The subject of birth control is and always will be a very sensitive and controversial subject.  The very words suggest that “someone” is going to be in control of how many babies you have.  As a midwife, I am constantly asked questions about this issue and am occasionally asked if I prescribe birth control.  Even though I am licensed by the state of Tennessee, I do not have prescriptive privileges so that’s usually the end of the discussion.  I try to give my clients lots of information and refer them to one my collaborative physicians if their choice is to practice some form of medically-induced birth control.

           I have been misunderstood and misquoted so the purpose of this article is to give you information so that you can make your own decision regarding this all-important issue.  Regardless of what I believe, I have a responsibility as a midwife to present correct information but ultimately you and you alone are responsible for your choices.

           I rarely read secular material.  My information on this subject has come from Medical Journals and the manufacturers themselves quoting what the pills were designed to do, not man’s opinion which includes physicians.  I learned a long time ago not to trust “opinions” no matter who they come from.

           The Physician’s Desk Reference (PDR) is the most frequently used reference book by physicians in America and is considered to be the ‘bible’ of the medical industry.  The PDR, as it is often called, lists and explains the effects, benefits and risks of every medical product that can legally be prescribed.  The Food and Drug Administration requires each manufacturer to provide accurate information on its products based on scientific research and laboratory tests.  This information is included in The PDR.

           As you read the following, keep in mind that the term “implantation”, by definition always involves an already conceived human being.  Therefore, any agent that serves to prevent implantation functions as an abortifacient, thus destroying the life of a baby.

THE PILL AS AN OPTION 

          I have done extensive research on the “pill” and have an understanding of how they work.  This information is not the “opinion” of any man, but of the drug manufacturers themselves, quoted in their own literature and published in the PDR about how their particular drug was “designed” to work.  If a person refuses to believe that information, they are fooling themselves.  How can you go back to the people who made the drug to function in a certain way and argue that they are not doing the very thing they say they were created to do?  That doesn’t even make common sense.  Some of the newer drugs such as Mirena work in the same way.  And to ask most physicians for correct information is futile because they simply are not well-informed.  You must do the research yourself.  How many of us have simply believed what we were told only to find out later it was entirely wrong?

          There are three different ways the pill operates.  #1 usually works.   The first mechanism is designed to prevent ovulation = no chance of fertilization = no baby.   This is the one most physicians want you to believe works and a lot of the time it does.  When #1 fails, #2 may work by causing thickening of the mucus, preventing or at least increasing the difficulty of the sperm to enter the uterus where the egg is (no sperm reaching the egg = no fertilization = no baby).  When #1 and #2 fail, #3 may work (and will work unless God intervenes) by also thickening of the mucus forming a barrier in the wall of the uterus, preventing an already fertilized egg (= a baby, a new life, according to the Bible), from implanting.  Because this new life cannot implant in the wall of the uterus, it can receive no nourishment to sustain life and continue to grow.  The baby has already been alive for 6-8 days at this point.  If it cannot implant due to the characteristics of the pill, it suffocates and dies and passes through the body, perceived as a normal period.  As far as I’ve been able to tell, ALL birth control pills work the same way and have these three components.  It just eases our mind to believe the first one always works.  We don’t know for sure because God doesn’t give us the insight to see what “He does in secret;”   therefore, we don’t know if the egg was already fertilized and #2 or #3 kicked in.

          In an interview by Denny Hartford, director of Vital Signs Ministries, he asked world famous fertility specialist Dr. Thomas Hilgers, “Are there any birth control pills out there that do not have this potention to abort a developing child?”  Dr. Hilgers answered,

“There are none!   At my last count in looking at the Physicians Desk Reference…there were 44 different types of birth control pills…and they have different concentrations of chemicals that make them work.  None of these so-called birth control pills has a mechanism which is completely contraceptive.  Put the other way around, all birth control pills available have a mechanism which disturbs or disintegrates the lining of the uterus to the extent that the possibility of abortion exists when breakthrough ovulation occurs.”

         With the pill, if a pregnancy occurs, it is only because the way the manufacturer intended them to work has failed on 3 levels.  I do realize that no one knows but God whether there was ever life or not but can we, in good conscience, take something that there was even a chance that it could destroy a life, not that it would ever be the intent of our heart?  The end result would be the same, intentional or not.  I also know that God could keep that baby safe even if the pill was in effect, but if we really believe that, why would we go through all this anyway?  Why not just trust Him on the front end instead of on the back end?   Still a mystery to me why we think the way we do.  I suppose we can just live in the “ignorance is bliss” phase and just pretend none of this is true or trust God to make the #1 component to work, every time.

          Contrary to common slang, ignorance is not always bliss.  My only consolation even in my own life is that God only holds us accountable for the light we’ve been shown.  He uses all kinds of things in our lives to make us take a closer look and to see the truth.  Not everything comes as a whisper from the Holy Spirit.  Some truths come through human beings.  Sometimes it takes a circumstance to cause us to take a closer look at things and question our belief system.  In my own daughter’s life, it cost the sight of one of her eyes directly from using a method of birth control before she ever questioned what the birth control methods do.  She simply believed what the physician told her.  Our personal beliefs don’t matter if they do not constitute evidence of the truth.

          I have a little book on the subject that asks a question which I’ve heard on numerous occasions.  “If this is true, why haven’t we been told?”  The answer to the question was as follows:

             “The published indications of Pill-caused abortions are substantial, but it is spread out in dozens of obscure and technical scientific journals.  Consequently, relatively few physicians have ever seen the most compelling evidence that is in print.  Many well-meaning physicians, including Christians, and including OB/GYNs, and Family Practitioners simply are not aware of this evidence.  I know this, because that’s exactly what a number of them have told me.  This is not entirely surprising.  Consider the staggering amount of medial knowledge that currently exists.  Now picture the average physician who is both conscientious and overworked, swamped with patients.  He might read medical journals in an area of special interest, but there is no way any human being can be fully appraised of the tens of thousands of medical studies conducted each year in this country.  When patients hear someone suggest the Pill causes abortions, they will often come to their physician, who may be prolife, and ask if this is true.  The physician may sincerely say, “according to my understanding, the Pill just prevents conception, it doesn’t cause abortions; you have nothing to be concerned about.”  Most physicians assume that if the Pill really caused abortions, they would surely know it.  In most cases they are not deliberately misleading their patients.  Unfortunately, the bottom line is that their patients do end up being misled.  Based on their physician’s reassurances, they don’t look into the matter further – nor would most know where to look even if they wanted to.  In reality, the dedicated physician is extremely busy and confident that the Pill only prevents conception.  Typically he too does not take the time to do the necessary research to give informed consent and truthful information.”