The Pill

I'm disgusted with the way the medical community sometimes behaves. I've been pretty clear that I think ACOG is over concerned with the bottom line and not women's health. And drug companies, too, have my contempt.

Many Christians believe that life begins at conception.  It's interesting that manufacturers of the birth control pill (bcp) have gone to great lengths to hide the fact that the pill functions in THREE ways: 1) inhibiting ovulation, 2) creating thick cervical fluid so that sperm is inhibited from reaching an egg and 3)affecting the endometrium so that an egg that IS fertilized (conceived) cannot implant. The first 2 ways are considered contraceptive; the third is considered abortive.

It's appalling that the manufacturers are HIDING this information!! It's extremely difficult to find any research regarding this, and most women are completely unaware. Many doctors pussyfoot around the topic, claiming that the pill's PRIMARY functions are #1 and #2, as listed above. They claim that the abortive effect is very rare. If that were true, ectopic pregnancies would be dramatically less for users of the Pill. In fact, it's dramatically higher (70-1300% higher, according to several different studies). They claim that because SOMETIMES the Pill completely fails, and a baby is conceived and implanted and brought to full term, that must mean that the third, abortive effect,  is non existent. That is completely convoluted logic!

Additionally, some medical experts claim that when a woman gives birth, use of the Pill becomes evident, because the hormones build up in a visible ring (like determining age on a tree. . . ) on her cervix. This has been associated with heart defects in babies, and harder contractions during labor, and causing dilation to go much slower than would  be normal. Apparently it fades over time one the woman stops taking extra hormones.

My point is that for those women who believe life begins at conception and who are anti-abortion, why not be honest with them? This is a huge ethical, moral and religious matter for many people. So tell the truth! Don't hide it!!!! For those who do not care about this issue, they will use the bcp anyhow. I'm just disgusted with this conspiracy of silence in the medical community, where research is considered "proprietary" and people cannot find out what the  truth is.  It sickens me that profit motivates this. Perhaps if research and development companies were NOT for profit, our world would be a better place.