Birth Control Pills

[TheBeard]

I recently saw the ingredients on a box of birth control pills intended for women, and the only active ingredients I saw is progesterone and in some instances estrogens.
Why do women bother taking those pharmaceuticals with unwanted components when they could just buy OTC progesterone and estrogens for birth control purposes?

 

[schultz]

I'd be surprised if it was actually progesterone and not just a progesten or progestogen as they like to call the synthetics. Do you know which brand it was? Progesterone would make it more likely that a woman would get pregnant.

I imagine that women just would not feel comfortable figuring out what the proper dose of estrogen is, although I guess you could just mimic the amount in a pill. Can you buy estrogen OTC?

 

[Kunstruct]

Most are progestings and synthetic estrogens combined in one pill, not one or the other.

 

[TheBeard]

Thanks guys, makes sense now why there is no easy substitute!