Ovarian cancer, which is one of the most deadly forms of cancer in a woman, due to it’s tendency to be detected late, is said to be reduced in likelihood by taking the birth control pill.  In studies done on thousands of woman over time spans of years, it was discovered that the Pill actually does increase the risk of certain types of cancer, while decreasing the risk of some other types of female cancers.

The two that taking the pill may increase are cervical and breast cancer, although researchers do note that the statistical increase in likelihood is fairly negligeble.  However, they found a statistically significant tie between a decrease in the risk of ovarian and endometrial cancer, both of which are fairly hard to detect and hard to treat, which makes them also a little more deadly than breast and cervical cancer, both of which have definite methods of being detected early on. 

Breast cancer may be detected early by getting mammograms and also by doing self breast exams, and cervical cancer is not only detected early on by yearly pap smears and testing, but now also there is a “vaccine” against HPV, human papilloma virus, which is the virus that is thought to be behind a vast number of cervical cancer cases.  So I guess that, in theory, it’s pretty good that the birth control pill helps protect against the two more deadly and hard to detect cancers. 

Researchers are hoping that this study can further promote the use of certain birth control pills not only as a pregnancy preventer, but also as a preventive measure in helping to prevent certain types of cancer that women may get, especially as they get older. 

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