The Pill causing abortion--Moved from Christian Advice

[NDNgirl4ever]

For your information, if you're pregnant, the pill won't cause an abortion. It's impossible. If conception and implantation has occured, then the pill will do absolutely nothing. Same with the MAP. Every medical professional worth their salt with even a basic, high school-level education in sex ed can tell you that

Exactly. I agree 100% with everything Tropical Wilds said.

 

[Inklingchick]

Guys,

Thanks for all your thoughts. I really have zero "righteous indignation" about this, and zero desire for people to think I;m a freakshow. I know I'm not thinking clearly about this-- that's why I'm asking for advice. And I know that the pill can't end a pregnancy, if you define pregnancy as beginning with a successful implantation. But the information that I want to spread is not ideologically driven or inaccurate, but simply the fact that the pill does not always prevent conception, and that one of the ways that it is designed to work-- like a failsafe mechanism--is by preventing an embryo that has already conceived from implanting. This isn't ideology or weirdness-- just accurate, as far as I know-- NDNGirl, have I misunderstood? I'm an ex-English major; we're notoriously flaky about sciencey stuff , but I'm also pretty good at research...

I don't at all want to email people a polemical email saying "You shouldn't take the pill"- I just want everyone to have the information about how it works, and even though I know it would be inappropriate, I've still got this niggling thought that (in the context of someone who believes that life does begin at conception) makes a certain kind of sense: that if I withold this information and embryos are lost, that will in some sense be my responsibility.

I spent the first yay many years of my life pro-choice; I was raised that way; I know all the Handmaid's Tale-style worst-case scenarios that, when you're pro-choice, you think that pro-life people want to impose. I'm not locked into a blinded belief-system. It's just that having reflected on what it really means that we're made in the image of God, and where the logic of my otherwise fairly pinko social-justice politics leads, I've come to the conclusion that humans shouldn't be excluded from the club of "people who deserve our protection and caring" at any stage of their development. You know?

S

 

[Zeena]

..even though I know it would be inappropriate, I've still got this niggling thought..

Nagging thoughts aren't of God.

His voice is soft and sweet, easy to appease.

James 3 :14-18
But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.

2 Corinthians 10:5
Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

 

[NDNgirl4ever]

This isn't ideology or weirdness-- just accurate, as far as I know-- NDNGirl, have I misunderstood

Yes, the Pill does prevent implantation. However, by medical definition, that is not an abortion or an early miscarriage.

I just want everyone to have the information about how it works

They should get that information from a nurse practioner/nurse-midwife or doctor, not a co-worker. It's no secret how the Pill works. The midwife/doctor will explain it or they can read the patient information packet that comes with the Pill.

It's not your place to send this e-mail.

 

[Xylofone]

When you're on the pill, the point is to NOT have a baby. So they're not going to care if it's 'aborting' a baby (which it won't do) because they didn't want one in the first place.

 

[Xylofone]

It's not your place to send this e-mail.

I agree. And people are likely to get very angry and annoyed. You may possibly get fired for spreading propaganda.

 

[Ave Maria]

The pill does not cause abortion (unless of course you're talking about the RU486 abortion pill).

 

[Aibrean]

When you're on the pill, the point is to NOT have a baby. So they're not going to care if it's 'aborting' a baby (which it won't do) because they didn't want one in the first place.

Not for me. It's to help me conceive. Without it I might not ever (the doctor told me it might take 10 years for just one child). It helps with fertility if you have PCOS.

 

[Ave Maria]

The pill is not abortifacient. It does not cause abortions.

Is it true that birth control pills cause an abortion? - Planned Parenthood

 

[Ave Maria]

Yep, the pill and indeed all other hormonal forms of birth control have the potential to abort your unborn baby.

 

[Aibrean]

Yep, the pill and indeed all other hormonal forms of birth control have the potential to abort your unborn baby.

Can you show documentation?

 

[EnemyPartyII]

Can you show documentation?

For anyone banging on about "abortifactant contraception", feel free to point out that having sex during pregnancy is JUST as abortifactant a form of contraception as the pill.

Yes, obviously the implanted foetus you are pregnant with isn't getting aborted, but the female body still releases an ovum every month or so, and it can still be fertilised during pregnancy, it just won't be able to implant. Thus, if any of these clowns are actually sincere about avoiding abortifactant contraceptives, they should be utterly abstinent from the moment they find out they are pregnant until about a month after the baby is weened.

 

[EnemyPartyII]

The pill is not abortifacient. It does not cause abortions.

Is it true that birth control pills cause an abortion? - Planned Parenthood

Taking the pill won't cause a pregnancy to abort... but what they DO do is stop a fertilised ovum from implanting. So if you genuinely believe that a fertilised ovum is an actual baby, then i guess you could call the Pill abortifactant.

Pretty big "if" though.

 

[Catherineanne]

As you can probably tell, my mind has been running in circles about this since before Christmas-- I spent Christmas feeling like a murderer because of it. I know that sounds nuts. I'd love anyone's perspective.

Susannah

I don't think this sounds nuts, exactly, but it does sound unhealthily obsessive.

I don't think there can be many women taking the pill who do not realise that the effect of this is going to be to prevent pregnancy. Therefore, you can rest easy on that one.

And if you, or anyone you know, is worried about theoretical abortion before the pill does its work, they can solve this by using a condom as well. That ought to do the trick.

Now, what about focussing on actual, living, children? Take a look at East Africa, and what is happening there, and consider turning your evident canvassing skills to a rather more pertinent area of concern.

 

[Ave Maria]

As others have said, the pill does not cause an abortion. It can (but does not always) prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus by thinning the lining of the uterus. However, it is important to note that most of the time, the pill acts by preventing conception in the first place. So if you believe that the zygote created by the fertilization of the egg by the sperm is a baby, which I do not, then go right ahead and believe that it is abortifacient.

 

[DahliaAslan]

OK, here is a little sex-ed lesson:

1) Without any form of contraception any single act of intercourse has ~15% chance of fertilization.

2) Of fertilized eggs, 3/10s spontaneously abort during the first month due to malformation, improper implantation, environmental problems, etc

3) On BCPs, the egg is almost never (<5%) released from the ovum.

4) In the small minority of cases, when the egg does release, it cannot be fertilized due to a thickened cervical plug.

5) Adding in condom use (97-99% effective)

Exceptional rogue egg is released from the ovum of a BCP using woman. This egg waits in the fallopian tube and hopes to be one of the exceptional 15%. Assuming intercourse in the perfect 3-5 days of the month the egg is even viable for impregnation, with less than 1000 sperm escaping the condom, even if not every single sperm dies from the spermicidal pH levels present outside the cervix, the survivors will be stopped by the cervical mucus plug. Assuming a few magic sperm manage to miraculously breach the cervix, they still must properly navigate the uterus, and if they successfully do that, they still have a 50% chance of entering the wrong fallopian tube or dying in the tube before reaching the egg.

Assuming, after violating greater odds than winning a jackpot lottery 20 times in a row, one little swimmer manages to reach and fertilize that rogue egg, do you really think slightly less than optimal uterine conditions will deter it?

To address the anecdotes of "I had a friend on the pill who got pregnant...", let me say that, given the inefficient reproductive process of humans, I can say, statistically soundly, that they were not using the pill properly.

 

[Ave Maria]

As others have said, the chance of the egg even being released while on birth control is very small. The chance of it being fertilized is even smaller. And we are talking about a fraction of a percentage of a chance that the egg would be fertilized.

 

[Ave Maria]

As others have said, the chance of the egg even being released while on birth control is very small. The chance of it being fertilized is even smaller. And we are talking about a fraction of a percentage of a chance that the egg would be fertilized.

There is still a chance that the egg would be fertilized and then the unborn person would be aborted because of the pill's action of thinning the lining of the uterus. So yes, the birth control pill can and does cause abortions.

 

[NDNgirl4ever]

There is still a chance that the egg would be fertilized and then the unborn person would be aborted because of the pill's action of thinning the lining of the uterus. So yes, the birth control pill can and does cause abortions.

Nope. That is your opinion, NOT medical fact. Abortion is a term meaning the termination of a pregancy. Conception and pregnancy are NOT the same thing. A woman is not pregnant until the egg implants in her uterus. Birth control pills work by a)preventing ovulation and b) preventing implantation. The pill will not affect a pregnancy. Therefore, medically speaking, the birth control pill CANNOT cause an abortion.

Pharmacists and EC: Overcoming Barriers to Access for Young Women in South Carolina