Birth control is a very heated argument, and it has been for a really long time. In 1879 law called the Act Concerning Offense Against Decency, Morality, and Humanity was made. It outlawed owning, obtaining, distributing, or manufacturing any literature, article, instrument, or drug that prevented fertilization or caused abortion. Contraception was not only illegal, it was super duper illegal.
Zoom forward a bit to the 1960s when a woman named Estelle Griswold decided to start an illegal Planned Parenthood birth control clinic. She knew she'd get caught, but she was ready for a lawsuit. She became the defendant of, and won, Griswold vs Connecticut. This case stated that while the Constitution never uses the word privacy, it's one of the most basic rights of mankind. It said that the government has no right to decide what a man and wife can or cannot do in the privacy of their own bedroom. In June of 1965, birth control was legalized for married couples.
Fast forward 50 years, and we're still arguing about birth control. It's more accepted in the mainstream world, but with Obama's HHS Mandate that would require all hospitals to administer contraceptives, people are beginning to take a firm stand against it. The Catholic Church is making some serious threats to shut down their hospitals so that they wont be forced to distribute birth control which is against their beliefs. It's becoming religious freedom verses reproductive freedom. There's apparently a war on women going on. It's getting nasty.
All that to say, any and everything I say here I'm sure will cause trouble. But since when can people not have opinions about controversial issues? Since when can we not express them? As always, this is me expressing my beliefs, not shoving them down your throat. If you disagree, I would love to have a conversation with you in the comments. A respectful conversation, not a heated argument.
And so, ladies and gentlemen, here's my opinion.
Many forms of birth control should be made illegal. Before you stop reading, note that I said many, not all. I believe all forms of abortion should be made illegal, because it kills a human being. The truth is many forms of birth control are nothing more than abortion. As I explained here, the dispute as to when pregnancy begins has masked many early abortions as birth control. Everyone agrees that pregnancy begins at conception, but some say conception is fertilization and others say it's implantation. That's eight days difference, and those eight days means life or death for millions of little tiny brand new human beings. Scientifically, life begins at fertilization, but according to some, pregnancy begins eight days later. In regards to birth control, any birth control that prevents a fertilized egg from implanting on the uterus is abortion. I am whole heartedly against those forms of birth control.
Birth control that prevents fertilization from happening, I believe that should be your own decision. Many religions condemn all forms of birth control for various reasons, many of these reasons I respect. As a whole though, I see no reason for the government to outlaw all forms of birth control because of some religious beliefs. Let the environmentalists be environmentalists and let the Catholics be Catholics. We should obey our convictions and beliefs.
But when speaking of life, life needs to be protected by the government. Your religious beliefs cannot allow you to murder someone legally. That leaves the difficult distinction: which forms of birth control are abortifacient (meaning cause an abortion), and which are ok?
Abort73 has a good list of which birth control methods are abortifacient and which are not. I'm only going to talk about one birth control method, because it frightens me how casually it is treated. The birth control pill is a dose of hormones that does three things to prevent pregnancy. It prevents ovulation, thickens the mucus lining to prevent fertilization, and then as a fail-safe it thins the lining of the uterus to prevent implantation in case fertilization does occur. The first two steps that the birth control pill does are fine, but the third, if it comes to that, definitely causes an abortion. In fact, some of the abortion pills are nothing more than high-dose birth control pills. It saddens me that the birth control pill is thrown around so much regardless of the potential damage it is doing. Women take it for all sorts of reasons besides as a contraceptive, but it is known to have lasting damage on women's reproductive health in the future. It plays with life, putting children at risk. While they are only a few cells and can't be detected yet, but they are still human beings. We were all there once.
A friend of mine is very passionate about this issue. She sent me the high-low estimates of how many accidental abortions happen because of birth control--it's somewhere between 6,704,900 and 22,141,900. This is sobering. That is a terrifying amount of legalized murder in this country.
There you have it, my opinion about birth control. If you were asking about my views of fertilization-preventing birth control, I haven't figured out what I personally believe yet. When it comes time for me to make that decision I will do a lot more research, prayer, and ask a whole lot of people I respect. There, I hope that helps! Thanks for the great question!
It's important to note that the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology changed the definition of conception - people should know this when looking into birth control.
ReplyDeleteWhether or not you believe life begins at fertilization or implantation, legally anything that prevents implantation can be marketed as a contraceptive. I - believing life begins at fertilization - would call these implantation preventing drugs abortifacient, not contraceptive.
To my knowledge, ACOG changed the definition of contraception from fertilization to implantation in 1965.