I was shocked to learn recently that a birth control shot that’s been used by approximately 1 in 4 American women of reproductive age increases the risk of brain tumors by more than 450%. The shot, called Depo-Provera, has a legacy of medical racism, pharma pressure, and reproductive injustice, and was approved in 1992 despite decades of concerns – in total disregard for a woman’s right to body autonomy and informed consent.

Depo-Provera is a high-dose hormone injection made with a synthetic form of progesterone. Scientists have known since the 1980s that progesterone can fuel the growth of brain tumors called meningiomas. Meningiomas are tumors that grow on the brain’s outer lining. They can cause vision loss, memory problems, speech issues, and sometimes death. In 2024, major studies found that Depo-Provera increases the risk of meningiomas by more than 450%.

Despite the growing amount of research that Depo-Provera increases the risk of meningiomas, Pfizer – the maker of Depo-Provera, didn’t investigate or issue warnings in the US, even after countries like the UK, Canada, and Australia did.

Thousands of American women have undergone invasive brain surgeries, with some dying, because Pfizer kept them in the dark about Depo-Provera’s dangers.

We now have an opportunity to come together and address this issue once and for all by asking the FDA to make the appropriate label changes that Pfizer has avoided as soon as possible.

The history behind Depo-Provera is dark and deeply disturbing. Despite prior rejections for approval due to cancer risks in animal studies, the shot was approved by the FDA in 1992. It was tested in medical trials on poor, Black, Puerto Rican, and Indigenous women, often without full consent, and used in prisons and public clinics as a “convenient” option for women who were seen as “noncompliant.” Eventually it was approved despite decades of advocacy from women’s health groups opposing it.

It’s other side effects include bone density loss, depression and anxiety, irregular bleeding, and hormonal chaos – Depo Provera contains a dramatically higher dose of synthetic hormones compared to the birth controls that women like myself grew up taking. This isn’t contraception – it’s massive hormonal suppression that overrides a woman’s natural hormonal rhythms.

While the EU, UK, Canada, and Australia protect women with mandatory brain tumor warnings, there are no warnings on the drug here in the US. Our request to the FDA is to:

• Make the appropriate label changes as soon as possible
• Alert clinicians and the public about the harms
• Hold Pfizer accountable for failing to act and end this cycle of pharmaceutical harm

No corporate agenda could possibly justify taking away a woman’s right to informed consent, and the sacrificing of her body and health without warning.