Fair enough, pardon my imprecision (forgot I was in autist land). Bcp typically have the most side effects after Depo and the patch; I was skewing to a) the most common form of hormonal birth control in the US, b) the one with the longest history, and c) the form most widely complained about/used as an excuse to use nothing.
Plus, to be grammatically autistic myself, when the discussion is about "taking" hormones for birth control, that typically suggests orally ingesting or injecting them rather than something passive. Jazz said "taking estrogen"; you referred to "taking" "Some forms of contraceptive (i.e. the hormonal ones)." Speaking casually, most people don't refer to having an IUD as "taking" hormones, but that's not a central point and doesn't move the needle.
I was making the point that for
most people, the side effects of taking hormones for birth control aren't that big a deal, and in today's world they are very relatively low in hormones (and thus less likely to have moderate or severe side effects than historically; historical information is part of why there's a casual/uninformed ready-made pretense of a reason not to be responsible with your fertility and pregnancy prevention).
Most side effects also ebb over time. And, as mentioned, much more common than
acquiring cystic acne is relief from it and other forms of acne. And some of the supposed side effects have not been shown to have a causal relationship at all.
(just an overview but with some relevant discussion)
As for stopping periods (mostly a progesterone-only pill side effect, and actually relatively rare) - so what? They come back. Many people take estrogen/progesterone bcp continuously for months or without end, with the specific purpose to reduce/eliminate periods altogether. This is okay to do. It's only [speaking in generalities; please don't bother to pubmed me] an issue if there's something with your body/fertility that's off to begin with. But this is a side point.
All that aside, your reference to multiple hormonal options underscores another point: for women, there are now many forms of hormonal birth control to use, and if one gives you minor side effects that annoy you, there are others.
In short, as I said, hormonal birth control has benefits for most women that far exceed the typically minor and temporary negative side effects (if any) and potentially offers some additional positive effects for a subset of that population.
Barring individual cases where no hormonal options are tolerable (either due to imagined negative side effects, unique body chemistry/preexisting conditions, or very low tolerance for any adjustment period whatsoever), hormonal birth control benefits vastly outweigh potential negatives.