Vitamin Pills: Not the Redundancy It Sounds

As part of my science news column in The Free George (which I am no longer doing, but hope someone else continues it!), I wrote about a new birth control pill that contains the supplement folate. Please find it reproduced here, with helpful links.

The Pill: Now With Even More Protection

The human neural tube, the future brain and spinal cord, closes 27 days after conception. This means that an embryo just three to four millimeters long already sports the defining characteristics of a vertebrate, perhaps even before the mother knows she is pregnant.

Improper closing of the tube can result in spina bifida or anencephaly. Overall, neural tube defects occur in a surprising 1 in 500 live births. However, 50 percent of them could be prevented, researchers say. The answer lies in folic acid.

Recently, Bayer HealthCare has won approval from the Food and Drug Administration for its new oral contraceptive Beyaz, which combines the estrogen and progestin of its popular Yaz contraceptive with a folate supplement.  The new pill is designed to protect a fetus from neural tube defects in case of an unplanned pregnancy – either because of a contraception failure or because some women become pregnant soon after they stop using contraceptives without taking prenatal vitamins. 

An article in Time Magazine’s Healthland points out a certain irony that this pill provides for pregnancy while aiming to prevent it. But the critical role of folic acid in early human development warrants the precaution. Not to mention that it helps an adult body as well in building new cells. So if you’re not eating enough leafy greens, citrus fruits, or pastas, the addition may be helpful beyond a future embryo’s needs. While the folate supplement seems worthwhile, is it the beginning of a trend? Will oral contraceptives become “horse pills” – all-in-one “just in case” vitamins?

  
NEW: I told a friend about it later, and she made an insightful comment that I wanted to share: does adding folate to the pill subtly affect a woman's choice in keeping an unplanned pregnancy? Is it meant to? One of the many reasons that women choose to end pregnancies is because the embryo and/or growing fetus may have been damaged due to the behaviors of the mother when she didn't know she was pregnant. Like drinking or smoking. Or not taking the prenatal supplements that safeguard against certain developmental abnormalities. Can those on the pro-life side now use these new birth control pills to their advantage? Taking away the "excuse" that the child may have been adversely affected in the womb?