Birth Control // Abortifacients // Conversations
In the past few months, I have had multiple conversations that made me feel like a little person in adult clothing. I have had very adult conversations about parenting styles, feeding, milestones, growth, and all sorts of grown up, married people, parenting things. No conversation has made me feel more uneasy than conversations about little pills.
Birth Control.
I've never unwrapped one of those little, unassuming pills from the foil packages. I've never had to set an alarm daily to remind myself to take my pill. I've never had to schedule an appointment with my OB/GYN to get a refill. I honestly, don't even really know what they look like. It's not that I am against contraception, because I do firmly believe that even within marriage, spouses should be able to enjoy the marital benefit of sex without procreating. If not for one little word, I would be just like everyone else: abortifacient.
What is an abotifacient?
I first heard about abortifacients at my pro-life training and it changed my world. Abortifacient is a weird word that means exactly what it sounds like.
Abortifacients are drugs that cause abortions. Abortions are the termination of a pregnancy. Pregnancy is the state of having a human life growing inside of you. Life begins at fertilization.
What do these facts have to with birth control?
Birth control is advertised as a pregnancy prevention, however, it is often also an abortifacient.
Emergency contraceptives function by delaying or preventing ovulation, preventing fertilization, or preventing implantation. Because it prevents implantation, it is an abortifacient because it interferes with the natural course of a created life by preventing implantation.
The pill works the same way. Though the primary function of birth control is to prevent fertilization, it has a secondary function of thinning the lining of the uterus to prevent implantation. It's secondary function is as an abortifacient.
These "catch-all" drugs that function to prevent fertilization and implantation prevent a created life from thriving by making the womb a hostile environment.
Which forms of birth control are abortifacients?
Any hormonal contraceptive that thins the lining of the uterus can function as an abortifacient. Though they do not always function as abortifacients, about once every year a woman is on hormonal birth control, she has an early term-abortion.
What can I use as birth control?
Natural Family Planning (NFP) is a method that work with a woman's body and natural cycle. In Houston at Cartias Woman's Care at St. Lukes, there are several doctors who specifically work with NaPro Technology and the Creighton Model and will not prescribe birth control, but instead offer real solutions to the underlying problems for women with issues ranging from severe cramps to infertility. If NFP (Natural Family Planning) isn't for you, there are also condoms, spermicide, and diaphragms. Anything that specifically blocks fertilization and does not have a secondary function of preventing implantation is pro-life friendly.
Why didn't I know about this before?
I wanted to be an OB/GYN for a very long time. I wanted to change the field, but them I realized that I am not cut out for medical school. It wasn't until after I had my little baby that I realized all the rumors were true. Reproductive health doctors focus a lot on preventing reproduction. I'm not sure if its the pharmaceutical companies or the med schools, but across the country Ob/Gyns are constantly prescribing birth control as the solution to a myriad of issues, but it's more of a band-aid that placates symptoms of underlying problems or sweeping early pregnancies out the door. The pill is the go-to for the majority of doctors out there. Before I even had my baby, my doctor asked me what birth control I was planning on taking to prevent the next pregnancy.
It's not your fault for not knowing, you trust your doctor to do what is best for you, but sometimes that gets lost because not having a baby right now seems best for most women and if
Why write a blog about this?
These conversations (and I've had multiple) make me uneasy because I have had training about these very conversations and still don't know how to interject my opinions and the facts I know. I know I am doing a disservice by not speaking up, but I am twenty years old talking to women who have spent the past ten or more years on the pill. I am speaking with women I respect and admire. I am developing budding friendships and I don't want to ruin them by saying the wrong thing, but I also know that by not saying anything all my training is going to waste.
If I had not been part of The Dr. Joseph Graham Fellowship, I would probably be on birth control right now. I probably wouldn't have my son. I would probably be sill living in sin. Having a baby was an incredible blessing in so many ways. Especially because it turned my life around (I guess being responsible for another human being can do that).
So how do I begin such an important conversation. Lives are on the line, how can I be silent?
Birth Control.
I've never unwrapped one of those little, unassuming pills from the foil packages. I've never had to set an alarm daily to remind myself to take my pill. I've never had to schedule an appointment with my OB/GYN to get a refill. I honestly, don't even really know what they look like. It's not that I am against contraception, because I do firmly believe that even within marriage, spouses should be able to enjoy the marital benefit of sex without procreating. If not for one little word, I would be just like everyone else: abortifacient.
What is an abotifacient?
I first heard about abortifacients at my pro-life training and it changed my world. Abortifacient is a weird word that means exactly what it sounds like.
Abortifacients are drugs that cause abortions. Abortions are the termination of a pregnancy. Pregnancy is the state of having a human life growing inside of you. Life begins at fertilization.
What do these facts have to with birth control?
Birth control is advertised as a pregnancy prevention, however, it is often also an abortifacient.
Emergency contraceptives function by delaying or preventing ovulation, preventing fertilization, or preventing implantation. Because it prevents implantation, it is an abortifacient because it interferes with the natural course of a created life by preventing implantation.
The pill works the same way. Though the primary function of birth control is to prevent fertilization, it has a secondary function of thinning the lining of the uterus to prevent implantation. It's secondary function is as an abortifacient.
These "catch-all" drugs that function to prevent fertilization and implantation prevent a created life from thriving by making the womb a hostile environment.
Which forms of birth control are abortifacients?
Any hormonal contraceptive that thins the lining of the uterus can function as an abortifacient. Though they do not always function as abortifacients, about once every year a woman is on hormonal birth control, she has an early term-abortion.
What can I use as birth control?
Natural Family Planning (NFP) is a method that work with a woman's body and natural cycle. In Houston at Cartias Woman's Care at St. Lukes, there are several doctors who specifically work with NaPro Technology and the Creighton Model and will not prescribe birth control, but instead offer real solutions to the underlying problems for women with issues ranging from severe cramps to infertility. If NFP (Natural Family Planning) isn't for you, there are also condoms, spermicide, and diaphragms. Anything that specifically blocks fertilization and does not have a secondary function of preventing implantation is pro-life friendly.
Why didn't I know about this before?
I wanted to be an OB/GYN for a very long time. I wanted to change the field, but them I realized that I am not cut out for medical school. It wasn't until after I had my little baby that I realized all the rumors were true. Reproductive health doctors focus a lot on preventing reproduction. I'm not sure if its the pharmaceutical companies or the med schools, but across the country Ob/Gyns are constantly prescribing birth control as the solution to a myriad of issues, but it's more of a band-aid that placates symptoms of underlying problems or sweeping early pregnancies out the door. The pill is the go-to for the majority of doctors out there. Before I even had my baby, my doctor asked me what birth control I was planning on taking to prevent the next pregnancy.
It's not your fault for not knowing, you trust your doctor to do what is best for you, but sometimes that gets lost because not having a baby right now seems best for most women and if
Why write a blog about this?
These conversations (and I've had multiple) make me uneasy because I have had training about these very conversations and still don't know how to interject my opinions and the facts I know. I know I am doing a disservice by not speaking up, but I am twenty years old talking to women who have spent the past ten or more years on the pill. I am speaking with women I respect and admire. I am developing budding friendships and I don't want to ruin them by saying the wrong thing, but I also know that by not saying anything all my training is going to waste.
If I had not been part of The Dr. Joseph Graham Fellowship, I would probably be on birth control right now. I probably wouldn't have my son. I would probably be sill living in sin. Having a baby was an incredible blessing in so many ways. Especially because it turned my life around (I guess being responsible for another human being can do that).
So how do I begin such an important conversation. Lives are on the line, how can I be silent?
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