Pretty amazing little pill
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and[a] knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
—Romans 11:33
According to USA Today a new study has been released in which researchers say that oral birth control pills have prevented 400,000 cases of endometrial cancer. The 400,000 number comes from the 50 years the pill has been around. According to their research over half of that number comes from the last 10 years:
Doctors have long noted that women who take the Pill have a lower risk of endometrial cancer, as well as ovarian and colorectal cancers. The new study shows that the Pill’s benefits for endometrial cancer are dramatic. Women who took the Pill for five years had about a 24% lower risk of endometrial cancer; those who took it for 10 to 15 years cut their risk in half, according to the study, led by researchers at the University of Oxford in England.
Earlier studies have shown that taking birth control pills for 10 years also cuts the risk of ovarian cancer in half, said JoAnn Manson, a professor at Harvard Medical School who wasn’t involved in the new study.
The benefits seem to have a pretty long-reaching effect:
The Pill’s benefit lasted for at least 30 years after women stopped using them, the study found. That could be important, given that most women take the Pill in early adulthood, but most endometrial cancers are diagnosed after age 55, according to the American Cancer Society. The society estimates that 54,870 new cases of endometrial cancer will be diagnosed this year and that 10,170 women will die from it.
How about that? Twenty Percent of all American women used Planned Parenthood services.