Birth control with benefits

When we hear “side effect” we tend to think of doom and gloom, but many birth control methods have positive side effects, too. Exhibit A: a new study of reproductive-age women in the U.S. shows that side benefits are part of the reason a lot of women use the pill. And by a lot we mean more than half (58%) of the 11.2 million women taking the pill. Over 1.5 million pill users (14%) take it entirely for the side benefits, including the estimated 762,000 of them who have never had sex.

And that’s just pill users. We’re guessing the number of women using any method of birth control for side benefits is much higher. So it seems that many women and their doctors agree that birth control is indeed preventive medicine—and not just if you’re trying to prevent pregnancy.