Just hitting the international news over the past couple of weeks, a 17-year-old Romanian girl died in Manchester, England, on Nov. 11. The cause? A blood clot on the brain from taking the contraceptive pill.
Maria Santa was a gifted ballerina, an elite athlete whose “only risk factor was being on the oral contraceptive pill,” according to the doctor who tried to treat her, not recognizing what was wrong with her until it was too late.
We at Natural Womanhood are so sorry for Miss Santa’s death and uplift her story and her as a person to earnestly ask you to join us in our endeavor to help prevent this sort of death by raising greater awareness of alternatives to the Pill. Sure, it’s fairly rare for women to die from taking the pill. We hope no one you know has had a blood clot or a stroke or has lost her life because of birth control.
However, through Natural Womanhood, we’ve come to know five sets of parents who’ve lost a daughter to hormonal contraceptives. These families are just the ones we’ve personally met. We’ve heard of many others. Marie Santa is only the latest.
Women need to know about their options. That’s why we ask for your help right now to fund our promotion efforts by giving to Natural Womanhood on BigGive, the one-day citywide fundraiser for San Antonio nonprofits. You don’t have to be from San Antonio to support our mission of full disclosure for women’s health.
If hormonal contraceptives were the only way to have any control over getting pregnant, I could understand how we might accept the side effects and seemingly minimal and distant risks of death. But every one of the devastating deaths of these beautiful, beloved young women was avoidable, without sacrificing any degree of her freedom and ability to manage her fertility.
Pharmaceutical contraceptives are far from the only option for effectively preventing pregnancy, they’re just the only ones people generally hear about.
That’s why Natural Womanhood exists: to step in and fill that gap and inform all women of Fertility Awareness Based Methods: better options that are safe, natural, effective, and basically free of cost. These methods teach women how to read the clear signs of their bodies to know when pregnancy is possible or not. They are, sadly, far too well-kept secrets.
Please consider giving to Natural Womanhood tonight a $10, $20 or any amount you can afford so that we can meet our goal of $10,000 and reach more women with this message. By giving right now, between 7 and 8 p.m. central time, you also increase our chances of winning a $1,000 bonus if we get the highest number of donors.
We at Natural Womanhood want all women to be fully aware of these healthy alternatives, especially those at unknown risk as Maria Santa was, along with our friends’ daughters: Erika Langhart, Brittany Malone, Anne Ammons, Julia West Ross, Alex Rowan, and the growing list of others in the news: Sandy Westbrook, Ann Tompkins, Dana Jenn, Jenifer Kmetz, Jackie Bozicev, Heather Lee Thomason, Charlotte Foster, Sophie Murray, Fallan Kurek and the list continues.
The deadly risks and bothersome side effects of hormonal contraceptives are clear signs that the health of all women who take them is being undermined, whether they are aware of it or not.
Fertility Awareness, instead of loading women with side effects and risks, brings with it a whole host of side benefits, from greater body literacy, for better health outcomes, and keys to diagnosing and treating reproductive disorders. Couples report that using these methods improved their communication and relationship.
Every woman informed is potentially a life saved.
That’s why we need you to help us by donating here right now. Big Give 2017 is a once a year, one-day long online fundraiser for San Antonio nonprofits. With your help, we can show the San Antonio community the importance of this cause. You can give $10, $20, $50, whatever you can afford.
With your donation, we get information women need in front of them. Each dollar typically allows us to reach up to 200 people on Facebook.
Thank you for helping Natural Womanhood share the beautiful message of fertility awareness to millions. We cannot do this without your help.
This article is nothing more than an excuse to get funding for your organization. You care not a fig about the ballerina cause of death. You believe any article that’s published. Ballerinas may use the pill to stave off having a period at all while they are performing. She could have sustained an injury that led to a blood clot. There are a list of reasons why she could have thrown a blood clot. A wild ass guess by a doctor is not a valid cause….. except that you want to launch a funding out of it. How sad that you stoop so low. Stick to what you think you know…., menstrual cycles .