This article has a correction posted May 15, 2008.

In response to yesterday’s post about the new FDA-approved, no-period birth control pill Lybrel, Alicia asked this question in the comment trail:
What exactly happens to your egg(s) when birth control pills prevent ovulation?
That’s a great question. First of all, let’s be clear on two important facts about the female body:

You’re born with all of the eggs you’ll ever need–millions of them, just chilling in your ovaries until menarche.
Ovulation refers to the actual release of the egg from the ovary into the fallopian tube, not the production of the egg.

Second, let’s be …read more