Hold On To Your Patches

Public Citizen is pushing a petition to get the Federal Food and Drug Association to ban Ortho-Evra (you know, quitting babies one step at a time). According to the petition, the patch releases waaaay too much estrogen (60 percent more on average exposure), an increased risk of blood clotting, and even worse side effects than other hormone-based birth control.

Also, there has been a crazy drop in demand for the patch, probably because it’s not the most pleasant thing to deal with. In 2004, nearly 10 million women were knocking down the pharmacy door to get a supply of patches. In 2007, prescriptions dropped 73 percent, to 2.7 million. Oh, and there are those women who have died or become sick using the patch.

Sucks for Ortho-Evra. Well, it really sucks for the women who take it and then have to deal with a lot of terrible side effects — you know, like death. Many women turned to the patch as a way of convenience, but then it turns out that the side effects are worse than a daily dose of the regular old bc pill… and how do you wear that thing to the beach? How do you hide your baby quitting patch?