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Completely Pro-life?

When I arrived home from Launceston last night, I had a parcel of pro-life books awaiting me! New South Wales Right to Life allowed me to choose some to order from the USA, as part of my payment for working there in January. I ordered eight copies of Randy Alcorn’s book Does the Birth Control Pill Cause Abortions?. I previously only had a PDF download. A friend who read this download asked for several "real" copies. I would also like to have a few on hand, in case someone asks. I have thought of blogging about “the pill” for a few months, but it is one of those topics I don’t enjoy confronting!

In short, medical literature indicates that hormonal birth control has three actions. The first is the one most people are familiar with: suppression of ovulation. The second is changes in cervical mucus, making sperm penetration difficult. The third is changes in the lining of the uterus, which reduces the likelihood of an already conceived human being implanting. These actions are documented in much medical literature, and in the information in pill packets. It is the third action that concerns those us who believe life is valuable from conception.

Rather than write out a lot of information and arguments, I am posting below, in italics and with a few amendments, an email I wrote to someone on this topic.

Thanks also for looking up your book on the pill for me. There seems to be a consensus that the combined pill does those three things, in all the literature I have read and from all the people I’ve asked. The difference comes in interpretation of what that evidence means in terms of whether the combined pill acts as an abortifacient. There is little debate that the mini-pill does.

After talking to you on the phone I re-read Randy Alcorn's book on the combined pill that I have downloaded. He is a protestant pro-life Christian who has done extensive research into its effects (he is not against birth control as such, only against abortifacient varieties). Personally, I think the available evidence strongly indicates that the combined pill acts as an abortifacient. It does so less frequently than the mini-pill, but is still a significant concern. As you wrote, the combined pill is 97% effective. This means three out of every 100 women on this pill become pregnant each year. This happens when all three of the actions have failed. The pill does not always tell the brain not to produce an egg. The question is how many times the first action fails, and it gets to the third action and that works. At a minimum it is likely that this happens at least as many times as pregnancy occurs, and it probably happens more than that.

I hope this helps in explaining where I am coming from in this. I understand that others have evaluated the evidence and come to different conclusions. I have personally really struggled with this information. It is an emotive issue because hormonal birth control is widely used amongst Christians. I’d love to believe that the evidence indicated it did not act as an abortifacient. Right now though, I feel that I need to inform people about the evidence so they can think about it and evaluate it for themselves. I generally only mention it if I am asked though.

I agree that there are ethical issues surrounding all the actions of the pill, and indeed any artificial interference with the natural and healthy processes of our God-given bodies. However, I think that as Bible believing Christians we do need to draw an absolute line somewhere. The most logical place to draw that line is at conception, when an individual human life comes into being.

Some Christians react to information about hormonal birth control with horror at the thought of having more children than they want. This is an unbiblical reaction, because God clearly says that having many children is a blessing. Modern Christians have moved far from this view. Most of them are more certain about the value of preventing children than they are about the value of early life. How sad. This reaction is also uninformed, since birth rates were low before the pill was introduced. You can look up the Australian Bureau of Statistics on the Internet. After the 1800s, more and more people chose to have small families. Hormonal birth control was simply an easier and more effective way to achieve this.

It is difficult to evaluate clearly something we have grown up with and accepted for many years. It helps to have the facts, and to interpret them with a Biblical understanding of children and the purpose of marriage. With the perspective this gives, we can attempt to hold a view that is completely pro-life: even if it interferes with our own desires and plans.

Disclaimer: addressing this topic does not mean I am judging individuals. I believe things like this are private. I try to never ask people whether their children were planned, or whether they intend to have children, let alone whether they use the pill. People who feel judged often at the same time go around telling everyone about their private life. If they don’t want to be judged, maybe they should keep private things private??

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