Senator Murray

Mr. Chairman, thank you, Dr. Means, for being here.

Let me start with this.

You called birth control pills, I'm going to quote, a disrespect of life.

And you said Americans, quote, use birth control pills like candy.

You also claim, contrary to established science, that hormonal birth control has, quote, horrifying health risks for women.

Now, here are the facts.

There are 18 FDA approved contraceptive methods, both hormonal and non-hormonal.

And there are decades, decades of evidence showing that every one of these birth control methods is safe and effective.

So I wanted to ask you, help me understand.

Should women trust the FDA, which approved all 18 methods of birth control after a very rigorous look at the evidence?

Or should they trust your statement that there are horrifying health risks to birth control, which contradicts that evidence?

I'm curious if you are with the FDA that went through all of these and rigorously looked at them, or as Surgeon General, if you're going to tell the truth to the American people.

Saying that is one thing, but saying on different shows that birth control pills are a disrespect of life is very different.

Saying that people use birth controls like candy is very different than what you just said.

Thank you for your answer.

You made that clear.

Let me go to another.

SSRIs, the most commonly prescribed type.

Do you believe that SSRIs are dangerous for pregnant women?

Well, strong evidence has shown that SSRIs are safe in pregnancy.