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The big argument in this case is that the morning after pill is believed to cause abortions, and as a company founded on Christian principles, the owners of Hobby Lobby are morally opposed to abortion and feel that it's wrong for the government to force them to pay for it.
Up until this week I was very much in support of Hobby Lobby and their stand for unborn babies. Who doesn't appreciate a company standing up for what's morally right?!?! Then I found a small detail tucked away at the bottom of this news article. Hobby Lobby already provides birth control in their employee health plans.
Why is this a problem? Let me explain.
How the Morning After Pill Works
There are a few different types of morning after pills, but they all primary work the same way. If taken 3-5 days after having unprotected sex they are about 89% effective. (Please note, the morning after pill is not the same thing as RU-486 which can be used to terminate a pregnancy up to 9 weeks along.)
The morning after pill works primarily by preventing ovulation. The hormone (levonorgestrel) keeps a women's body from releasing an egg. No egg=no baby. The hormones can also make it more difficult for the sperm to reach an egg after a woman has ovulated. No sperm=no baby. Neither of these methods is consider to be abortive because in both cases there is no conception.
However, it's speculated that the morning after pill can also disrupt the lining of a women's uterus making it difficult for a fertilized egg (a conceived human baby) to implant and grow. If the baby does not latch on to the uterine wall, it will die.
Herein lies the problem. Many Christians, including myself and the owners of Hobby Lobby, believe that life starts at conception. Thus intentionally doing anything to prevent that life from thriving is considered abortion.
This brings me to my objection in the Hobby Lobby case. Hobby Lobby already provides hormonal birth control as part of their health insurance plans, and hormonal birth control pills work exactly same way.
How the Birth Control Pill Works
Most birth control pills are basically just smaller doses of the hormones found in the morning after pill, and these progesterone mimicking chemicals also work in very similar ways:
1. Preventing ovulation
2. Thickening cervical mucus to prevent sperm from reaching the egg
3. Making the uterine lining inhospitable for a baby
Thus if we argue that the morning after pill causes abortions, we must recognize that hormonal birth control pills do too.
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Birth control pills work primarily by preventing ovulation; however, break through ovulation is quite common among pill users meaning that pregnancy is still possible. While the thickened cervical mucus does make it more difficult for sperm to reach the egg, fertilization can and does happen!
And when it does, we have a baby. A completely new, individual, human being. At the moment of conception a baby has all the DNA information they will ever need. Eye color, hair color, height, and personality are predetermined in that moment. In normal pregnancies the new life will attach itself to the lining of the uterus where it will receive the necessary nourishment from it's mother to continue to grow and thrive.
One of the ways the pills works is by preventing that baby from implanting in the uterine wall and receiving the nutrients and oxygen that it needs. The baby dies and passes out of the mother at her next monthly cycle. She probably won't even know it happened.
It's very difficult for scientist to measure exactly how often this occurs in pill users, but they do know that it is a very real possibility and statistically probable. Just consider this:
The Pill is used by about fourteen million American women each year and sixty million women internationally. Thus, even an infinitesimally low portion (say one-hundredth of one percent) of 780 million Pill cycles per year globally could represent tens of thousands of unborn children lost to this form of chemical abortion annually. (Alcorn 2010)Want to know where I got my info?
For a short version of how birth control works. For a more detailed overview from Randy Alcorn. Info on morning after pill. Info about Hobby Lobby here and here.
Where Do We Go From Here?
When I first found out about how the pill works, I didn't believe it. I has always heard that birth control was safe. I'd been told specifically by doctors that birth control didn't cause abortions. And truthfully, I didn't want to believe it. My husband and I used birth control for the first year of our marriage, and the thought that we might have unintentionally aborted a baby just seemed unreal to me.
Plus, birth control is easy, convenient, and popular. It just couldn't be true.
So I decided to do some more research, but every path I went down brought me to the same truth: birth control pills have the potential to do more harm than good.
One of the greatest resources I came across was Randy Alcorn's book "Does the Birth Control Pill Cause Abortions?". I was shocked to realize that all these years I'd been misled by simple semantics.
You see pill manufactures, doctors, and abortion advocates will agree that the pill works the way that it does. They recognize that the pill does have the potential to keep a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus and receiving the necessary nutrients for sustained life. However, they assert (very adamantly) that this is not abortion because they do not believe that life starts at conception.
I realized that the issue here isn't really one of good science or this study vs. that study, but rather it's a question of when life starts.
And as Christians we don't have to look to science for the answer to that question because the Author of Life has already answered it for us. Look at Psalm 139:13-16, Jeremiah 1:4-5, and Psalm 51:5 to see God's care for the unborn, and check out this very detailed article from Answers in Genesis about how these fit into the argument that life begins at conception.
Given this information, my husband and I made the decision to stop using hormonal birth control for good. As we researched and prayed over this decision, God opened our eyes and changed our hearts. We realized that we'd been trusting in the world to shape our definition of family and fertility, and the world had led us astray. Instead, we turned to the Word of God and asked ourselves, "What does God say about children and family?" It changed the way we feel, the way we think, and the way we live.
I don't tell you this to try and convince you to stop taking the pill.
I tell you all of this because I believe that every woman has a right to know, and every Christian has a duty to pray and seek the Lord's guidance.
I also believe that consistency is important, and this is where I believe Hobby Lobby has missed the boat. If we choose to take a stand against emergency contraception like the morning after pill, we must recognize that birth control pills fall into the same category. So often as Christians we are eager to stand against abortion without fully considering in what ways we ourselves have been led astray by abortion advocates and the family planning community.
I recognize that many of these issues are technical arguments that are easy to misunderstand and much easier to just ignore. I also recognize that you could walk the same path I have and arrive at a different place with a different opinion and a different decision. I respect that.
God is the one who guides and directs our steps. We just have to agree to set aside our own ideas and agendas to follow him. If he leads you to a different place than me, who am I to judge?
My job is simply to share what I know in love.
Please feel free to comment, ask questions, share your thoughts, and even disagree, but please do so in wisdom and kindness. If you want to speak more privately about this topic or anything else the Lord has laid on your heart, please email me at proverbsandpacifiers@gmail.com.
Very informative! Thanks for sharing this.
ReplyDeleteAn excellent article, Kate! On an issue which, you are right, deserves to be researched and wrestled with. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteWhile I disagree with your ultimate conclusion (that preventation of implantation is abortion and anti-biblical), I respect the intent of your post. I do think it's important to be consistent, and, as a pro birth-control (for me, anyways) God-loving mama to a large family, I applaud you for recognizing that.
ReplyDeleteIn Christ,
Melissa
This has been new information for me recently too and I came to the same conclusions. I am thankful for your willingness to speak the truth in love! I think there are so many people who just don't know!
ReplyDeleteLove this article! Randy Alcorn's book is my favorite book to recommend to people! It's definitely worth the read!
ReplyDeleteThank you for standing for Truth! I believe this is one area the enemy has been having a "hay-day" in the Church. I agree that if we say the pill is "ok" we have no argument against abortion.
ReplyDeleteLife does not begin at conception...it begins before conception. Every sperm and every egg is alive. Most of the cells in our bodies are alive, and they have the same genetic material that it takes to make a baby. To argue that a single cell is identical to a baby (or a fetus) is to ignore basic biology. It is possible to grow an organism from a single cell of a mature organism. No one would argue that a cell taken from a dog that is then cloned to make a genetically identical dog is a dog from the moment the cell is isolated and prepared for implantation in a host "mama" dog. It is a single cell, not a puppy. It is fortunate that those who think that not allowing a single cell (or a small group of cells) is equivalent to destroying a fully formed baby are not a majority...because overpopulation is a serious issue. (Some claim that it isn't because all of the people in the world would fit in Texas...I would respond that all of the people in my family will fit in my car, but it is not an optimal or sustainable kind of existence. All of the poor in Calcutta fit in the slums there, too.) I respect the way that you seek to ensure that you are living in accordance with your faith, but am horrified at the way a false premise entices you to equate hormonal birth control with murder.
ReplyDeleteI have to add that some Christian women do take birth control for non birth control reasons - hormonal balancing. I was on hormonal birth control for 7 years before I got married because my hormones were terribly imbalanced. I won't go into details about how horrible life was without birth control pills. Since I've had a child things seem to have balanced and we don't use hormonal birth control at this point in our lives but I wouldn't judge someone who did and I do think they should be covered for those reasons.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, birth control pills are being used as a massive band-aid by modern medicine, despite the health hazards they cause. I would encourage a woman with difficult cycles or infertility (or even mood swings) to change her diet and exercise regimen, with the addition of natural, herbal supplements before resorting to something as drastic as birth control. I say this now, in hind sight, as a woman who spent almost 8 years on birth control. Any doctor who would sooner put a woman on birth control than discuss options with her is not worth the office visit.
DeleteI was reading through my Randy Alcorn book & googling to search for bits & pieces of this same kind of information & came upon your site & this post of yours. I was looking to pass forward bits of this type information but you have all the facts so clearly, beautiful & truthfully written up in 1 writing including all the back up references. Thank you for this article!! God bless you! May all eyes see His truths. I'm sorry that I did not know these specific truths when I was younger but thankfully we have the opportunity to teach our children His truths rather than the world's lies.
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to comment and say what a blessing this post was. I read it last year and am re-reading it now. After having babies 12 months apart, sometimes it is tempting to go the route everyone else does...even Christians. But the Lord reminded me of this post and re-reading it strengthens my heart. Yes, I could take those tiny little pills and I could say "God will understand"...but God has already spoken on this subject. He says Do Not Murder. I say I am pro-life and I must LIVE pro-life! Wonderful, WONDERFUL post.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing! I'm glad the Lord was able to encourage you with this post. With our 3rd bun in the oven, I know where you are coming from :)
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