Could a medication you’re on be causing the death of a loved one?
As Christians of the 21st Century, we seek to be fathers to the fatherless and voices to the voiceless, as Jesus has called us to be. Many of us have spent time volunteering at crisis pregnancy centers, or have donated money or resources to pro-life organizations, or have helped individuals who were abortion minded. And yet there is another side to this discussion of life and death decisions that is considered too private to be discussed. Did you know that this rather unspoken area is one 90% of Christians unite on [1], agreeing to it and even promoting it?
This rather shushed area, is called birth control.
In our culture, it’s a given that when two people are married, they better be on birth control until they feel ready to have kids. As a matter of fact, a majority of Christian premarital counseling courses endorse and even encourage its use; not to mention doctors and other healthcare professionals. For such reasons, couples feel secure using hormonal or mechanical* birth control regularly.
To all the people my age (17 and younger), have you ever thought that the subject of birth control relates to you?
You may not be currently using birth control, but I can almost guarantee that it will be recommended for your use or your spouse’s use in the future. And it very well could cause the death of those you are closest to.
When, for example, a woman takes hormonal birth control, she is either receiving a dosage of estrogen and progesterone or just progesterone. The estrogen/progesterone pill sends a message to the woman’s brain that she is pregnant, which leads the body to stop the release of more eggs from the ovaries. But birth control is not very effective in this; often eggs are still released into the fallopian tubes and the egg gets fertilized and becomes an embryo - a living human being. The developers of the pill were well aware of this fact; and that’s why they added in the progesterone. The progesterone has a different job; it hardens the lining of the uterus. After 7-14 days in the fallopian tubes, the embryo descends into the uterus, and if this baby’s momma has been on the pill, it will be nearly impossible for it to implant; thus it will most likely die.
The loss of life is sad enough, but there is another side to the pill; in 2005 the UN’s International Agency on Research on Cancer recorded in their report “Monograph 91” that estrogen-progesterone combination drugs was a group 1 carcinogen for breast, cervical, and liver cancer [2]. Women who use mechanical or hormonal birth control are actually placing themselves at far greater risk for cancer, blood clots, and heart attacks, according to Dr. Angela Lanfranchi, a breast surgeon and clinical assistant professor of surgery at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School [3].
In January, the anniversary of Roe v. Wade reminded us again of the horrifying statistics that over 58,000,000 lives have been taken by abortion. That’s more lives than the total population of Myanmar! How many lives, would you estimate, have been taken through birth control? How many little lives, just at the very beginning, were starved to death since they were unable to implant into the uterus and get food from mommy? This should break our hearts, as it breaks our Jesus’s heart, and it should drive us to action as well.
What are you doing today to be a voice for those little, little ones that even a majority of pro-life organizations have overlooked? Would you be willing to stand in the gap for them?
Imagine, a few years down the road, that you have a little girl. She has your eyes, and adores life. She’s the apple of your eye, and you love to get down to her level and play together. But one day, you get a call; your little Susie has somehow begun to starve to death. Your friend on the phone tells you that there’s no way she’ll make it longer than a few days if she doesn’t get some food in her quickly.
What would you do?
If I was in this situation, I would do absolutely everything I could to get to my little girl and bring her some food before it was too late; and I would call the people I considered my friends and ask them “Will you help my little Susie? She’s starving to death!”
Each of these precious lives that are ended by birth control are God’s “Susie’s.” He loves each of them and has called us to stand in the gap for them [4]. This is not optional, it is a commission from our King. We are called to be “a father to the fatherless.”
A famous speaker once said, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” If we do not stand to protect these lives, who will?
What are some practical ways we can protect these little ones?
- Personally choose not to use birth control
In the future, expect to be asked by your health professional about birth control. It’s not only recommended for preventing pregnancy; it is also suggested for controlling acne, regulating cycles, or to reduce cramping. Each of these side effects can often be treated naturally or with other medications.
- Graciously speak up on their behalf
Would you be willing to graciously speak up if you heard someone talking about birth control? Each of us have two things: a voice and influence in others lives. If we use these things to protect these vulnerable little ones, they can have a chance at life that they might not have had otherwise.
One fast and effective way to speak up on their behalf is to share blog posts or videos on social media; it starts conversations and gives helpful and important information. Check out a few of these links:
- Consider embryo adoption in the future
Another way you can be an advocate for these little ones is to consider embryo adoption in the future. After couples have an in vitro fertilization treatment, there are often embryos left over that are either thrown out, donated to science, or put away in bio freezers. These little embryos who do not have a chance at life until they are adopted.
“When a couple goes through IVF, the doctors create as many embryos as possible because it costs a lot, physically and financially, to retrieve the eggs and fertilize the embryos. One to three embryos are transferred into the woman’s uterus, and the rest are frozen… Embryos are considered property under federal law.” (Embryo Adoption Awareness Center)
We can do something about all of these precious little ones who are frozen in time in bio freezers all over the US; let’s be advocates for these valuable lives!
To find out more about embryo adoption, check out these links:
- An embryo adoption story:
- Embryo adoption agencies:
These little ones can be saved if each one of us personally chooses to stand up and be an advocate for these lives!
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* Due to the fact that this article was first presented as a speech with a time limit, mechanical birth control was not sufficiently addressed in this post. But from the research I have done, I most definitely believe that IUDs and other forms of mechanical birth control can and do cause embryonic abortions. As Colorado Right to Life has said: “By redefining an established term, the abortion and pharmaceutical industries could mislead women by selling them ‘contraceptives’ that in fact do not only prevent ‘conception’ but were also designed to kill the tiniest children by preventing implantation so they cannot continue to grow in their mother's wombs. Such ‘contraceptives’ are not contraceptive, but are mechanical (IUD) or chemical (pills) abortifacient ‘birth control.’" [Source]
1. Poll: http://www.gallup.com/poll/154799/americans-including-catholics-say-birth-control-morally.aspx
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1f3qTt1YDk [see also: https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/surgeon-birth-control-pill-a-molotov-cocktail-for-breast-cancer]
3. Ibid
4. A similar illustration was first presented by Pastor Eric Ludy in his short film "Depraved Indifference."
4. A similar illustration was first presented by Pastor Eric Ludy in his short film "Depraved Indifference."
