A Response to Chewable Birth Control Pills?

This article is a response to Chewable Birth Control Pills?, by Jon Grilz. In it, Grilz makes a strong argument that women will still be equally likely to remember (or forget) to take their birth control pills regularly. Well he's right. (Perhaps the next step is to add memory enhancers to the pills) If a woman forgets to take her birth control pill now, she's also going to forget if her contraceptive becomes chewable. This is hardly a revelation.

The thing is, nobody really believes that making a contraceptive chewable will help women remember to take the pill. Grilz' argument is absurd because it really has nothing to do with anything. I could make an equally strong (but absurd) argument that making chewable pills will not lower STD rates among women. And I'm sure you'd agree. But I'll spare you from that.

I see what Grilz is thinking, he's just a bit off and has taken the argument out of context. The producer, company Warner Chilcott, did imply that the chewable contraceptive will help women take the birth control pill at the same time every day, and it's not too far of a stretch for Grilz to refute by commenting on memory. But it's still a stretch.

Warner Chilcott really only claims that chewable contraceptives will allow women to take the pill with them on the go. Women won't have to come home and or track down a beverage in order to take their pill.

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/health/articles/070103/3health.contraceptive.htm

I have yet to see Warner Chilcott make a claims that a chewable birth control pill will help women remember to take the contraceptive. And nobody would be foolish enough to make such an argument.

Now there are strong knocks on this contraceptive pill. For one, I'm shocked. When you think about chewable vitamins or chewable medicines, who do you think of? Kids of course. My first instinct is that chewable contraceptives are intended for kids, which is a bit disturbing. What's next, the contraceptive lollipop?

The chewable birth control pill reminds me of Joe Camel, the old animated cigarette character. Not many adults watch cartoons, but many kids do, and Joe Camel was pretty clearly marketing cigarettes to kids.

Is this the same? Is Warner Chilcott trying to get children to take their chewable birth control pills? Perhaps you think Warner Chilcott really is trying to help women remember to take the pill, like Grilz argues? Or is something else going on? What do you think?