Here's my take on the situation - I voted no for a damn good reason. Hormones (those little things that make it so you MIGHT not get pregnant) can really screw up your system. Not every woman can take the same hormone and some are actually allergic to the synthetic hormones used. Hormones can play merry havoc with a woman's system and if she isn't being checked regularly by a doctor it could cause permanent damage - even make it so that she can't carry a child or conceive or develop cancer.
Also, when a woman goes in for birth control she's also checked out for various diseases that aren't STD's. A lot of cancer has been caught this way - it's one of the main ways that doctors have of catching the buggers before they get bad... if the stuff is over the counter there goes the main resource doctors have of getting young women (and those of us who are older) into their offices.
I am one of the 0.02% of the population that these things actually work as a fertility drug (or so my gyno told me) and my daughters and my son are birth control babies. My oldest was a Norplant baby (granted that form of birth control was flawed in a big way) my twins were deppo babies, and the miscarriage I had between them was a pill baby (and I did take them the way I was supposed to... I was obsessive about it). If I wasn't under a doctor's care I might have continued the treatments and done damage to my children.
Just because your body makes the substance naturally doesn't mean it's actually right for you. I work in the health care industry and I see every day what happens when someone takes something that isn't right for them... this is just like taking someone else's pain meds - it's dangerous and a needless risk.
As far as the embarrassment goes... if you are old enough to have sex you are old enough to speak up and protect yourself.