Thursday, August 27, 2015

The Post in Which I Step on Toes

Ah, I'm going to get on my soapbox.  About something that pertains to many Christians, but they either don't want to know about it or haven't even thought about it.  I'm going to go there today, on my tiny blog, and discuss...birth control.

Who am I to talk about birth control?  Do I think everyone needs to have lots of children?  Am I pushing my "big" family lifestyle on the rest of society.  I 100% feel led to post this.  I don't know why me, but...why not me?

 No, I don't think big families are for everyone, and there are days I'd like to have 2.3 children with everyone else and have them going to school everyday and be left the heck ALONE.  Because I'm selfish.  And I'm tired.  I'm not here to push that agenda or anything.  I'm writing to make you think.

Let's clear the air here and first off say that before we (my husband and I) knew what hormonal birth control could do to a baby or to a woman, I was on it.  And it made me very ill.  I was on it before I was married to "control my menstrual cycle" per my gynecologist's advice (and doctors know everything and never have their own agenda) and then after I was married to make sure that we didn't have an "inconvenient" pregnancy.  I had periods of times I was so ill with nausea and vomiting it made early pregnancy symptoms look like a walk in the park.  I was hospitalized at one point.  The hormones did awful things to me.  They have a lovely list of side-effects, and many believe, cause cancer.  (however, to be fair, they may also lessen some kinds of cancer.)


But that's not why I'm on my soapbox.  I mean, if I wanted to be concerned about women's health I'd be on here telling women to stop smoking or taking their children's ADD medication or encouraging everyone to work out more often and stop drinking pop (soda).

The pro-life movement has really been amped up in the past few months with the release of videos describing in horrific detail what happens to aborted babies precious bodies.  Unwanted pregnancies.  Apparently, birth control isn't all it is chalked up to be because there wouldn't be so many babies aborted if their mothers didn't "get themselves into this situation" and use birth control correctly in the first place.   But did you know pro-lifers, that you may be unintentionally aborting your children?  I bet that is news to many of you.

That's my main point;  even pro-life people can be unknowingly aborting their babies because they have gone along with a society that does not value life, values self and selfish things, and sees children (at least more than 1 or 2) as a burden.  Do you know where modern birth control, specifically hormonal comes from?  Here is a link from PBS on the history.  I take this excerpt from that page. "1914-1921 Activist Margaret Sanger coins the term “birth control,” opens first birth control clinic in Brownsville, Brooklyn, and starts the American Birth Control League, the precursor to Planned Parenthood.  1934 Endocrinologist Gregory Pincus creates a test tube rabbit — and is vilified as a Frankenstein.1951 Sanger and Pincus meet at a dinner party in New York; she persuades him to work on a birth control pill.

Dear friends, you claim to not like Planned Parenthood, but you take a medication that directly stems from them that can also abort your babies.  Here's why.  I'm taking this from Web MD, but any gynocologist will confirm it.  Mine included (which is why I will never go back on it, and am so saddened I was ever did).  

How Does Hormonal Contraception Work?

A woman becomes pregnant when an egg released from her ovary (the organ that holds her eggs) is fertilized by a man's sperm. The fertilized egg attaches to the inside of a woman's womb (uterus), where it receives nourishment and develops into a baby. Hormones in the woman's body control the release of the egg from the ovary -- called ovulation -- and prepare the body to accept the fertilized egg.
Hormonal contraceptives (the pill, the patch, and the vaginal ring) all contain a small amount of man-made estrogen and progestin hormones. These hormones work to inhibit the body's natural cyclical hormones to prevent pregnancy. Pregnancy is prevented by a combination of factors. The hormonal contraceptive usually stops the body from ovulating. Hormonal contraceptives also change the cervical mucus to make it difficult for the sperm to go through the cervix and find an egg. Hormonal contraceptives can also prevent pregnancy by changing the lining of the womb so it's unlikely the fertilized egg will be implanted.
Did you read that?  If you believe that life begins at conception, then you need to face the facts here.  "Hormonal contraceptives can also prevent pregnancy by changing the lining of the womb so it's unlikely the fertilized egg will be implanted."  That, my friends, is abortive.  Ok, the chance may be slim because usually the egg will never be fertilized.  But do you want to take that chance???  Many of you have signed The Pro-Life Declaration at www.prolife.org.  Number 3 says, "I believe life should be protected and defended from the moment of conception until natural death."  THE MOMENT OF CONCEPTION.  Should hormonal birth control not work, there's a catch-all that makes it 99.9% effective.  It will conveniently abort your baby.  
As a side note, read the following quote from an article I found on Focus on the Family.  The entire article is good (and about why pre-marital sex is wrong), but I took this excerpt:

I also add that we probably wouldn't even be having this conversation were it not for birth control, especially the "pill," and if abortions were not so easy to obtain. Without birth control and abortion, sex would mean a greater likelihood of raising babies, and raising babies would mean commitment, and commitment would mean marriage. That's life in biblical times, so the question itself didn't get much discussion in a world where sex and babies went together much more than they do in our time.

Look, having birth control so easily available (did you know your teen can get it without you knowing it?)  and some parents, even Christians, put their daughters on the pill so they won't get pregnant.  That's better than a kid that will ruin their life, or an abortion, right?  Wrong.  I believe that premarital sex is a sin, but unwed pregnancy is not.  This is a GREAT article if you really disagree with me there or I rocked your world with that statement.  Please read it, I could never say it better.
Another one to read is this.   If you do nothing else, and think I'm raving mad about advocating against hormonal birth control, please read and consider the words of others in those links.  If you are anti-abortion, please consider helping those who have chosen not to abort by not treating them as the black sheep.  Celebrate the life they have inside of them.  Help the unwed mother who made bad choices, but still cares for a little one from the Lord.  Support adoption.  If you cannot adopt yourself (as my husband and I cannot as we wouldn't pass a homestudy per bedroom situation, let alone we currently couldn't do it financially) support those who are adopting.

Do your own research, I've included some links in this post, but don't take my word for it.  Or your just your doctor's.  Really look into this for yourself.  

3 comments:

Shanti said...

Thanks for posting this Jenney. I have come to the same conclusions myself. I also was on birth control for a short time (I think 2 months). That was enough to see how it was completely messing me up. Then I looked into it further, because after my OB told me it was safe (and I was on the low dose version because I was nursing), she had to back track after I confronted her with my symptoms and THEN told me "well, yeah...it can do that too." *sigh*. And I had to face the fact a lot of my decisions were based on fear (fear of pain in childbirth, fear of having "too many", fear of having the health to do it). I just had to realize I couldn't make decisions based on fear and "what-ifs". It's hard. I'm definitely not saying it isn't. But it's worth it.

Shanti said...

errrr...and "shanti" is I, Rachael D. :-)

Lyn Sampson said...

I was on birth control for YEARS....bc of Endometriosis. I had NO trouble getting pregnant but I did go back on birth control after i had Isabel to prevent getting pregnant too quickly. Well, then i had 3 miscarriages in a row. I am not blaming birth control because there are probably several factors but it sure didn't help me taking it all those years before and the 1 year after i was pregnant. God is always in control, but i will NEVER go back on birth control. PREACH IT JENNEY! Like i said i would have 12 but i think David won't go past our pre-marriage agreement of 4. I LOVE BIG FAMILIES!! I say if you can afford, it have them!!!