The contraceptive pill
The contraceptive pill has been hailed as a means of giving women control over their lives - and their reproduction....
But are there dangers? Is it ethical for Christians?
Development of 'the pill'
Methods of controlling fertility have been in existence for thousands of years.
See an interesting timeline linked to an American PBS documentary called 'The Pill':
Part 1(<1950) Part 2 (>1950)
Margaret Sanger, the founder of what became International Planned Parenthood, coined the term 'birth control' in 1914 and was instrumental in encouraging research into what she called a 'magic pill' to prevent conception.
Research continued during the 1950s into using hormones to prevent ovulation which would in turn mean that women did not become pregnant.
The US Food and Drug Administration approved the use of the contraceptive pill manufactured by Searle on 11 May 1960.
By 1962, 1.2 million American women were taking the pill. But by September 1962, word of serious side effectswas beginning to spread. "Searle receives reports of 132 blood clots, including 11 deaths, but the company declares that there is no conclusive evidence demonstrating that the blood clots are a direct result of the Pill."
The Pill in use today
A Google search using the words "the pill" brings up millions of 'results' (3,370,000 on 2 April 2008)
OneUK medical site says that one hundred million women worldwide use the pill.
The Pill is generally made from two female hormones- oestrogen and a progestogen.
The mini-Pill is made from only progestogen but is considered less effective.
Are there health risks?
Since the early days of the Pill, the dosages of hormones has been decreased in many versions in order to try and decrease the side effects. But there are still serious side effects...
Major side effects - and health risks - from taking the Pill
UK Net Doctor:
'Minor' side effects - headaches, nausea, breast tenderness, slight weight gain, slight 'spotting' of blood between the periods.
Major side effects/health risks: Blood clots or DVT, stroke, heart attack and some cancers (breast, cervical, liver).
It is noted that the pill may reduce the chance of getting cancer of the ovary, womb and bowel.
MediResource - Some additional lists of serious side effects.
FDA - USA
"FDA - 30 Years of Safety Concerns"
- Article in FDA Consumer Magazine in 1990 - by Sharon Snider.
Click here to read article.
FDA Flags Concern on Birth-Control Pill, Sept 27, 2011. [Blood clots]
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said it "remains concerned" a certain type of birth-control pill that contains drospirenone could raise the risk of blood clots beyond that of other pills. In a drug safety communication posted on the agency's website Monday, the FDA said preliminary results of an agency-funded study involving 800,000 women suggest about a 1.5-fold increase in the risk of blood clots for women who use drospirenone-containing birth-control pills, compared to users of other hormonal contraceptives.
Drospirenone is used in pills including Yaz and Yasmin, which are marketed by Bayer AG. Drospirenone is a type of female sex hormone called a progestin. Some drospirenone pills are also available in generic versions.
But the FDA said it hasn't reached a final conclusion that the products raise the risk of blood clots beyond that of other pills, and the agency will convene an outside panel of medical experts on Dec. 8 to discuss the matter.
Most birth-control pills contain two types of hormones, estrogen and progestin. All types of pills increase the risk of blood clots, and product labels warn of such risk....
Cancer
In 2005, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organisation, upgraded the contraceptive pill to a Group 1 carcinogen (the highest level).
Press release
Full Report -
Combined Estrogen-Progestogen Contraceptives and Combined Estrogen-Progestogen Menopausal Therapy, IARC Monographs Vol. 91
Note this is a pdf document that is 32 MB.
Available from the IARC Monographs Home Page. Click here.
Other forms of birth control are being developed to try and overcome some of the side effects found in the contraceptive pill.
Norplant provides an insert that has a slow release contraceptive.
In February 2009 it was reported that a new spray-on contraceptive was being trialled, to try and decrease the side effects of The Pill.
Spray-on contraceptive could replace pill
The Age, February 23, 2009.
THE contraceptive pill could be a thing of the past if a spray being trialled by a Melbournecompany proves successful. The spray, being developed by researchers at Acrux, is applied daily to the forearm to deliver a contraceptive known as Nestorone through the skin. The company says that using the spray form of the drug allows smaller dose sizes, reducing side-effects including water retention and breast tenderness, and in the long term, cardio-vascular problems such as blood clots. . ."
Other research
The Pill affects emotional memory
Oct 2011. A study by researchers at the University of California, Irvine has found that 'women on the birth control pill are less likely to retain factual details in memories of emotional events. They attribute it to the action of the added hormones, that develop memory characteristcs more akin to male memory.
Read report in Lifesite: click here.
Is the Pill ethical for Christians?
Up until 1930, all Christian churches opposed the use of birth control measures. In 1930 the Lambeth conference of Anglican bishops supported limited birth control. The Lambeth Conference extended this to unlimited use of birth control by husbands and wives in 1958.
Most Protestant denominations followed suit in the years after 1930.
The Roman Catholic Church, meanwhile, has maintained a strong stance against the use of the Pill and condoms. In 1930, the Pope made a statement opposing birth control. In 1968, Pope Paul VI issued his landmark encyclical letter Humanae Vitae which re-confirmed the position.
Source - Source - Source
Can the pill be an abortifacient?
One aspect of the issue that may cause an additional moral problem for Christians is whether or not the Pill can cause a developing embryo to die.
The main function of the Pill is to prevent ovulation, to stop an egg leaving the ovary: no egg, no pregnancy. However, if an egg does escape (and this can happen more with the mini-pill but sometimes in the regular Pill) the woman could potentially become pregnant if the egg is then fertilised.
One of the secondary aspects of the Pill is to make the lining of the walls of the uterus thinner and to prevent implantation of the embryo. The embryo then dies or is 'aborted'.
A newly revised book (10th edition, Dec 2011) by Randy Alcorn addresses this question
- it is 'Does the Birth Control Pill Cause Abortions?'
This article summarises the book's arguments...
Does the Birth Control Pill Cause Abortions?: A Short Condensation
Other articles and references...
Does the Birth Control Pill Cause Abortions? by Randy Alcorn
Abortion and the Pill - Catholic Insight.
Can birth control pills kill unborn babies? - Christian Answers
Birth Control Pill: Abortifacient and Contraceptive -Dr William Colliton.
Christians need to evaluate the range of aspects: the health risks, filling one's body with chemicals, and the potential risk of aborting or killing the developing embryo.
Husbands and wives need to also consider what God's plans for them and their family are.
They could explore natural planning methods, such as the Billings Method, that require the cooperation and planning of both husband and wife.
Weighing it up?
We would have to say that Christians should think long and hard about taking the Pill - we think the evidence leads toward not taking it.
Some alternatives
Whilst many might think this restricts their choices, there are some natural family planning methods available - such as the Billings Method which was developed by Catholic doctors John and Evelyn Billings. This involves monitoring the cycle to determine when the woman is fertile.
One Australian clinic that uses natural methods to assist with and regulate fertility is Fertility Care.
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