Most women choose to take birth control pills to prevent unwanted conception.  As long as you take any oral contraceptives according to your prescribed schedule, they can be very effective.  Using the medication properly will increase its effectiveness, and vice versa.

However, certain women take oral contraceptives to help them manage their menstrual cycles. For example, they may experience less bleeding, fewer mood swings and less pelvic pain during menstruation and improved regularity of their menstrual cycles.  Birth control pills have even been taken to treat problems with acne or to protect individuals from cancer such as uterine, colorectal and ovarian.

Although studies reveal that birth control pills don’t increase your chances of suffering a heart attack, they can increase your risk of blood clots.  You also have a much higher chance of an ischemic stroke if you take oral contraceptives.  This is especially true if you take an earlier version that contains very high estrogen doses.  Fortunately, the newer products contain much lower levels of estrogen, which lowers your risk of suffering an ischemic stroke.

Many women who take oral contraceptives also suffer from headaches or migraines.  In rare cases, some women suffer a condition called venous thromboembolism. This causes clots in the blood and has symptoms of varicose veins, swelling and pain.  The type of progestin used in the contraceptive pills has been linked to this rare condition.  Furthermore, if you already suffer from a severe form of diabetes, the condition may worsen by taking oral contraceptives.  The reason is that the estrogen in birth control pills raises your levels of blood glucose.

Certain birth control pills like Yasmin have caused serious side effects.  Therefore, if you are having any problems after taking any form of oral contraceptive, be sure to talk to your doctor.  Lawsuits are being filed against manufacturers of the birth control pill, Ocella and its generic version, Yasmin.

In 1500 BC, spermicides were created; they involved linen cloth sheath condoms that were soaked in chemicals and then dried.  The American Comstock Act forbid any advertisements, distribution or information about birth control in 1873, and it even permitted the US postal service to confiscate any birth control material that was sold via the mail.

However, a woman named Margaret Sanger opened the first birth control clinic within the United States in 1916.  She was subsequently jailed for 30 days, but upon her release, she reopened her clinic, despite suffering further prosecutions and arrests.

A judge removed the federal birth control pan in 1938, at which point diaphragms were a very popular choice for birth control.  In 1950, the birth control pill was introduced on the market.  Sanger wrote the research to create this first pill when she was in her eighties.  Consequently, Enovid, created by Frank Colton, was the first oral contraceptive to be marketed in the United States.  Later in the 1960s, the United States manufactured and sold IUDs.

However, feminists later argued that the oral contraceptives available at the time were unsafe and caused serious health risks.  This resulted in changes to the birth control pill.  Therefore, hormonal birth control options included injectables, low-dose pills such as Yasmin and implants in the 1980s and 90s.

Fortunately, women today have many choices when it comes to birth control.  Reliable contraception methods currently include transcervical female sterilization, vaginal rings, new types of injectables, hormonal patches and single rod implants.