Does the Birth Control Pill Cause Abortions?

Letters to the Author

Thank you for your information on birth control. Being strongly prolife and a biology major, it has always been in the back of my mind that birth control pills caused abortions. Thank you for sending the message to others that are prolife. Right now you can pray for my husband and I as we are trying to conceive another child and are having difficulties and am searching for answers, hence I came upon your sight. -- M. B.

I just felt like I should share with you that almost two weeks ago, I stopped taking the birth control pill. It was not an easy decision to make; by God's grace I was able to take this huge step of faith. But it would have been much harder had I not had the support of my godly husband. It was he who read your book first. I thank God that he did not give up trying to get me to read it. Honestly, I did not want to. To me, the birth control pill represented such freedom and such independence. I always had the perspective that w/o the pill, there was such a high percentage that I would be the loser in it all. I would be the one to have to carry the child at such a young age, (I'm only 21). I would be the one to have to pretty much lose my youthful figure. I would be the one to be cheated out of an education. Do you notice how many " I " statements were just mentioned? The Lord used your book in my life to help me see that being blessed by him with a child with the man that I love would not make me the "loser", b/c children are a blessing, and not a curse. He also showed me that I was losing a whole lot more by taking the pill....my health, and quite possibly, our baby...

Thank you so much for being bold, Randy. I know many Christians have probably given you a hard time for what you take a stand for, but please let my story encourage you today and tomorrow too. -- K. W.

My husband and I have been trying to get info on this for YEARS. We have never gotten a straight answer and I see now why. I don't go to church every Sunday...Actually, I don't go at all. However, I have the most sincere faith that there is a God ... a good God and the thought of terminating a life seems to go against him and all that is right. I have been on the pill for years and did not know. I heard it mentioned once, but when I looked into it I was given the run around, but I was basically led to believe that "No, it does not cause abortions". I am ashamed of myself for not pursuing it as you did. I think deep down I did not want to think that for years I had already been doing something so awful.

Thank you so much for writing your pamphlet! I haven't read it yet, but since it is shorter, I did read the response to the pro-life Dr's. It seems like the pamphlet will be very well done, and PRECISELY what I was looking for. My husband and I quit using BC pills after only one month because I didn't like the side effect (I was/am nursing & they lowered my milk supply, also had mid-cycle spotting), and because I was convicted of the abortion properties which I learned about while researching Natural Family Planning (not well documented data--as a BioChem major from college what they said made sense to me so I believed it). I am blessed to have a husband who listened to my thoughts on the subject and read what little materials I found at that time and accepted the truth about the pills. We used Natural Family Planning after that--which worked great for preventing pregnancy, then conceiving our second child (due in June!). -- J.R.

It is great that you have gathered all this information re: the pill's abortive mechanism and you have all the references to back it up. Finally I have something in black and white to share with people and to show them the truth about the pill. I was on a low dose pill when I learned in my embryology undergraduate class about the "3rd mechanism of action" of the pill, by an objective atheist professor, and we have been practicing Natural Family Planning ever since. We all need to share this information with young engaged couples, teenagers who are given written excused absences from the school nurse to be "put on the pill" without parental consent (my niece), and our priests and pastors.

Thanks for all the research and write up, the leg work. -- T. M., MPT

As a woman's menstrual cycle progresses, her endometrium gradually gets richer and thicker in preparation for the arrival of any newly-conceived child who may be there to attempt implantation. In a natural cycle, unimpeded by the Pill, the endometrium experiences an increase of blood vessels, which allow a greater blood supply to bring oxygen and nutrients to the child. There is also an increase in the endometrium's stores of glycogen, a sugar that serves as a food source for the blastocyst (child) as soon as he or she implants.

The Pill keeps the woman's body from creating the most hospitable environment for a child, resulting instead in an endometrium that is deficient in both food (glycogen) and oxygen. The child may die because he lacks this nutrition and oxygen.

Typically, the new person attempts to implant at six days after conception. If implantation is unsuccessful, the child is flushed out of the womb in a miscarriage. When the miscarriage is the result of an environment created by a foreign device or chemical, it is in fact an abortion. This is true even if the mother does not intend it, and is not aware of it happening.

If the embryo is still viable when it reaches the uterus, underdevelopment of the uterine lining caused by the Pill prevents implantation. The embryo dies and the remains are passed along in the next bleeding episode which, incidentally, is not a true menstruation, even though it is usually perceived as such. ("The Pill: How does it work? Is it safe?", The Couple to Couple League, Cincinnati, OH, page 4.)