’s personal reproductive health choices. Personal medical decisions should be made between a woman and her doctor, regardless of the pharmacist’s religious or personal beliefs.

Contact your local government representatives and let them know that you believe pharmacists should stay out of personal medical decisions. Visit Planned Parenthood or NARAL Pro-Choice of Wisconsin for more information.

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Catholic bishops to talk about gays, birth control

November 14, 2006

ST. LOUIS — As the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops gather this week in Baltimore for their annual fall meeting, they will take up several topics that will have a direct effect on the daily and congregational lives of American Catholics.

Items on the agenda, according to a release from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, include a document “offering pastoral guidance on the church’s teaching concerning contraception,” a document designed to “help Catholics properly prepare to receive Holy Communion” and a directory for music and the liturgy for use in U.S. dioceses.

The bishops also will vote on “proposed guidelines for ministry to persons with a homosexual inclination.”

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The Communion document is a result of the 2004 presidential elections, during which St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke said he would deny Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., the Eucharist because of his support for abortion rights.

The bishops’ guidance on contraception comes nearly 40 years after Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical, Humanae Vitae, clarified the church’s rejection of artificial contraception. U.S. Catholics have since overwhelmingly ignored the church’s teaching on birth control. Some experts believe the bishops will attempt to connect contraception to John Paul II’s successful efforts to emphasize “culture of life” issues, such as abortion and euthanasia.

The bishops also will consider how to properly set up or continue ministries that reach out to homosexual Catholics.

The four-day meeting will be closed to the media and public after two days.

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Larger pill supply makes birth control easier

November 1, 2006

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Giving women a year’s supply of birth control pills at a time may make it easier to use the contraceptives properly, a study published Tuesday suggests.

To be most effective, oral contraceptives must be taken daily, and imperfect use is considered one of the leading causes of unintended pregnancies in the U.S. For many women, running out of pills is a major reason for inconsistent use, according to the authors of the new study.

As it stands, most health plans limit all prescriptions drugs, including oral contraceptives, to a 30-day supply — which means women need to have timely refills to use the pill properly.

But the new findings, published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, suggest that giving women a year’s supply of birth control pills could allow for more consistent use — and cut down on healthcare costs.

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For the study, Dr. Diana Greene Foster and her colleagues at the University of California, San Francisco analyzed data on more than 82,000 women taking part in a state family-planning program for low-income women. The program allows women to receive up to 13 cycles of birth control pills at a time.

Foster and her colleagues found that women given 13 cycles were twice as likely to have continuously used the pill for a year compared with women who received a three-month supply of birth control pills.

In addition, women given the 13-month supply were less likely to need a pregnancy test during the year, and their overall reproductive healthcare costs were lower.

The findings, according to Foster’s team, suggest that giving doctors the freedom to prescribe a larger supply of birth control pills could prevent more unintended pregnancies, with less inconvenience to women and less expense.

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Birth control messages effective

November 1, 2006

I am glad Sam Okuonzi, in his article titled “Answer to Uganda’s population growth� (New Vision, September 18, 2006), advocated the education of women to empower them to take part in making decisions that have a bearing on their health and that of their families.

He said ‘better-educated women (not necessarily true for men) have fewer children and so instead of urging more people to use contraceptives, which approach is not working, Uganda should rally around universal education and socio-economic development, for with these, people will look for contraceptives on their own with little persuasion.�

Universal education offers some positives towards family planning. However, letting go of messages about family planning and solely concentrating on education and development might not take Uganda very far.

An educated woman may not want many children, but she does not make decisions about family size on her own. So if the man’s education has not exactly translated into wanting fewer children, at least it can be hoped that he will benefit from the messages urging couples to space their children better.

As we wait to reap from UPE and USE, women will keep giving birth.

Uganda aspires to become a strong middle-income economy by 2025, but by then, her population will be around 55 million. Should we sit back and watch the population grow unabated until a time when we can confidently reap from our investments?

It is not true that messages urging people to use contraceptives are not working. According to the Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (UDHS 2000/01), contraceptive knowledge and approval are high in Uganda. It is just that the level of actual use is too low at 23 percent.

Those who need the contraceptives make no steps to get them, so Uganda has a high unmet need for family planning of 35 percent.

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Unmet need is the percentage of women who want to wait at least two years before their next birth or who want to stop childbearing altogether but are not using any method of family planning.

The Scientific American Journal 2000 says about 120 million couples in developing countries do not want another child soon but have no access to family planning methods or have insufficient information on the topic. Consequently, pregnancy often brings despair instead of joy.

The recent special session of the African Union Conference of Health Ministers in Mozambique also singled out low access to family planning services as responsible for the unplanned rising population in Africa and called for significant investment of human and financial resources in reproductive health services provision.

The important factors are therefore access to information and family planning services.

Communication gives people the information they need to make informed choices about using contraception and about other aspects of reproductive health. Repetition of messages is not bad.

Granted, family planning has been talked about since time immemorial, but that has its positives.

Apart from emphasis, repetition communicates the gravity of the situation to the public and in the long run will have an impact on their behaviour, attitudes and opinions. What only need to incorporate interpersonal communication into communication activities on family planning.

This will help people decide whether, when, which method, and how to use family planning.

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