Why We Do Not Use Birth Control

When I was 19 years old, I still bought into mainstream conventional medical wisdom. Everyone I had ever known had given birth in the hospital, and I had never even heard of anyone having a home birth. My wife and I both wanted to have children immediately, but there was one problem. I had just started a new job, and my health insurance would not kick in until 90 days after I had been hired. If my wife became pregnant before that time, it would be considered a "pre-existing condition," and the birth would not be covered by the insurance. Since we had no money and were living paycheck-to-paycheck, this would have been a serious problem.

I brought this issue up to Zsuzsa when she was back in Germany right after we had gotten married. We had obviously already consummated the marriage repeatedly before she went back, and it was possible that she could have already been pregnant, but I told her that going forward we should probably use some type of birth control for the next few months until the health insurance kicked in. If she was already pregnant, we would not be upset, and we would deal with the financial situation one way or another. She agreed and got a prescription for birth control pills from a doctor in Germany.

After the 90 days were expired and the health insurance became active, she stopped taking the pills and immediately got pregnant. We were both happy and excited, and my boss even gave me a raise when he found out! However, our happiness was turned into sorrow when my wife miscarried the baby on Christmas day. A miscarriage is always a sad thing, but when it is your first child, it is even worse. My wife was horrified at the thought that maybe she would never be able to have children. Maybe she would always miscarry every child.

Thankfully my wife became pregnant again the very next month. She was still nervous about miscarrying, so she began to do a lot of research on pregnancy and miscarriage. This was in the very early days of the internet, so research could only be done by going to the library and reading books. My wife checked out every possible book that had anything to do with pregnancy and read them all. From her research it became apparent that her miscarriage had probably been due to the birth control pills she had just been taking.

We had no idea how birth control pills even worked and had just foolishly used them assuming that since other Christians were using them, they must be okay. Through reading the library books and the package insert of the pills themselves, we became aware of how the pills "prevent pregnancy" and how this related to her miscarriage.

Hormonal birth control methods, including all types of birth control pills, the “patch”, hormone injections, implants, etc., perform two primary functions:

1.) They suppress ovulation. No egg is released; therefore, pregnancy is not possible. Depending upon which particular method is used, ovulation is suppressed 40-95% of the time. The other 5-60% of the time, an egg is released and can be fertilized.

2.) They thin and harden the lining of the uterus. This makes implantation of the conceived, 7-day old child virtually impossible. All hormonal birth control methods have this effect on the uterine lining 100% of the time.

Simple logic tells us that if an egg can be released and fertilized 5-60% of the time, and implantation is being prevented close to 100% of the time, a silent abortion is taking place 5-60% of months a woman is taking the pill, because the 7-day old child is unable to implant and dies. The “morning after” pill functions after the same principle to destroy the lining of the uterus, but in a shorter period of time due to higher concentrations of the same hormones.

The 5% figure is based on the use of the “combination” pill, which is usually a combination of estrogen and progesterone. The 60% figure is based on the use of progesterone only pills (“mini-pills”), the “patch”, or progesterone injections/implants. Therefore a woman taking even the combination pill for only two years statistically will have one chemical abortion during that time. A woman using a progesterone only method for two years could very likely have 12 silent abortions during that period of time, or one every other month. These are the most conservative estimates available. Other research indicates that women taking the combination pill could be ovulating up to 50% of the time, and that 70% of women taking the “mini-pill” could be ovulating every month. In almost all cases these babies would not be able to implant and would die.

“With over 17 million American women using the Pill and other chemical abortifacients, it is estimated that breakthrough ovulation and pregnancy occur so often…that between 7 to 12 million newly conceived children are killed by chemical abortions in the womb each year. And most of these women never even knew they were pregnant.” (“Infant Homicides Through Contraceptives,” 1994 by the Study of Abortion Deaths Ad Hoc Commission – Bardstown, KY. Ph: 502-348-3963.)

“In America, chemical abortions are estimated to kill more than 7 million babies each year – while surgical abortions kill about 1.5 million babies each year.” (“Birth Control Pills Cause Early Abortions” – J.T. Finn, 2005)

“Scientific papers suggest that escape ovulation occurs 4-15% of all cycles in patients taking birth control pills. Thus, as this booklet points out, early chemical abortions are a real and significant concern.” (Paddy Jim Baggot, M.D., Ob/Gyn, Fellow of the American College of Genetics)

The term “birth control pills” is accurate since they do not prevent conception, but birth. The reason that many pro-life Christians accept birth control pills as an acceptable form of birth control is that they have been deceived into believing that conception never takes place when they are on the pill. Christians are firm in their belief that life begins at conception, so in order to fool them, the medical establishment has begun to change the definition of conception. The biblical definition of "conception" is fertilization (when the seed from the man fertilizes the egg from the woman). That is why in Hebrews 11:11 KJV, the Bible speaks of Sarah "conceiving seed." If conception meant implantation, this would make no sense in light of the fact that the seed is long gone by implantation. The seed is present at fertilization, not implantation.

Dr Vanessa Cullins, vice president for medical affairs at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, was asked if hormonal birth control pills cause abortion. Her response was: “No. Abortion ends a pregnancy. [Contraception pills] work before a pregnancy begins. Pregnancy begins with the implantation of the developing fertilized egg in a woman’s uterus.” Yet in the next paragraph she admits, “…implantation doesn’t occur until five to seven days after fertilization.” This viewpoint represents the medical world’s current view of when a pregnancy begins. As Bible-believing Christians, however, we believe that life begins at conception (fertilization), not implantation.

Since birth control pills thin and harden the lining of the uterus, becoming pregnant directly after taking them can often lead to miscarriage, which is why even those who promote birth control pills recommend waiting a month or two to get pregnant after discontinuing use of the pills. If one becomes pregnant immediately, the residual effects of the birth control pills will often linger and harm the pregancy.

As soon as my wife and I learned these facts, we confessed our sin to God and never used birth control pills again. Although we had sinned through ignorance, we had still done wrong by using the pills. We never used any form of birth control ever again.

If you would like to know why we believe other methods of birth control are wrong (barrier methods, abstinence, nfp, pulling out, etc), you can listen to the following sermon called "Birth Control Deception." Also, my wife's article on Lactational Amenorrhea is a must read for anyone interested in more information on this subject.