WS More or Less: How risky is the contraceptive pill?
More or Less: Behind the Stats
BBC
4.6 • 3.5K Ratings
🗓️ 12 December 2016
⏱️ 9 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We look at the numbers behind the scary headlines about birth control.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is the BBC. |
| 0:02.0 | Hello, this is Tim Harford and this is the shorter World Service edition of More or Less. |
| 0:10.0 | Hello and welcome to More or less on the BBC World Service. |
| 0:13.8 | We are your statistical guide to the numbers all around us in the news and in life |
| 0:18.0 | and I'm Tim Harford. |
| 0:19.9 | According to the World Health Organization, over 100 million women around the world use the combined oral contraceptive, better known as the pill. |
| 0:29.0 | The tiny tablet contains hormones which prevent pregnancy. It first became available to some women |
| 0:35.2 | in the early 1960s. |
| 0:37.6 | What difference is as the pill made your married lives? |
| 0:40.6 | Well I mean, to me it's complete freedom. You've never got to worry to plan. |
| 0:46.0 | And by allowing women more control over their fertility, it transformed patterns of sex, |
| 0:51.0 | marriage, and even women's participation in professions such as law, medicine and |
| 0:56.1 | dentistry. But many of the potential side effects of the pill have been documented since its |
| 1:01.2 | release in the 1960s. |
| 1:03.2 | And now a study claims to have established a link |
| 1:05.7 | between depression and the pill. |
| 1:07.8 | You might recognize some of these headlines. |
| 1:10.4 | Are you on the pill? |
| 1:12.0 | You're more likely to be depressed. |
| 1:13.8 | Birth control, linked to depression. |
| 1:16.0 | The pill has been linked to depression. |
| 1:18.0 | Why isn't this more of a scandal? |
... |
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