“Birth-control pills are safer than aspirin. The world would be a healthier place if oral contraceptives were available in every corner store and cigarettes were limited to prescription use.”
DR. MALCOLM POTTS “The Unmet Need for Family Planning”, Scientific American, January 2000*

Oooooo this really gets me. I’m a reasonably organized person, yet this has happened to me more than once: on Saturday night I take the last pill in my pack, and reach over to get out my next pack for tomorrow. There is no next pack. Uh-oh. Go to the pharmacy the next day. Walk past displays of liquor bottles and cartons of cigarettes — yes, I could waltz out of the store with lethal doses of nicotine and alcohol if I so desired, the Feds trust me on that one — but the dweeb behind the counter cannot sell me another pack of birth control pills. “Oh dear, your prescription has no more refills.” And it’s Sunday so my doctor’s office is closed so they can’t phone in a refill. Aaaargh!!!

(and don’t even get me started on how birth control pills are packed in “months” of 28 days and the doctors write prescriptions for 12 “months”. Apparently mathematics is not taught in med school. But I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Math, so I will share with you the esoteric fact that 12 X 28 = 336, or 29 days short of a full year [which is, by the way, 365 days]. Yes, a year’s supply of birth control pills is 13 packs, yet everyone [doctors especially] seems totally mystified by the fact that people inevitably run out of pills before returning for their next scheduled annual exam.)

*no, it’s not listed in the table of contents for the issue. Their TOC seems to be incomplete.