An article published Thursday by the Washington Post claimed that women who share stories of the side effects of birth control are spreading “misinformation.”
Whether it’s stories of weight gain, acne well into your 20s, depression, anxiety or overall hormonal imbalances, seemingly every woman knows another woman whose life was objectively worse when using birth control. Magically, most of these issues seem to disappear when we stop, at least according to countless women online (and myself).
But we women who’ve lived through this bizarre medical practice are officially spreaders of “misinformation,” according to the Washington Post. “While doctors say hormonal contraception — which includes birth-control pills and intrauterine devices (IUDs) — is safe and effective, they worry the profession’s long-standing lack of transparency about some of the serious but rare side effects has left many patients seeking information from unqualified online communities,” the outlet write, admitting the lack of trust we have is probably justified.
FDA Approves First Over-The-Counter Birth Control Pill | @DailyCaller
What could possibly go wrong? Probs the stuff the FDA pointed out less than two months before they approved this stuff… https://t.co/4oTOYqUDDL
— KAY SMYTHE (@KaySmythe) July 13, 2023
Yet the first-hand accounts We The Patients share (apparently online, I don’t use TikTok) in real life with our female friends and family members isn’t valid science? Apparently having a voice is only applicable to women when we say what Big Pharma, the government and authoritarian regimes want us to say.
Within the subtext, this piece by WaPo isn’t actually about birth control at all. It’s about abortion. A significant portion of the article is dedicated to examples of women telling doctors they’ve learned “misinformation” about birth control online and that’s why they’re pregnant and seeking an abortion. (RELATED: NatGeo Slammed For Posting Pro-Birth Control Article)
It feels almost like a sick propaganda piece blaming “right-wingers” and “conservatives” for the rise in abortions. The rhetoric is similar to that of Vice President Kamala Harris’ recent trip to an abortion clinic, where her comments sounded like abortion was the only option available for women.
Harris could have used her years in government to launch sex education programs for young Americans, free non-hormonal contraceptive services (she chose crack pipes instead), and made the country more affordable to live in for the average family so women weren’t forced to choose between work and family. She didn’t.
“The ‘liberation’ of women from the aftereffect of sex (children) resulted in men going from masters of the universe to apologizing for their existence. It’s what happens when you snuff out your legacy without a second thought.”
My latest: @DailyCaller https://t.co/EtjIHUrfJK— Mary Rooke (@MaryRooke_) September 4, 2023
But where does this newfound interest in birth control go?
Is birth control really going to be the next COVID-19? Are women now supposed to divide our friendship groups into those who are on birth control and those who aren’t? As far as I’m aware, most women don’t really care about what other women do when it comes to birth control. It’s a personal choice.
I have a handful of friends who absolutely swear by their hormonal contraceptive. Everyone is different. But denying a voice to those of us who didn’t like using birth control — and whose lives improved in every single way once we stopped using it — is yet another unprovoked attack on women everywhere. (RELATED: Dem Rep Is Thrilled That Women Delayed Having Children To Barely Climb The Corporate Ladder)
It’s hard enough trying to explain to the left that we don’t want to share our spaces with biological men. We don’t want to have to justify our reproductive preferences either. It doesn’t help that science doesn’t have the answers for us yet; even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tells women to talk to their doctors instead of mentioning the side effects of birth control.
Women depend on self-reported stories to learn about what might be happening to us because no one in a position of power really seems to care enough to go and gather accurate data to show us the truth. But I guess “Believe All Women” really means, “Believe the women who are mostly just male doctors and the guys at pharmaceutical companies who make money off selling you birth control.”