According to Parks and Peipert (2016) , 10.6 million females in the United States are dependent on birth control pills, most of the times referred to as oral contraceptives. The birth control pills alter the normal functioning of specific hormones that are responsible for a pregnancy. Even though engaging birth control techniques may seem advantageous on the surface, the medical community is limited in terms of offering information to the society concerning some of the detrimental effects of consuming birth control contraceptives. Through the creation of awareness, the women are left to make informed decisions on whether or not they can adopt the birth control techniques, in fact, they can select the method that is appropriate to them through the guidance of a physician (Rasmussen, Hannibal, Dehlendorff, Baandrup, Junge, Vange, & Kjaer, 2017) . This consumption and distribution of birth control pills should be prevented from individuals since it can lead to specific kinds of cancers and infertility, does not prevent people from contracting sexually transmitted diseases, and encourages blood clots in the body. The research questions that guides this study include:
How do the hormonal changes influence the normal functioning of the women that use contraceptives so that they cannot be fertile?
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What are the economic implications of allowing birth control contraceptives to lower the fertility levels of women?
How do the Hormonal Changes Influence the Normal Functioning of Women that they cannot be Fertile?
The Anatomical, Physiological, Pathological, or Epidemiological Issues
To begin with, the process of a woman’s pregnancy begins when an egg is freed from the ovary (the female organ that stores the eggs) is fertilized when it gets in contact with a man’s sperm. The egg that has been fertilized gets to the uterus, where it nourishes and grows to become a baby. Hormones in the body of the woman regulate the manner in which this woman’s egg is released from the ovary, a process referred to as ovulation (Kazemijaliseh, Tehrani, Behboudi-Gandevani, Hosseinpanah, Khalili, & Azizi, 2015) . This process is followed by the preparations of the body to receive the fertilize egg and develop it. The utilization of contraceptives is to interrupt this hormonal program and functioning so that the fertilization process does not take place, that is the egg and the sperm cell is prevented to meet to fertilize. This also interferes with the thinner endometrial linings that are attached with to the uterus. The embryo that develops from the fertilized egg will implant itself on the uterus during the process of pregnancy.
The Affected Body Systems
Hormonal birth control methods (which comprise contraceptives like the pill, the patch, and the vaginal ring) have significant portions of artificial estrogen and progestin hormones. The hormones are designed to interrupt or hinder the normal body’s natural hormones that are released in the menstruation cycle of a woman, which causes her not to be pregnant. A number of factors are involved in the whole process of pregnancy (Ochako, Mbondo, Aloo, Kaimenyi, Thompson, Temmerman, & Kays, 2015) . The body systems that are directly affected are the reproductive system as well as the womb of the mother. The birth control pills alter the cervical mucus composition and functioning, which challenges sperm penetration through the cervix and fertilize the egg ( Parks & Peipert, 2016) . The endometrial lining of the womb is another part of the body that is affected in that it is improbable for the fertilized egg to be positioned as it would naturally. Some of these contraceptives thicken the cervical mucus so that the sperm may not access the egg. An egg is not released from the ovary in some cases. Notably, though, non-hormonal types of contraceptives such as condoms or the copper intrauterine device (IUD) do not alter the natural stages or functioning of the hormones within the body.
The Happenings of Cellular Level
At a cellular level, the hormonal contraceptives such as the Seasonale and other birth control pills bring down the number of menstrual periods to four times a year. This is compared to the normal rate, which is 13 periods every year (Eniola, Adetola, & Abayomi, 2017) . This implies that women who take such pills may undergo menstruation only once every season. The cells adjust with this mode of hormonal changes that are only triggered four times every year. Therefore, this compromises the fertility rate of the woman so that she has a lower chance of conceiving.
Chemical or Biological Issues that are Significant
Individuals that are presently taking oral contraceptives deny that consuming pills brings down the probability of endometrial and ovarian cancer. Nonetheless, researchers done by National Cancer Institute indicate that even though the pill may bring down the chances of contracting such cancers, the risk level of them contracting being in fertile and experiencing breast, cervical and liver cancers are heightened. The studies revealed that hormones in contraceptives might alter the weakness of cervical cells so that they exposed to human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. The cervical cells may not have the capacity to defend the body against the HPV infection that makes the woman have cervical cancer that may prevent her from conceiving (Rasmussen et al., 2017) . Additionally, the National Cancer Institute established in 1996 that data, which was collected from more than fifty studies by the Collaborative Group on Hormonal Aspects of Infertility level, determined that women that were present or recent users of the contraceptives had a significantly higher chance of failing to conceive than those who never used the pill at all. Therefore, the functioning of the cervix and the breasts should be kept at an optimal level by keeping off these contraceptives that lead to hormonal changes of the body and infertility.
The Economic Implications of Allowing Birth Control Contraceptives to Lower the Fertility Levels of Women
Economic Issues associated with Infertility Levels
The financial expenditure is high for both patients suffering from cancerous diseases caused by these contraceptives as well as the society in general. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) approximates that the medical costs involved with addressing infertility levels in the United States as of 2015 were about $80.3 billion ( Parks & Peipert, 2016) . 52 percent of these costs were spent on hospital outpatients and visits to the doctor’s office. 38 percent of the cost was spent in inpatients who stayed in the hospital while receiving treatments. Therefore, many finances were lost in addressing infertility issues and creating awareness to women who were intending to begin using the contraceptives.
The findings of AHRQ also suggested that uninsured patients, as well as those from several minority communities in the country, are significantly more probably to be diagnosed with infertility at an advanced level when treatment is more thorough, expensive and less successful. 609,640 Americans are expected to die of cancer in the United States in 2018, which means that the economic productivity of the country will be lowered (Kazemijaliseh et al., 2015) . Therefore, these billions of dollars could be saved significantly, if women stop using these contraceptives that predispose them to acquire cancerous cells and preventing them from conceiving.
Economic Theories or Approaches that Best Explain the Issue
Rasmussen and other scholars (2017) established the Cost of illness (COI) theory , and it has been recognized as a descriptive step of the financial burden that explains how contraceptives put on the society. COI projections have periodically been summarized and contrasted with other burdens of the condition levels. The COI estimates normally include three major elements including direct cost, morbidity costs as well as mortality costs. Direct costs are quantified by examining the expenditures for medical processes and services linked with treatment and care for cancer. Direct costs have maintained a slightly lower rate of 5 percent that affirms that cancer costs that are predisposed by use of contraceptives have heightened over a prolonged period ( Parks & Peipert, 2016) . Morbidity costs are founded on disease-specific work disability or the absenteeism from workplaces that is linked with the patients’ condition. Finally, Mortality costs are regarded considering the human capital strategy.
Statistical Facts Related to the Infertility Levels in Women
About 1 in 8 women in the United States (approximately 12.4 percent) will experience persistent infertility levels in their lifetime. In 2018, 266, 123 cases of acute infertility level were projected to occur in women in the United States, alongside 63,960 cases of mild infertility levels (Kazemijaliseh et al., 2015) . The rate of infertility level decreasing among women in the US started in 2000 after a steady increase had been realized in the preceding decades. The rates dropped by 7 percent from 2002 to 2003, just within that period alone (Krause & Naz, 2016) . Approximately 40,920 women in the United States are expected to die in 2018 in the United States because of infertility level, even though these rates have been coming down since 1989.
Statistical Processes Used to Study the Issue of Infertility that is Caused by Contraceptives
One statistical process that was utilized to determine the basis of an increase in infertility level cases among women in the United States is in bringing down the use of hormone replacement therapies such as the use of contraceptives. The decreased use of contraceptives and depending majorly on natural methods of pregnancy prevention or utilizing the non-hormonal types of contraceptives led to a drop of infertility level cases considerably from the year 2000. The results suggest a relationship between hormonal replacement therapy and heightened susceptibility to infertility level. As of February 2018, there are above 3.1 million women that have had a history of infertility level in the United States (Krause & Naz, 2016) . This is inclusive of those currently being treated and women that are done with the treatment.
In conclusion, it has been determined that hormonal changes shifts the normal menstrual cycle of woman so that she does not have the normal 13 cycles in a year. The birth control contraceptives are more detrimental to the economy than they are helpful because many funds are channeled to address the infertilities among women in the United States. It is critical that the government restricts the consumption and distribution of the contraceptives. Evidence show that taking contraceptives prevents pregnancy, but at the same time predispose women to conditions of infertility. They cause certain cancers that make conception very difficult. The most significant way to guarantee safety of the women’s health and wellness is to restrain non-hormonal ways of birth control such as condoms.
References
Eniola, O. W., Adetola, A. A., & Abayomi, B. T. (2017). A review of Female Infertility; important etiological factors and management. Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology Research , 2 (3), 379-385.
Ochako, R., Mbondo, M., Aloo, S., Kaimenyi, S., Thompson, R., Temmerman, M., & Kays, M. (2015). Barriers to modern contraceptive methods uptake among young women in Kenya: a qualitative study. BMC public health , 15 (1), 118.
Kazemijaliseh, H., Tehrani, F. R., Behboudi-Gandevani, S., Hosseinpanah, F., Khalili, D., & Azizi, F. (2015). The prevalence and causes of primary infertility in Iran: a population- based study. Global journal of health science , 7 (6), 226.
Parks, C., & Peipert, J. F. (2016). Eliminating health disparities in unintended pregnancy with long-acting reversible contraception (LARC). American journal of obstetrics and gynecology , 214 (6), 681-688.
Rasmussen, E. L. K., Hannibal, C. G., Dehlendorff, C., Baandrup, L., Junge, J., Vang, R., & Kjaer, S. K. (2017). Parity, infertility, oral contraceptives, and hormone replacement therapy and the risk of ovarian serous borderline tumors: A nationwide case-control study. Gynecologic oncology , 144 (3), 571-576.
Krause, W. K., & Naz, R. K. (Eds.). (2016). Immune Infertility: Impact of Immune Reactions on Human Fertility . Springer.
