I received a much-forwarded email last week that set off my BS radar:

In case you know someone young enough that uses birth control and for the younger ones.

PASS THIS ON EVEN IF YOU DO NOT USE IT.

Recently this past week, my cousin Nicole Dishuk (age 31…newly grad student with a doctoral degree about to start her new career as a doctor…) was flown into a nearby hospital because she passed out.

They found a blood clot in her neck and immediately took her by helicopter to the ER to operate. By the time they removed the right half of her skull to relieve the pressure on her brain, the clot had spread to her brain causing severe damage.

Since last Wednesday night, she was battling…they induced her into a coma to stop the blood flow. They operated 3 times.

Finally, they said there was nothing left that they could do. They found multiple clots in the left side of her brain…the swelling wouldn’t stop, and she was on life support.

She died at 4:30 yesterday. She leaves behind a husband and 2-year-old Brandon and 4-year-old Justin..The CAUSE of DEATH — they found it was a birth control she was taking that allows you to only have your period 3 times a year…They said it interrupts life’s menstrual cycle, and although it is FDA-approved, shouldn’t be. So to the women in my address book — I ask you to boycott this product and deal with your period once a month — so you can live the rest of the months that your life has in store for you.

*Please send this to every woman you know — you may save someone’s life…Remember, you have a CYCLE for a reason!

FYI…The name of this new birth control pill is Lybrel.

If you go to Lybrel.com, you will find at least 26 pages of information regarding this drug.  
The second birth control pill is, Seasonique. If you go to the website of Seasonique.com, you will find 43 pages of information regarding this drug.  

The warnings and side effects regarding both pills are horrible.

Please, please forward this information to as many daughters AND sons, co-workers, friends, and relatives. Several lives have already been changed.

Being cynical and smelling a rat, I immediatly started searching. The very first result on Google about Nicole Dishuk leads to a site about urban legends. Turns out, Nicole Dishuk did die a year ago — of a stroke. Any other details about the cause of her death have been sealed as confidential. But note how the email states, in bold letters, "CAUSE OF DEATH." She was on this type of birth control pill, but no one has said, let alone confirmed, that the pill caused or was related to her sad, untimely death.

Another misleading bit from the email is that it lists how many pages of info about each drug you’ll find on the site. Of course you will find info — you will find that from any pharmaceutical site — they are required to disclose all drug facts. It doesn’t say, however, that you’ll find 43 pages of info about how deadly it is. It just says 43 pages.

There are side effects (and even related deaths) for every single prescription drug on the market. So the next time you get one of these ominous, meant-to-scare email stories, think twice before you forward it.

In related news: Birth control pill may cut cancer risk (study)
LONDON (Reuters) — Taking the contraceptive pill does not increase a woman’s chance of developing cancer and could even reduce the risk of getting the killer disease, a major British medical study showed on Wednesday.

Thank you medical science.

And now I’d like to thank common sense in the legal system:

A doctor has no duty to tell a woman considering an abortion that her embryo is an "existing human being," a unanimous New Jersey Supreme Court ruled Wednesday, averting a trial over when human life begins. The decision, citing past rulings, said the court "will not place a duty on doctors when there is no consensus in the medical community or among the public" on when life begins. The 5-0 Supreme Court ruling reversed a unanimous ruling by a three-judge appeals panel.

"No concensus in the medical community…unanimous ruling…" If only facts and science were enough, as in other countries, for our politicians to leave our bodies and our rights alone. It would help if, also like other countries, we could keep religious extemists out of our courtrooms and hospitals.

Jennifer Leblanc