The Pill

I have felt a conviction to write about something for awhile and shame on me for waiting this long to do it!  To get straight to the point, I have a question for you.  Are you pro-life?  If yes, keep reading.  If not, you probably aren't that interested in this post anyway.  If you are pro-life, you probably wouldn't have an abortion if you got pregnant unexpectedly.  You probably wouldn't even take the day after pill.  You probably wouldn't use an IUD as a form of birth control either, which is known to be abortive. So, if you wouldn't do these things, should you be taking "The Pill"?  The pill is very common among believers, so most people don't question or research whether it is abortive or not. 

There are two types of birth control pills.  The progestogen only pill is known to be abortive.  The other type is a mix between progestogen and estrogen.  I will give you a brief explanation on how this pill works.  It does two things to try to prevent conception from occurring.

1.  It tries to inhibit ovulation (not abortive).
2.  It makes changes in cervical mucus, which makes it more difficult for the sperm to get into the uterus, where it would normally fertilize the egg (not abortive).

However, one more thing happens.

3.  The lining of the endometrium is thinned, which makes it difficult for fertilized eggs (ie: a zygote or baby) to implant, which may result in an abortion of the baby the next time you have a period.  This happens 2-10% of the time (see source below). 

Basically, doctors are not in agreement on whether the pill is abortive or not.  But, if you claim to be pro-life, don't you think you should be consistent in your beliefs by knowing how your pill works?  The pill is not 100% effective.  This means some pregnancies occur during its use.  This fact proves that ovulation and conception is not always prevented.  We need to be consistent in our beliefs.  I asked my doctor about it (the one who delivered Emerson), and she also agreed that they don't know whether it is abortive or not.  Caleb and I decided we'd rather be safe than sorry. 

However, there are other forms of birth control which are not abortive (natural family planning, spermicide, condoms, i feel weird saying those words on my blog, etc.).

My challenge to you, friend, is not to quit the pill immediately just because of what I said.  I challenge you to do your research.  Read articles from both sides.  What type of birth control pill are you using? How does it work?  What findings do you discover in your research?  After praying with your husband, what do you feel is right?

Whatever you decide, I will not judge you.  I just don't want people to be uninformed like we were the first year of our marriage.   When it comes to protecting our children's lives, born or unborn, we decided we didn't want to risk it. 

The facts I used in this post were found here.  Pg 9-10.  Here is another resource.