Claim: Birth Control Causes Cancer

Question

If you use birth control, you might be wondering whether it affects your chances of getting cancer, IUDs, birth control pills, birth control shots, and others raise or lower your risk.

Comments

Misleading may be fair but fear-mongering is a step too far in my opinion. While there might not be total truth to the statement the fact that there is some truth means it is an important idea to get out there. There are millions of people around the world on birth control and if any of it causes cancer everyone needs to be aware of that.

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Adding an additional source for this is a great job of fact-checking, I think the more quality sources you can have the more credibility you can claim. The sources you added I think provide additional good information and aren't unnecessary additions.

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Using birth control pills can reduce ovarian cancer risk by up to 50%, and this protective effect can last for many years after stopping use. Similarly, hormonal IUDs, which thin the endometrial lining, can help prevent or even treat early-stage endometrial cancer. It's understandable to be concerned about how birth control might affect your cancer risk. Interestingly, certain types of birth control can actually lower the risk of some cancers. For example, birth control pills and hormonal IUDs have been shown to significantly reduce the risk of ovarian and endometrial cancers
1. https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/hormones/oral-contraceptives-fact-sheet
2. https://www.mskcc.org/news/birth-control-and-cancer-risk

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I like that you added additional sources to your claim. This further helped support your claim along with giving us a creditable source to look to. A summary to the links would also have been a nice touch.

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Although it has been disproved, there has been questions raised about whether birth Control causes cancer. Hormonal birth control, like the pill, might slightly raise the risk of certain cancers but it also lowers the risk of others, like ovarian and endometrial cancer.

Answer 1

Taking the combined pill, a contraceptive pill that contains hormones; estrogen and progestogen or mini pill, contraceptive pill only contains progestogen, has been seen to both increase and decrease likelihood of some cancers. For the combined pill it can lower the risk of ovarian cancer, only while people are taking it and Endometrial cancer, which stays even when people stop taking it. Combination pills have been seen to increase breast cancer and cervical cancer, but this increase goes away 10 years after you stop taking the pill. These increases, however, are small and the percentage is unclear for studies go back and forth. Along with that, the pill is not the only form of birth control. Condoms, non-hormonal IUDs and other non-hormonal birth controls do not cause an increase in risk of developing cancer. However most hormonal forms of birth control such as the patch, the shot, hormonal IUDs and like stated earlier the pill, has been linked to a slight increase of chances in developing some cancers, primarily breast and endometrial cancers. This idea, however, that all birth controls are the cause of cancer is a false and over simplified claim.  

Sources Used:

https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-of-cancer/hormones-and-cancer/does-the-contraceptive-pill-increase-cancer-risk#:~:text=Cervical%20cancer%3A%20taking%20the%20combined,the%20pill%20was%20never%20used. 

https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/hormones/oral-contraceptives-fact-sheet 

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11759152/ 

https://www.mdanderson.org/cancerwise/does-hormone-replacement-therapy-increase-cancer-risk.h00-159699123.html#:~:text=Yes.,breast%20cancer%20and%20endometrial%20cancer. 

https://www.breastcancer.org/news/hormonal-iuds-increase-breast-cancer-risk 

Answer 2

This claim is extremely misleading as the article itself formulates a list of the potential increase or decrease of being diagnosed with certain cancers due to the use of birth control. According to the National Cancer Institute, birth control lowers the risk of some cancers while simultaneously raising the risk of other cancers.

https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/hormones/oral-contraceptives-fact-sheet

Answer 3

I personally feel like birth control individually causes cancer. Different females respond to different types of birth control in different way. Its certain birth control's that causes affects in the females hormones to act in certain ways. For example, according to this link  https://www.mdanderson.org/publications/focused-on-health/birth-control-pill-and-cancer-risk.h28Z1590624.html many of them can cause cancer, but many of them can also prevent out as well. As said in the article "“A lot of people think the pill always ups your risk of cancer, but that’s simply not true,” Oral contraceptives — better known as the pill — may affect a woman’s chances of developing breast and gynecologic cancers. In some cases, that means a bigger chance of cancer. In others, it means protection against cancer."

Answer 4

This claim is misleading and exaggerated. The risk of cancer from birth control is really dependent on the kind of birth control used. According to Dr. Deborah Goldfrank of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, both birth control pills and IUDs can reduce the risk of ovarian cancer, while birth control pills may cause a mild increase in breast cancer.

https://www.mskcc.org/news/birth-control-and-cancer-risk

Answer 5

This claim does have some merit to it, however, opening with the statement that birth control causes cancer is quite exaggerated. During my research I found that only birth control pills can cause your likelihood of cancer to rise and only after consistent usage for 5+ years, however the two cancers that it can raise risk for are breast and cervical cancer. Other cancers such as ovarian, colon, and endometrial are actually reduced in risk for various reasons. Finally using a different form of contraception, like an IUD, does not show any signs of increased cancer risk.

Sources: https://www.cancer.org/cancer/latest-news/birth-control-cancer

Answer 6

This claim is exaggerated/misleading. The source linked explains that oral contraceptives could increase your risk of developing breast or cervical cancer, but also decreases your risk of developing colon and ovarian cancer. The rest of the article describes how other forms of contraceptives like IUDs and condoms only decrease your chance of getting cancer. 

The reason oral contraceptives have been linked to cancer is because "estrogen and progesterone stimulate the development and growth of some cancers... Because birth control pills contain synthetic versions of these female hormones, they could potentially also increase cancer risk" (National Cancer Institute). So saying outright that birth control causes cancer is very misleading because only oral contraceptives seem to be linked to certain kinds of cancers, but it also decreases the risks of other kinds of cancers. It's also important to note that about ten years after stopping taking oral contraceptives, the risk of developing breast or cervical cancer goes away (Cancer Research UK). 

https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/hormones/oral-contraceptives-fact-sheet

https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-of-cancer/hormones-and-cancer/does-the-contraceptive-pill-increase-cancer-risk 

Answer 7

This is a very misleading headline. The claim is that taking birth control will cause cancer. The website attached does not say that it will directly cause cancer but people who take these birth control pills do have an increased chance of getting certain types of cancer(breast and cervical) but will also lower the chances of other types of cancer(colon, endometrial, and ovarian).

According to the National Cancer Institute, studies cannot definitely establish that birth control causes cancer. However there is consistent evidence that the risks of breast and cervical cancer increase and lowers the risks of ovarian, endometrial, and colorectal cancer with the use of birth control pills. This backs up the original articles assertion. 

https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/hormones/oral-contraceptives-fact-sheet

Answer 8

The Depo Shot specifically has sparked controversy lately. Depo-medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) is a hormonal birth control that has the same progestin used in hormonal therapy in menopausal women and has been proven to increase the risk of breast cancer within postmenopausal women in a clinical trial. A case study was done in 2012 specifically on DMPA in 1,028 women ages 20-44 and it was found that there was a 2.2-fold increased risk of invasive breast cancer with usage of the shot for 12 months or longer but the risk dissipated after discontinuation of use.

However, the overall risk is small, and numerous health organizations have repeatedly assessed DMPA as being safe and reliable for the use of birth control among most women. The FDA does include warnings about possible side effects, such as bone density loss, but it does not list cancer among the major concerns.

In summary, while some studies suggest a possible association between long-term use of DMPA and certain types of tumors, the evidence is not entirely clear, and the overall risk is considered to be low. 

https://aacrjournals.org/cancerres/article/72/8/2028/578567/Effect-of-Depo-Medroxyprogesterone-Acetate-on

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/australian-law-firm-recruiting-for-class-action-after-contraceptive-tumourlinking-study/news-story/58ddf6da2494119117f797381289bc93

Answer 9

This is misleading. Although some forms of birth control can heighten your chances to develop certain kinds of cancer, they can also lower your risk of getting other types. For example, birth control pills can increase the risk of getting breast and cervical cancers because of their impact on estrogen. However, oral contraceptives are also known to decrease risk of endometrial, ovarian, and colon cancer. The National Cancer Institute supports this information; however, because most studies done on the subject are observational or case studies, it is impossible to make the claim that birth control directly prevents or causes cancer.

Sources:

https://www.webmd.com/sex/birth-control/birth-control-cancer-risk

https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/hormones/oral-contraceptives-fact-sheet

Answer 10

If you're on birth control, you might wonder if this affects your risk for cancers. The different types of birth control, from pills to IUDs to shots, sometimes increase and sometimes decrease your risk of certain cancers. Study results suggest that with some hormonal types of birth control, the risk of both breast and cervical cancer may be increased. This may be due to the fact that some hormones, such as estrogen and progesterone, at times can fuel the growth of some types of cancers. These risks, however, are minor and usually resolve after one stops birth control methods. On the other hand, birth control reduces the risk of ovarian, uterine, and colon cancer. The longer you use birth control, the more protection you get from these cancers. They believe this is due to the reason that birth control reduces ovulation and controls the hormonal level, making it difficult for some cancers to start. On a whole, birth control is associated with both risk and protection; its effect on cancer depends on the type of cancer and the duration of use. If one is concerned about the risk for cancer, then discuss it with your doctor to find the best option. Birth control is safe for the majority of women, and the advantages outweigh the risks.