In a column on CSCNews.com yesterday, Judie Brown made the ridiculous statement that birth control is "a recreational drug with serious side effects." As if unprotected sex doesn’t have serious side effects?

Her evidence: an anecdote about a 28 year-old woman, Patti Kelly of Austin, Texas, who woke up one morning with a shortness of breath. Later that day, at the urging of her mother, a nurse, she checked herself into the ER. The doctor found multiple blood clots in her lungs and said had they not been found when they were, she could have died.

Ms. Brown is quick to jump to the conclusion that the failure in this case should be placed squarely on the shoulders of her birth control. What about Patti’s mother, a nurse who had blood clots when she was younger, and neglected to tell her daughter about them, even when Patti was taking daily pills that clearly warned they could cause blood clots? (Ms. Brown explains that, "it just wasn’t anything they talked about." No excuse, especially for a nurse.) Or the doctor who prescribed to her the pill; is it not standard procedure to monitor and observe a person on medication?

No, lets not blame negligent parents or medical providers-the liberal media is obviously the one who’s at fault. Again.

"It would seem that whether the story is about a woman who almost died from a side effect of the pill or a group of 1,300 women who participated in a clinical study, the majority of America’s secular media is reticent when it comes to publicizing negative findings about the use of birth control chemicals."

It’s true that birth control comes with risks, but these risks should be explained–and weighed against the benefits–before a woman decides to get the prescription. Birth control is neither part of a secular conspiracy, nor an affront to God. It’s just an option for some women who are willing to risk some things, in order to protect themselves from others. Freedom of choice is freedom of choice, and a responsible woman on birth control should be monitoring her health with her doctor. Moreover, the relative risks of birth control are far outweighed by the relative risks of unintended pregnancy and other complications of unprotected sex.  Not all risks are born equal.

Don’t blame the pill for human inadequacies.