Women can take birth control pills after 40 and even after 50. "Women who smoke and also use oral contraceptives (birth control pills) increase several times their risk of coronary and peripheral artery diseases, heart attack and stroke compared with nonsmoking women who use oral contraceptives." For decades, studies showed that birth control pills were risky for women of that age. This doubles their risk of dangerous blood clots. As a rule of thumb, birth control pills usually expire about 12 months after the manufacturing date.