Besides being in the control of the physician, drugs and devices are not as safe as the methods of birth control that we can obtain over-the-counter. The drug and device manufacturers lie with statistics by comparing the risk of complications, including death, from drugs and devices, to the risk of complications and deaths in giving birth. Birth is dangerous, so almost any method of birth control is far safer than birth. But, they do not directly compare the safety of drugs and devices to the alternative methods.