More Than 100 Women Are Suing This Birth Control Company For Unplanned Pregnancies

Illustrated by Ly Ngo.

 

Well, here's a stress-inducing scenario for ya: More than 100 women claim to have had unplanned pregnancies while taking birth control pills and are now suing the pharma company behind the drugs, reports NPR.

Back in 2011, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that the company, Qualitest, would be issuing a large-scale voluntary recall. The products recalled included Cyclafem, Emoquette, Gildess, Orsythia, and Previfem.

The reason for the recall, the company stated, was a packaging error that resulted in blister packs of birth control that had been flipped around by 180 degrees. The result? Placebo and active pills had switched places, making it very easy for women to accidentally take a placebo on the wrong day.

Now, the 113 plaintiffs in the case claim that they became pregnant due to this packaging error. However, Qualitest's parent company, Endo Pharmaceuticals, tells ABC that it only ever confirmed the existence of a single defective pack. So we'll be waiting — anxiously — to see how this unfolds.

 

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