Contraception leads to Abortion by Jeffrey M. Palun This past weekend I attended a Collegians Activated to Liberate Life (CALL) function at Indiana University (IU). During this weekend there were educational speeches, picketing, pamphleteering, and prayer. One such speaker was Dr. Monica Miller. She spoke on the link between contraception and abortion. The first link that was presented was the fact that many items labeled as "contraception" are not always as such. Take for example the pill. It has two functions that prevent conception and one more function that aborts the fertilized embryo. The first function is to prevent the egg from being released. When the pill was FIRST introduced, it was pretty highly effective at this-however it had drastic side-effects. Therefore the drug companies thought it was in their best interest to reduce the dosage. Reducing the dosage did reduce the severity of the side effects; however it also reduced the effectiveness of the first function (stopping ovulation). The second function is that the cervical mucus is thickened, helping to prevent sperm from getting to the egg (needless to say this function is not very effective). The third function is that which causes the abortion. The uterine walls become virtually inhospitable to the implantation of an embryo. When asked how often this occurs, Dr. Miller responded, "If they [the parents] have been having sex, without any other form of birth control, for more than three weeks, chances are they've had at least one abortion." This is not to say that it can't happen within three weeks, or that it always happens within three weeks. My second example is the "morning after pill" (which in reality is just a more concentrated version of the "normal" birth control pill). The drug companies claim that this is a contraceptive. To paraphrase Dr. Miller, there is very little chance that the contraceptive function of the morning after pill would work, even if taking the pill within 5 hours of intercourse (the drug companies claim 72 hours). In essence the morning after pill is totally an abortifacient, as much as RU-486. Almost all ("effective") contraceptions [except the condom] have at least one function that is an abortifacient (some of these include Depo-Provera, Norplant, IUD's, morning after pills, & birth control pills). Dr. Miller goes further to explain the link between contraception and abortion by explaining the mindset that contraception has created and how this furthers the "need" for abortion. Prior to having any forms of contraception, sex and children were directly linked. (Almost) no one thought of sex without thinking of having children. If you had asked someone 50-60 years ago what sex was for, what do you expect the answer would be? Any response other than, "For marriage and children," would have been considered ludicrous, according to Dr. Miller. People like to be "in control"; with the advent of "effective" chemical birth control, sex was freed from its bond with procreation and people were "in control" of when they could have children. Now sex has nothing to do with wanting children. What response(s) would you anticipate getting from people if you asked them what sex was for today? According to Dr. Miller, it is for whatever the individual decides it is for; sex has been reduced to "what can sex do for me?" Once people reach this "contraceptive mindset," pregnancy is then viewed as a complication, the baby as an intruder, the parents as doing everything they could to prevent this "unfortunate situation," and the parents see they are no longer "in control" of the situation. The man may become indignant of the fact that the woman became pregnant (like it was her fault). In order to regain control and get this uninvited intruder out of the way, it is necessary to have abortion. It is the next logical step in that thought process. I suggest that if you are using some form of birth control that you find out exactly how it works. Be sure not to just ask, "Is this an abortifacient?" Chances are even if it is, they won't tell you. They may define an abortifacient differently. Drug companies usually define something as "contraception" even if it stops the pregnancy process by stopping the implantation of the fertilized egg. Be sure to ask specific questions or pay a visit to the UCSFL information table (in TUC every Wed. 10-1 in front of Mr. Jim's) and ask about contraception/abortifacients. This article was published in the April 14, 1998 issue of The News Record, the University of Cincinnati Student Newspaper. Back to Main Page