Birth control pills affect sexiness of man

Birth control pills may affect how appealing a woman finds a man's scent -- potentially steering her toward a mate who is genetically similar to her, according to British researchers.

The sense of smell is thought to be important to mate-seeking animals and humans. Genes of the major histocompatability complex (MHC) play a role in a person's odor, and people tend to be attracted to those with an MHC makeup that is dissimilar to their own.

This could have evolutionary significance, since genetic diversity in a couple increases the chances of having healthy children.

But in the new study, researchers found that after women began using birth control pills, their smell preferences tended to shift -- making them more likely to find the scent of a genetically similar man "sexy."

The findings appear in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

For the study, researchers led by Dr. S. Craig Roberts, of the University of Liverpool, recruited 110 women between the ages of 18 and 35. They had each volunteer rate the odors of six men, using t-shirts that the men had worn overnight.

The women were asked to rate odor "pleasantness" -- considered a correlate of "sexiness" -- and odor intensity. Odor "desirability" was tested with the question, "Based on this smell, how much would you like this man as a long-term partner?"

For each woman, the investigators pre-selected three MHC-similar and three MHC-dissimilar men.

At the time of the first sniffing session, none of the women was using oral contraception. A second session took place three months later, after 40 women had started using birth control pills.

The researchers found that, in general, the more pleasant a woman found a man's odor, the more desirable he was to her. But among women who began using birth control pills, the definition of a sexy odor changed over time.

"The results showed that the preferences of women who began using the contraceptive pill shifted towards men with genetically similar odors," Roberts said in a written statement.

If the sense of smell is in fact a strong player in humans' mate choices, the researchers write, birth control pills just might nudge a woman toward a less-than-ideal man.

"Not only could MHC-similarity in couples lead to fertility problems," Roberts said, "but it could ultimately lead to the breakdown of relationships when women stop using the contraceptive pill, as odor perception plays a significant role in maintaining attraction to partners."

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Family planning groups against abortion proposal

Family planning groups said on Friday they were still planning to lobby against a proposed new regulation aimed at countering state laws that require certain health care workers to provide contraception to women.

A widely circulated version of the draft regulation would have cut off federal funds to hospitals and states that attempt to compel medical providers to offer legal abortion and contraception services to women.

Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said a version of the regulation is still under consideration.

"Not only are there clear provisions in three separate laws protecting federally funded health care providers' right of conscience, but doing otherwise undermines the most fundamental moral underpinning of freedom of expression and action," Leavitt wrote in his blog.

Leavitt said the part that many groups objected to most strongly, which defined abortion to include most birth control pills and intrauterine devices, would not be included.

But Nancy Northup of the Center for Reproductive Rights said her group objected to other parts of the proposal.

"It broadly defines everyone who works at a healthcare establishment as being involved in doing procedures," Northup said in a telephone interview.

"It allows everybody, whether you are a receptionist or a maintenance person ... to object to doing their jobs because they object to abortion or sterilization," she added. "It puts women in the position of not knowing when they go to get healthcare if someone is going to say, 'I am not going to help you here.'"

The National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association said it was concerned the proposed regulation would target 37 state laws.

"These laws mandate the availability of EC (emergency contraception) in emergency rooms, bar pharmacies from flatly refusing to fill prescriptions and mandate coverage of contraception when other prescriptions are covered," the group said in a statement.

"Given that at least 17.5 million women in America are in need of publicly funded contraceptive services ... we believe the department should be working to increase access to these crucial health care services, rather than working to limit them."

New York Sen. Hillary Clinton also expressed doubts after reading Levitt's comments.

"It is crucial that science, not ideology, be the basis of any rules released by the Department of Health and Human Services," she said in a statement. "It is unconscionable that this administration would even consider putting women's health and prevention in jeopardy."

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