What They Don't Tell You About Birth Control
Does the Pill Cause Abortions?
by Joshua Krohse
Many people are opposed to abortion, because they believe that life begins at conception. Generally, conception is understood as the moment when the sperm and ovum (egg) merge into a genetically complete individual. Fertilization and conception are the same thing.
These same people often encourage and support the use of artificial birth control. Some suspect Norplant and the IUD of causing abortions, but they rarely consider that oral contraceptives or the injectable Depo-Provera , the new patch, or the ring might cause abortions.
The public has been told for nearly fifty years that the pill is perfectly acceptable, because it acts by suppressing ovulation. Depo-Provera, the patch, and the ring presumably use the same mechanism. What the public has not been told is that all forms of the pill, injectables, the patch, and the ring, at least some of the time, do cause abortions.
These chemical birth control methods use three methods to prevent pregnancy. First, they do inhibit ovulation. However, they do not do so consistently. For instance, look at the quote from the Micronor minipills here. These pills "prevent conception by suppressing ovulation in approximately half of users" (emphasis added).
When these contraceptives fail to prevent ovulation, their second mechanism is thickened cervical mucus. This makes it more difficult for sperm to enter the fallopian tubes and reach the egg. However, sperm do sometimes reach the egg. If birth control always prevented fertilization, no one would get pregnant while on birth control. However, a small percentage of women do become pregnant while properly using any chemical contraceptive.
The public, and even much of the medical community, has been kept in the dark concerning the third mechanism. When the contraceptive fails to prevent ovulation and sperm manage to pass the cervical mucus, fertilization can occur. Once the egg has been fertilized, the usual pro-life position is that there is no longer egg nor sperm, but a new human life (technically called a blastocyst at this stage of development). The blastocyst begins to grow while traveling for approximately six days to the wall of the uterus, where it attempts to implant.
This third mechanism attempts to prevent implantation by changing the lining of the uterus (endometrium). By altering the natural balance of estrogen and progesterone (the two main hormones responsible for a woman’s menstrual cycle), birth control chemicals cause the endometrium to degenerate. This endometrium is lacking in food (glycogen) and oxygen due to shrinking and shriveling of uterine arteries. It is also considerably thinner than a normal endometrium. Scientific studies show that a thin, depleted endometrium can often prevent implantation. In fact, birth control manufacturers list this mechanism on every physician information sheet and most patient information sheets. When the new human being is prevented from implanting and starves to death, an abortion has taken place. The producers of these drugs do not present this information as speculation—they present it as fact.
One thing to note is that contraceptive companies do not consider prevention of implantation to be abortion. By their definition, abortion is the termination of pregnancy rather than life, and pregnancy begins at implantation. If the blastocyst never implants, the woman is never pregnant, and therefore no abortion occurs.
Obviously, if you do not believe that life begins at conception, this
pamphlet will mean very little to you. If, however, you find this
information disturbing, please take time to do your own follow-up
research on this site or at the locations listed below:
Pro-life, Pro-Choice, and "Neutral" Resources
Printed Material
Franke-Ruta. "Misconceptions." The New Republic 30 November 1998: 12-13.
The Physician’s Desk Reference contains the physician information sheet for every prescription drug currently available, including contraceptives. Most books on contraceptive options frankly note that hormonal contraceptives work by preventing implantation.
World Wide Web
*At the time this brochure was printed, all sites listed contained mention of the abortive effects of hormonal contraceptives. You may have to search the site.
Eternal Perspectives Ministries
www.epm.org/prolife.html
Pro-Life America
www.prolife.com/BIRTHCNT.html
International Pregnancy Help Network
www.epigee.org/guide/hormonal.html
Family Health International
www.fhi.org/en/fp/fpfaq/index.html
Feminist Women’s Health Center
www.fwhc.org/birthcontrol.htm
All major drug manufacturers (Searle, Ortho-McNeil, etc.) have web sites with the physician information sheets freely available online.