There is a lot of controversy surrounding birth control pills. I'm not going to write a humongous post on it. I'm just going to highlight some things I feel are important. If you want more info and more research, please look into this further. www.mercola.com is a great site to start with.
Birth Control was the first "medicine" designed to be taken when your not even sick. That in itself sounds so wrong to me....
First, let's cover the 3 things that the pill does in order to prevent you from getting pregnant.
1. Prevents your ovaries from releasing eggs
2. Thickens your cervical mucus, which helps to block sperm
3. Thins the lining of the uterus so that implantation of the egg would be difficult.
Number 1 and 2 sound okay, but if you believe life begins with conception, then number 3 should worry you. Number 3 means that if an egg is fertilized (and we know that ovulation can still occur while on the pill), it will have a slim chance of attaching to the uterian lining, therefore causing you to miscarry. You have anywhere from a 1% to a 28% chance of ovulating while on the pill. Do the math.
Kind of a scary, huh? And I did my research and this applies to all hormone based birth control, including the Nuvaring, Depro Shot, and the IUD.
If the miscarry risk alone is not enough to scare you away, lets talk about the slew of health risks that these synthetic hormones do to your body. I'm sure you've heard about hormone replacement therapy causing an increase in breast cancer. Well, these are the same hormones that are in the pill (just in different ratios). The synthetic hormone progestin increases your chance of breast cancer as much as 8% per year of use!! This is astounding to me! The pill is also connected with an increase chance of heart attack and stroke. And these chances are real, people. They're not just the tag on at the end of the birth control commercials. I just read a story in Heart Health for Women by Dr. Sinatra. He had a 30 year old patient have a heart attack. No one would have realized what was wrong with her and she would have died. Luckily he was smart enough to look at her history and saw that she was on the pill and smoked, creating a deadly combo.
Hormonal birth control has a load of health problems associated with it. We've talked about breast cancer, but it also increases the risk of cervical cancer. Blood clots are a possibility and if your pill contains desogestrel your risk of dying from a blood clot doubles! The pill also increases artery plaque contributing to heart disease. If you're on or have used the pill long term you can have problems gaining muscle mass, have thin, brittle bones, and it can dimish of your sex drive. And most of you know the weight gain, the irregular bleeding, and changes in mood they cause. It also depletes riboflavin, B6, folic acid, vitamin B12, vitamin c and zinc. All of this in the name of convenience. Is it really worth it?
There are more side effects like systematic candida, contributing to the pain and growth of cysts in women with PCOS (polycystic ovary disease), the inability to get pregnant once you go off of it, and so much more. The risks to me, far outweigh the benefit of preventing pregnancy. If you don't take the pill perfectly every day, the percentage of prevention changes to from 99% to 95%...and who takes it perfectly??
So, what can you use instead? Natural Family Planning works amazing once you really know what you're doing (percentages are among the highest in preventative methods). Diaphrams with spermicide and cervical caps are another option. Condoms...well let's be honest, nobody likes them, but they do work. Your OB-GYN can fit you for a diaphram or cervical cap and they'll write you a script for it. They cost about $50 and they last for 2-4 years. I am currently using a diaphram and I wish I had known about it's benefits earlier.
If you're stubborn and won't budge on hormonal birth control, please take DIM. It's a supplement that filters out excess estrogen. Vitanica makes a product called OC Companion. It contains DIM and other nutrients that hormonal contraceptives deplete.
I am laying the smack down, so to speak, but I too am guilty. I too, took birth control. The pills made me crazy, so I switched to the Nuva Ring for over a year (the nuva ring has about half the estrogen) and took DIM to filter out even more of the estrogen. My attempt to "control" my chances of getting pregnant outweighed my knowledge of how bad the stuff was for me. Once I heard the statistics on it causing miscarriages, I stopped. The fact is, that even 1% is a chance. I know several people who have gotten pregnant on the pill and on an IUD. It happens. Try as we may, ultimately, God is in control.
10 comments:
This is all so very interesting. I do have a cople of questions for you. What if you were put on the pill by your doctor to help with severe cramping and possible ovarian cysts? This is the case with me, and I should not that I am not married nor am I sexually active. I have been taking the pill for about 9 months or so.They told me by taking it that it could shrink what cysts they believe are there and that it would also help regulate my cycle and take away some of the intense pain I was feeling. The later I found to be true, but only for the first couple of months. If I decide to stop taking the pill are there things I should know or supplements I should take to help my body transition back?
Preach it, sister. Its helpful that you have all the scientific research laid out so clearly to back up your position. I think your research backs up what I happened to learn prior to marriage (thank goodness): that about 7% of women ovulate while on the pill, thereby causing early miscarriage - or, more accurately, abortion - when the uterine lining flushes out the fertilized egg. From a pro-life perspective, I don't see how someone can be on the pill or hormonal contraception and take that risk in good conscience.
Awesome blog. Thanks for this post. Its sad how ignorant most of the church is on this critical issue - getting on the pill is not only encouraged by most, it's expected! But its an issue we can't afford to ignore. It is unethical, and unbiblical.
For more interesting reading, check out the woman that first fought to make the pill legal, was an avid eugenicist and the founder of the modern Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger. Some of her quotes are horrific. Truly the enemy of our souls was 100% behind the rise of modern birth control.
To the Anonymous post,
There is nothing that the pill can do that is more beneficial than another more natural option. If your hormones are out of whack, try and find a compound pharmacy in your area or a Dr. or practitioner who can write a script for natural compounded hormones. A very strict, healthy diet is also so crucial. Estrogen promotes the growth of cysts...I do not understand why Drs. prescribe birth control when it has synthetic estrogen in it.
@Song, yes, I am very familiar with the birth of Planned Parenthood, it's attempts to reduce "minorities" and the eugenics connections. I also know that they were known for giving out low dose birth control so girls would get pregnant and they could make money on abortions...terrible!! I feel like my blogs supposed to be more my health rants rather than my morality rants...although some of it always comes through:)
TOTALLY agree with you Amanda!! We were convicted of the pill several years ago and had no idea why until I just stopped taking it and did some research. We do NFP and breastfeeding for birth control. Instead of saying they cause miscarriages I say abortions- because in truth that's what it is. Another fact in case you didn't know- many birth controls that may cause an egg not to implant aren't called abortificiants because hospitals and planned parenthood don't define pregnancy as starting at conception but instead at implantation! Convenient! I think clinical birth control is such a hold the enemy has on the church, especially when we contend for life!
One more interesting fact- there was a study done on apes and the pill awhile ago- in a setting of a male ape and several females, they gave one female the pill. The male ape wouldn't go near her! When they gave all the female apes the pill the male didn't go near any of them! What they found was the pill actually suppresses one of women's natural scents that attracts men to us. Possibly why so much promiscuity has happened in the last 50 years or so! (Not sure the source of the study, I heard about it when we had our NFP class).
To Kelly,
Just wanted to let you know that breastfeeding is not a form of birth control! I don't want you to be confident that it is---Many many women get pregnant while breastfeeding. Best use a condom, and/or NFP while breastfeeding!
Jo, I practice 'ecological' breastfeeding that few women know about. When practicing breastfeeding in this manner it is in fact birth control- but you must follow several steps: 1- co-sleeping (with baby actually in the bed so they nurse while you sleep) 2- no bottles or pacifiers (pacify baby at the breast) 3- wait to start solid food until at least 6 mo, (I wait til 9), 4- take a nap with your baby during the day (so to have them nurse while sleeping), 5- try not and be under any kind of stress 6- no schedule!! Basically you want to have as much suckling at the breast as possible
I've done this with both my babies and had breastfeeding infertility until they were 14 or 15 months old. The only reason I had it come back was because I was having them sleep through the night and I severely decreased their feedings. I know of women who have had infertility for up to 36 months! But again, a lot of women don't understand that breastfeeding alone is not birth control unless practiced 'ecologically' if you want more info you can read the book 'breastfeeding and natural child spacing'
The reason I didn't say "Birth Control Pills cause you to have an "abortion" is that I feel that it is unneeded strong language that implies intent... Some situations it may be ok, but I felt like in my article that it was not needed. The point was still made.
Most women who take birth control would never abort their baby intentionally. Therefore, I chose to say miscarry.
Tremendous post! Will you follow-up on this specific topic?
Follow up? As in how?
Post a Comment