IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v166y2016icp9-16.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Pregnancy is more dangerous than the pill: A critical analysis of professional responses to the Yaz/Yasmin controversy

Author

Listed:
  • Geampana, Alina

Abstract

The fourth and most recent generation of hormones used in oral contraceptives has stirred a significant amount of debate regarding the safety of these compounds. Drospirenone, a new type of synthetic hormone used in popular oral contraceptives Yaz and Yasmin, has been found by epidemiologists to increase the risk of blood clots when compared to the previous generations of pills. North American regulatory bodies have investigated the health risks of drospirenone and concluded that the increased risks do not require pulling the new contraceptive technology off the market. Instead, the FDA and Health Canada along with several medical associations have actively managed the Yaz/Yasmin controversy through official statements and press releases between 2010 and 2014. This study provides an analysis of these documents and how risk information about drospirenone-containing pills has been presented to the public. The analysis addresses a gap in our knowledge about cultural factors that impact contraceptive risk assessment. Prevalent risk models used by professionals are highlighted and examined through the use of critical discourse analysis methods. More specifically, this paper highlights the main strategies used to put drospirenone risks into perspective and classify it as safe. I argue that while risks related to pregnancy and the postpartum period are overly-emphasized, other risks are downplayed through a selection process underscored by normative beliefs about women's bodies and sexuality. Future research needs to address consumer perspectives and bridge the gap between lay and scientific risk/benefit assessment of oral contraceptives.

Suggested Citation

  • Geampana, Alina, 2016. "Pregnancy is more dangerous than the pill: A critical analysis of professional responses to the Yaz/Yasmin controversy," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 9-16.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:166:y:2016:i:c:p:9-16
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.08.005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953616304270
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.08.005?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Watkins, E.S., 2012. "How Pill became a lifestyle drug: The pharmaceutical industry and birth control in the United States since 1960," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 102(8), pages 1462-1472.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kissling, Alexandra, 2022. "“Thinking with my dad brain, not my man brain”: Understanding Men's and Women's sterilization risk narratives," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    2. Donnelly, Katie, 2024. "Patient-centered or population-centered? How epistemic discrepancies cause harm and sow mistrust," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 341(C).
    3. Schwarz, Joëlle & Dumbaugh, Mari & Bapolisi, Wyvine & Ndorere, Marie Souavis & Mwamini, Marie-Chantale & Bisimwa, Ghislain & Merten, Sonja, 2019. "“So that's why I'm scared of these methods”: Locating contraceptive side effects in embodied life circumstances in Burundi and eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 220(C), pages 264-272.
    4. Bertotti, Andrea M. & Mann, Emily S. & Miner, Skye A., 2021. "Efficacy as safety: Dominant cultural assumptions and the assessment of contraceptive risk," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 270(C).
    5. Laura E. T. Swan & Lindsay M. Cannon, 2024. "Healthcare Provider-Based Contraceptive Coercion: Understanding U.S. Patient Experiences and Describing Implications for Measurement," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(6), pages 1-14, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Annarita Macchioni Giaquinto, 2022. "The power of the (red) pill in Europe: pharmaceutical innovation and female empowerment," Working Papers 2022:09, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    2. Le Guen, Mireille & Schantz, Clémence & Régnier-Loilier, Arnaud & de La Rochebrochard, Elise, 2021. "Reasons for rejecting hormonal contraception in Western countries: A systematic review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 284(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:166:y:2016:i:c:p:9-16. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.