I watch a bit of television now and again, and repeatedly see commercials for birth control pills. They look quite glamorous. Granted, at the tail end of the commercial the serious side effects are listed — but the real impact of what birth control pills do to female bodies is never discussed, and what is mentioned is completely glossed over.
The true nature and impact of birth control pills is very concerning and prevents me from prescribing them in good conscience. All women should come to grips with the reality that this rampantly prescribed group of drugs can be harmful — and therefore unacceptable.
Are Birth Control Pills Actually Hormones?
Let us get to the heart of what birth control pills actually are, what their real impact on a woman's body is, and why you might want to avoid them if possible. You have heard them referred to as hormonal contraception — but the reality is that there is not a drop of natural hormones found in any brand of birth control pill. Not even one drop.
Rather than containing natural hormones, they are synthetic versions of endogenous estradiol and progesterone — compounds that Mother Nature has never encountered at any point in human evolution. In a sense, these synthetic hormones are endocrine disruptors: chemicals that act as pseudo-hormones. They can attach to hormone receptors like a key fitting into a lock, but they do not necessarily open the door — or open it fully. The end result is a different outcome entirely. It is like substituting diesel fuel for petrol in a car: it may pour into the tank, but it will clearly deliver a different result when the accelerator is pressed.
How Birth Control Pills Disrupt Natural Hormone Function
What Hormones Actually Do
Hormones are chemical messengers that travel throughout the body, delivering critical information to cells — enabling them to do what is needed to keep the body healthy and functioning properly. Once they have done their job in target cells, hormones need to be removed from the body and new hormones made. All of these functions can be profoundly altered by the synthetic hormones used in birth control pills, with significant negative consequences.
Birth control pills interfere with a woman's key biological function — her ability to produce natural hormones — stealing her inherent and necessary rhythms, and making her infertile, by substituting manufactured chemical mimics for her real hormones.
If you have been on the Pill and want to understand your current natural hormone levels, our Saliva Hormone Tests can measure your free estradiol, progesterone, testosterone and DHEA — giving you a baseline picture of where your hormones stand after stopping contraception.
Birth Control "Hormones" Are Endocrine Disruptors
If you visited the toxicology database at the US National Institutes of Health, you would find the ingredients of birth control pills listed as endocrine disruptors. Environmental medicine research consistently labels these chemicals as endocrine disruptors — not hormones. The fact that they are marketed worldwide as contraceptives and called hormones by most does not make them natural hormones. You can call a piece of glass a diamond, but it is still just glass.
Around six decades ago, research was underway on the use of these synthetic hormones at a time when natural female hormones were barely understood. The health implications were not comprehended — only the fact that pregnancy could be averted was acknowledged and heralded. Fast forward to today: though we know so much more about the negatives of disrupting natural hormones and rhythms, it is all brushed under the rug.
The pharmaceutical industry has created other endocrine disruptors prescribed to women, such as diethylstilbestrol (DES) — given to pregnant women with horrendous effects on female offspring, who faced increased risk of fatal vaginal cancer and severe structural abnormalities of the reproductive organs. DES was ultimately removed from the market, but essential lessons have not been learned. Unlike DES, the consequences of taking birth control pills can be very subtle and take years to manifest.
Adverse Effects of the Birth Control Pill
Short and Long-Term Health Consequences
The consequences of the Pill can be very grave. Some women on birth control pills quickly develop life-threatening blood clots, depression, suicidal ideation, or hypertension. But some potential effects can take years to manifest, including irritable bowel syndrome, autoimmune diseases, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, atherosclerosis, heart disease, diabetes and insulin resistance, kidney disease, poor vaginal health, and even dementia.
Published studies show birth control pills can hinder the development of strong bones, negatively impact gut and immune health, damage vaginal and bladder health, and impair normal brain function. Tissues throughout the body have estrogen and progesterone receptors, and there is a robust body of data showing that these hormones are involved in a multitude of critical functions. As birth control pills contain no natural hormones and shut down their synthesis, all estrogen and progesterone-mediated functions in the body are heavily impacted.
Think of estradiol as the master female hormone — regulating energy production and brain function, as well as bone, joint, muscle, gut, and immune health. Substituting estradiol with the synthetic chemical mimic ethinyl estradiol creates havoc for all of these functions. The damage occurs slowly but inexorably.
Understanding Your Natural Hormone Rhythms
For women who have come off the Pill and want to understand their natural cycle, Menstrual Cycle Mapping via dried urine spot testing tracks estradiol and progesterone across a full cycle — revealing whether your natural hormonal rhythms have been restored and identifying any remaining imbalances. For women approaching perimenopause or experiencing symptoms after stopping contraception, our Menopause hormone testing page explains which tests are most relevant and how to interpret your results in context.
What Does This Mean for Women?
It is painful to have to question what has come to be seen as the ticket to female freedom and independence from unwanted pregnancies. Birth control pills were a hard-fought victory at the time, needed to achieve parity with males.
But the truth must be told, no matter how uncomfortable it is to hear. To be vibrant, healthy women, we can no longer be chained to technology and drugs designed decades ago when the hormonal functions of women were not understood. Women are remarkable rhythmic creatures and require the beautiful dance of their hormones to be healthy. No woman should have a baby she does not want. But knowingly putting synthetic hormones that disrupt the endocrine system into her body — destroying that rhythm and replacing hormones with toxins — is simply not a reasonable option. Effective contraceptives are surely needed, but sacrificing female health is not an option — not now, and not ever.
Originally by Dr. Felice Gersh, ZRT Laboratory. Reproduced with permission. Last reviewed: May 2026.