Dr. William V. Williams, M.D. is the lead author of Natural Womanhood’s Citizens Petition to the FDA. He is also the Editor Emeritus of The Linacre Quarterly, an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and the President and CEO of BriaCell Therapeutics, which focuses on breast cancer research. Dr. Williams is also a rheumatologist.
Now, to many people, the fact that the lead author of a petition concerning birth control risks and side effects is a rheumatologist might not make much sense. After all, if one has heard of any risks associated with hormonal birth control, it’s along the lines of blood clots (which many assume are only a risk if you are over 35 and/or smoke) and breast cancer (which many mistakenly believe is a myth that has been debunked). The truth, of course, is that not only are all women on birth control at increased risk for breast cancer and blood clots, but that those risks, serious as they are, are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the risks and potential side effects a woman may encounter while using hormonal contraceptives.
As Dr. Williams explains in the following interview with Mary Rose Somarriba, the risks of hormonal birth control go far beyond blood clots and breast cancer, to include: cervical cancer, HIV (with the Depo Provera birth control shot), depression, anxiety, and suicide, osteoporosis, and the worsening or development of certain autoimmune (AI) disorders. The latter is what originally intrigued Dr. Williams as a rheumatologist.
“As a rheumatologist, there’s a very common problem that patients run into with Lupus, and especially those with what’s called Antiphospholipid Antibody Syndrome; this is a condition where people have a higher propensity to form blood clots. And it’s been known for a long time that birth control pills can really make that a lot worse. So, I knew for a long time that there were problems with birth control pills in patients who already had these diseases. But it wasn’t until I really started to look into the literature, that I realized that these hormonal contraceptives can also predispose [women] to the development of those diseases.”
Dr. Williams goes on to describe how the relatively unknown, evidence-based risks of hormonal birth control (such as the increased disposition towards developing certain AI diseases) are the primary focus of Natural Womanhood’s Citizens Petition to the FDA, which urges greater transparency about birth control risks and side effects.
As Dr. Williams describes:
“The scope of the petition is to ask the FDA to update the prescribing information, as well as the patient information leaflets on all hormonal contraceptives, to include many risks that are not acknowledged, and to provide clarity on several risks that are really poorly communicated in the current prescribing information, or outright communicated in a deceptive manner.”
One of the chief examples of the deceptive manner in which certain birth control risks are communicated is the wording found in the current “black box warnings” found on hormonal birth control packaging. As communicated in the Citizens Petition (the full text of which can be downloaded here):
“The current language on the black box warning of certain contraceptives regarding risk of cardiovascular events clearly misleads women about the real risks of these drugs. It says: WARNING: CIGARETTE SMOKING AND SERIOUS CARDIOVASCULAR EVENTS. A study (Gomer 2009) conducted among 300 women concluded ‘that most of them believe that certain risks are only associated with being over 35 years of age and/or smoking.’ Instead, the label should clearly state that anyone taking the medications without good knowledge of the risk factors could experience a potentially life-threatening cardiovascular event and should discuss the risks with a medical provider. The incidence of venous thromboembolism (VTE) for healthy women can significantly increase with the use of hormonal contraceptives, even women under 35 and not-smoking.”
(Citizens Petition, pg. 68)
Dr. Williams also notes that the petition calls for the complete removal of the Depo Provera birth control shot from the market, given that several studies have found a positive correlation between the birth control shot and a woman’s risk of contracting HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
In this 35-minute interview, Dr. Williams distills for viewers the most important reasons why our petition urging greater transparency in birth control risks and side effects is so urgently needed. He describes:
- How the messaging around blood clots and breast cancer in the prescribing information and patient informational inserts for birth control deceptively minimizes the risk profile for these adverse conditions…
- The mechanism behind birth control’s ability to lead to breast cancer, as well as the studies that back up the claim that birth control raises rates of breast cancer…
- The flaws in the studies that supposedly “debunk” the birth control/breast cancer connection…
- The robust, evidence-based connection between birth control and increased cervical cancer risks…
- Which autoimmune disorders seem to carry the greatest connection to hormonal contraception use…
- The personal, societal, economic and environmental burden posed by hormonal birth control, and why the reduction in certain cancer rates as a result of birth control use can’t make up for its increased burdens…
- The health and relationship benefits of fertility awareness methods or methods of natural family planning, especially when compared to hormonal birth control…
You can watch the full version of this Natural Womanhood Exclusive Video Interview with Dr. William V. Williams and Mary Rose Somarriba, below. We hope you will also sign and share our FDA petition today, so that we can achieve our goal of 25,000 signatures by November 1.
If you’d like to know more about birth control side effects and the history of hormonal birth control, check out the most recent episode of the Natural Womanhood podcast, here, or find us wherever you get your podcasts.
