It's great that the FDA has recently approved a pill specifically designed to "override" a woman's natural menstrual cycle. However, women have been working with their doctors for decades to do just that. Many women skip the week of placebo pills and start a new pill pack during the fourth week when menstruation would occur. This article talks a lot about what's "normal." Ovulation is a normal part of a woman's menstrual cycle that is suppressed by all hormonal birth control methods. Also, very few women naturally have an exact 28-day cycle, like those they experience when taking hormonal birth control. Putting artificial hormones into your body isn't "normal," but when taken with a doctor's consultation, hormonal birth control is not only effective but also safe. The amount of synthetic hormones in the average pill is one tenth what it was in 1960 and with that decrease in hormones comes a decrease in risk.