It's the hormones in oral contraceptives that make them work, but over the years, side effects have been a significant issue.
Like any good mother, Joan Cummins loves to talk about her daughter Michelle.
Last August Michelle set off from her new jersey home to attend college in North Carolina.
I thought, my baby, it'll be alright, we'd go to her room and it would be empty but i thought "oh we're going to see her again" and she never came home," said Joan.
Just one month into Michelle's freshman year, Joan got a call that changed her life forever.
"They called me from the hospital and they told me that her heart was not responding and that it wasn't good, and that just, you never want to hear that," she sobbed.
Michelle was walking to class when she collapsed and went into cardiac arrest. She died shortly after from a massive blood clot in her lung. Something her mother thinks was caused by the birth control pill Yaz. She's now suing Bayer for wrongful death.
"I'm saying it could've contributed to her death. A healthy young 18 year old woman who never had anything wrong to be taken like that, certainly something that could've contributed.
Just this week, the FDA announced it is taking a look at new birth control pills like Yaz and others that contain a different form of the hormone progestin.
"There's always been concern that the new generation of birth control like Yaz, Yazmin, B-Yaz, maybe increases the rick of developing a blood clot, slightly over the old generation," said Dr. Jacques Mortiz, Director of Gynecology at Roosevelt Hospital.
Regardless of what the FDA finds, for Joan Cummins, the loss of her daughter is enough to want to warn others.
Instead of her coming home and being part of life here again, she came home and i had to bury her. It's just horrible I don't want to have anybody I know to have to go through this. It just is not fair."
Bayer says the overall scientific evidence supports its current assessment that its birth control pills are just as safe as any others on the market.
The company also says it's working closely with the FDA on this matter.
The FDA recommends that women taking such pills should not discontinue use without talking to their doctor.
Like any good mother, Joan Cummins loves to talk about her daughter Michelle.
Last August Michelle set off from her new jersey home to attend college in North Carolina.
I thought, my baby, it'll be alright, we'd go to her room and it would be empty but i thought "oh we're going to see her again" and she never came home," said Joan.
Just one month into Michelle's freshman year, Joan got a call that changed her life forever.
"They called me from the hospital and they told me that her heart was not responding and that it wasn't good, and that just, you never want to hear that," she sobbed.
Michelle was walking to class when she collapsed and went into cardiac arrest. She died shortly after from a massive blood clot in her lung. Something her mother thinks was caused by the birth control pill Yaz. She's now suing Bayer for wrongful death.
"I'm saying it could've contributed to her death. A healthy young 18 year old woman who never had anything wrong to be taken like that, certainly something that could've contributed.
Just this week, the FDA announced it is taking a look at new birth control pills like Yaz and others that contain a different form of the hormone progestin.
"There's always been concern that the new generation of birth control like Yaz, Yazmin, B-Yaz, maybe increases the rick of developing a blood clot, slightly over the old generation," said Dr. Jacques Mortiz, Director of Gynecology at Roosevelt Hospital.
Regardless of what the FDA finds, for Joan Cummins, the loss of her daughter is enough to want to warn others.
Instead of her coming home and being part of life here again, she came home and i had to bury her. It's just horrible I don't want to have anybody I know to have to go through this. It just is not fair."
Bayer says the overall scientific evidence supports its current assessment that its birth control pills are just as safe as any others on the market.
The company also says it's working closely with the FDA on this matter.
The FDA recommends that women taking such pills should not discontinue use without talking to their doctor.
