by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS Staff Journalist Pro-life organizations across the country have designated June 5 as the national “Protest the Pill Day” to mark the 50th anniversary of the birth control pill. The American Life League, in conjunction with dozens of other pro-life groups, are organizing “Protest the Pill Day 2010: The Pill Kills the Environment” to take place outside pharmacies, doctor's offices and Planned Parenthood clinics throughout the country. The protest, which will bring together activists as well as doctors and scientists, is aimed at drawing attention not only to the risks of the pill for women’s health, but to the dangers it poses to the environment as well. “The birth control pill is not only killing preborn children and women, it is killing our environment," said Judie Brown, president of American Life League, "How long will we stand by and ignore the fact that hormonal contraception wreaks havoc on our children, women's health and the planet?" Study after study has shown that hormonal estrogen in the water has severely damaged the ecosystem as well as the nation’s health, she says. Some of the latest research includes a study by Conrad Volz, co-director of exposure assessment at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute's Center for Environmental Oncology, in which Volz’s team discovered that the fish caught inside the water they were testing were carrying enough chemicals that mimic the female hormone estrogen to cause breast cancer cells to grow.  “We need to pay attention to chemicals that are estrogenic in nature, because they find their way back into the water we all use,” Volz said. A five-year study conducted by the Environment Agency in the United Kingdom suggests that half of the male fish in lowland English rivers were "developing female characteristics because of pollution." As the BBC reported, "Scientists blame the pollution on a 'potent' form of estrogen found in urine from women using the contraceptive pill, which may be flushed through sewage works and into rivers." As a result, in 2002, the United Kingdom declared hormonal birth control a type of pollution. “This year, birth control advocates are celebrating 50 years of decriminalized hormonal contraceptives,” Judie Brown says. “American Life League and our co-sponsors don't think half a century of contaminating our waterways is something to celebrate.” For more information, visit www.thepillkills.com © All Rights Reserved, Living His Life Abundantly®/Women of Grace®  http://www.womenofgrace.com