According to the FDA report, "Recent wire service stories about today's meeting of the FDA Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee have created misperceptions about the effectiveness of newer generation hormonal contraceptives."
The FDA indicates that recent reports in the media are inaccurate in reporting that newer generations of birth control are less effective in preventing pregnancy. According to the FDA, these newer generation medications are just as effective as those used decades ago.
The two-day meeting of the FDA was planned to discuss the new clinical trial designs for birth control studies. This purpose of the possibility of creating new clinical trials are to "reflect the diversity of users of hormonal contraceptives, expectations for efficacy and safety, and user acceptability of the newer generation products, including cycle control," according to the FDA.
According to Amy Allina, program director of the National Women's Health Network, "The very first pills were very high dose and carried risks of blood clots and cardiovascular problems that would be unacceptable to most women. Today most birth control pills are very safe for the vast majority of women."
Contrary to the FDA, recent media reports indicate that due to the lower dosages in the new generation of birth control pills, apparently the newer oral contraceptives have been found to be up to twice as faulty as pills produced years ago. As a result, the lower dose dosage does not always stop ovulation and may result in unwanted pregnancies. This controversy persists among the reports.
Oral contraception medication is one of the most commonly used methods of birth control. According to the research group at Guttmacher Institute, more than 60 percent of women ages 15 to 44 use contraceptives and more than 11 million of them use the pill as their primary form of birth control.
