FDA approves new birth-control pill
 

WASHINGTON (AP) ? A new birth-control pill named Seasonale
promises to reduce the frequency of women's periods, from every month to four times a year.
The contraceptive pills, approved by the Food and Drug Administration on Friday, aren't a new chemical. They contain the same combination of low-dose estrogen and progestin found in many oral contraceptives.

Nor is the idea of menstrual suppression new. For decades, many doctors have told women how to skip a period by continually taking the active birth-control pills in each month's supply and ignoring the week of dummy pills in each packet.

Seasonale promises to make the option a little more convenient, with packaging that gives women 12 straight weeks of active pills and then a week of dummy pills for their period. And the FDA's approval means menstrual suppression could become more common as Seasonale's advertising alerts women to the option.