Side effects of the Contraceptive Pill

Just what does the Pill promise?

Freedom from Pregnancy! Spontaneity in your love life! Lots of pleasure and no responsibility! Have time to enjoy life! Take Control. YOU decide when to have a baby or not! Freedom from the expense of children! It's Free! (In UK on prescription)

False Promises?

What they don't tell you about the Pill

Artificial contraception is one of the most potent disintegrating factors of marital harmony. Spouses who use contraception in their marriage are increasingly likely to find themselves drifting apart. When they introduce contraception something changes at the most fundamental level of their relationship.

Discover what some very honest couples experienced when they used the pill. It's not all it's cracked up to be. Apart from the breast cancer, cervical cancer, blood clots and infertility, these other side effects won't be found on the packet.

"Once we started using contraception, our sexual relationship changed from an act of marital union to a lust-filled activity... I no longer saw my wife as a person - I lost respect for her... Mary was left there not feeling good... I wanted a good sex life and no hassle..." Tom, Husband

"I'd grown bored with all this intercourse. Its availability every night meant it lost its specialness... there was a serious temptation to think about other women during our intimate moments... a sense of looking for fulfilment elsewhere... " Gerard, Husband

"After my tubes were tied, I felt so empty. Lovemaking with my husband became purposeless and lost its meaning. Our marriage bed was no longer holy or sacred, but... hedonistic". Wife

"During this time I felt really low, really cheap. There was no communication, no hugging. It was all about intercourse. It wasn't love. It was horrible. My self-confidence plummeted..." Mary, Wife

If marriage is so good, why do we need the pill? And if the pill is so good then why does it reap these consequences?
Is this what you want for your marriage?

For information on contraception's harmful effects on marriage visit dangersofcontraception.com

Historical Protestant opposition to Birth Control

From the 1500s to 1930, ALL the mainline Protestant denominations opposed contraception(1). However, there is a new modern day surge against contraception in Protestant circles (2, 3, 4).

For too long birth control has been looked upon as a 'Catholic issue'. It is fast becoming a 'Protestant issue' however, as Protestant ministers like myself protest the heretical teaching of birth control that is being propagated in Protestant churches. We must understand that the Church, whether Catholic, Protestant or Orthodox, spoke consistently for 1900 years against birth control. Only in the last 75 years have Protestant churches begun to peddle this belief that God thinks it's okay or wise for us to use birth control. Rev Matthew Trewella(3).

What is Marriage?

Marriage is a Sacrament. Marriage is a great blessing from God (5). Married couples are called to Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it (6).

Spouses are called to prayerfully discern God's will for their family size in accordance with the principles of prudent, generous and responsible parenthood (7).

Children are a blessing from God to married couples (8). Statistical research indicates the presence of a young child in the house meant a 30% lower divorce rate for couples married between 5-15 years (9).

Contraception is an attack on marriage

Contracepting couples play God. THEY decide when a human being comes into existence, not God (10). Using contraception directly contradicts God's will and His plan for marriage (11). Users 'take control' of when a child is conceived using artificial means whilst pushing God out. Contraceptive use is a grave sin (12).

Contraception separates spouses

Read the experience of one wife after she and her husband started contraception:

"Things had definitely changed... there was a widening rift - a breakdown in communication... we were developing different interests.. the intimate part of our marriage seemed to be dying... we didn't feel important to one another any more... " Marie, Wife

The Divorce Factor - some statistical evidence

A striking link between the use of artificial contraception and divorce rates is highlighted by social science research (13). In the USA, where 64% of women use artificial contraception there is a current divorce / separation rate of 43%-50% (14,15).

In contrast, divorce rates of 3% - 8% are reported amongst users of natural family planning (NFP) (16,17,18).

Why is there such a distinct difference in rate of marital breakdown between artificial contraception users and NFP users exists? Read on.

True conjugal love unites, contraception separates, and the separation works right down the line. It not only separates sex from procreation, it also separates sex from love. It separates pleasure from meaning, and body from mind. Ultimately and surely, it separates wife from husband and husband from wife C. Burke 37

Natural Family Planning

"Guarantee your marital happiness by practicing Natural Family Planning!" (19)

Other experts in the field claim:

"... a 5% divorce rate among couples practicing NFP is really the outside maximum limit" (20).

Extravagant claims? Let's look at the evidence. Modern Natural Family Planning is now a thoroughly researched biological, clinical science that has been very highly refined. It can be used very effectively to space childbearing by any couple irrespective of religion, race or class. It works on the principle of identifying a wife's peak fertile days each month.

Effective child spacing can be achieved by NFP when circumstances are serious enough to warrant its use. Studies reveal up to 99.7% effectiveness for postponing pregnancy (21, 22, 23, 24).

The practice of NFP is proven to significantly improve marital harmony and marital stability (25, 26, 27, 28). It is precisely the exercise of periodic abstinence each month that enhances and strengthens spouses marital love, commitment, mutual respect and communication.

One husband writes:

"NFP wiped away the boredom that had entered our marriage with the pill. It was precisely the abstinence entailed each month in NFP that fuelled and renewed my great desire and love for my wife" - Gerard, Husband

Former users of contraceptives speak (29)

"I felt more loved and cherished when we started to use NFP. I can see how a woman using contraception could feel used" - Marie, wife

"Happiness flows - no, it floods when you embrace the will of God" - Roberta, wife

"I see NFP as an important contributor to my ongoing growth as a male and to marital happiness. It challenged me to self-mastery so that I can freely give myself" - Husband

"My husband now respects me as a person in my own right. He accepts my fertility as part of me" - Wife

NFP, when both spouses are actively participating, brings God into the bedroom, sanctifies your lovemaking, and keeps the mystery in sex. - Beth, wife

So Who advocates Contraception?

International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) is the leading worldwide advocate of contraception and abortion. IPPF was founded in 1952 by Margaret Sanger (1879-1966).

Margaret Sanger espoused targeting and elimination of certain races and colours of people (Jews, Latins, Slavs, Afro-Caribeans, Hispanics, Catholics). She detested men, marriage, large families, was involved in the occult and openly hated Christianity (30). IPPF works through local family planning associations.

Contraceptive Pills cause early abortion

Many women are horrified to discover that they could have been aborting their own child unknowingly whilst using the pill (31). Clinical evidence indicates that the contraceptive pill, as well as other contraceptive drugs act this way (32,33,34). The so-called 'morning after' pill is one of the most directly abortifacient drugs on the market.

Repairing the damage

All is not lost. Many couples have returned to a loving, sincere, open and trusting marriage, even after very difficult breakdowns of communication. The church gives us the sacraments to restore what has been lost. We can avail of this help again and again and again.

"The sacrament of the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Penance play a fundamental role in...(the)...path towards marital and domestic holiness" (35).

Happiness and marital harmony are truly achievable when couples seek to faithfully follow God's laws (36).

Websites for Natural Family Planning

In Ireland

• Billings Ireland Tel: (01) 8786156
• Fertility Care Tel: (091) 720055

Overseas

• Creighton Method
• Couple to Couple League
• Billings Ovulation Method

References

• 1) Provan, Charles D., The Bible and Birth Control, Monongahela, PA. Zimmer, 1989 p81.
• 2) Alcorn, R., Does the Birth Control Pill cause abortions? Eternal Perspectives Ministries, 6th edition, 2002. Available from Eternal Perspectives Ministries (EPM), 2229 east Burnside #23, Gresham, OR 97080, USA.
• 3) Trewella, Rev M., "The Protest of a Protestant Minister Against Birth Control", Leaflet, Mercy Seat Christian Church, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.
• 4) Quiverfull
• 5) Casti Connubii, Encyclical letter of Pope Pius XI on 'Christian Marriage' 31 Dec 1930, published by Pauline Books and Media, 50 St Paul's Avenue, Boston, MA 02130 paragraph 29.
• 6) Genesis 1:28.
• 7) Humanae Vitae, Encyclical letter of Paul VI 'Of Human Life', paragraph 10, issued July 25, 1968, published by Pauline Books and Media, 50 St Paul's Avenue, Boston, MA 02130 (www.pauline.org).
• 8) Casti Connubii, Encyclical letter of Pope Pius XI on 'Christian Marriage' 31 Dec 1930, paragraph 11, published by Pauline Books and Media, 50 St Paul's Avenue, Boston, MA 02130, USA.
• 9) Michael, Robert T. Why did the U.S. Divorce Rate double within a Decade? Research in Population Economics, vol 6, p367-399, 1988.
• 10) Pope John Paul II, Oct 10th 1983, cf Kippley, J.F. Sex and the Marriage Covenant, Couple to Couple League, Ohio, 1991 p135-6.
• 11) cf Humanae Vitae para 13.
• 12) Casti Connubii para 56.
• 13) Michael, Robert T. Why did the U.S. Divorce Rate double within a Decade? Research in Population Economics, vol 6, p367-399, 1988.
• 14) Kreider, Rose M., Fields, Jason M, Number, Timing and Duration of Marriages and Divorces, Fall 1996, U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Reports p70-80, 2001, Washington DC, USA.
• 15) US census 2002 publications National Centre for Health Statistics, Hyattsville, MD 20782, USA. See NCHS and www.divorcereform.org
• 16) Wilson, Mercedes - The Practice of Natural Family Planning vs the Use of Artificial Birth Control: Family, Sexual and Moral Issues, Catholic Social Science Review, Vol VII, Nov 2002.
• 17) De Stoop, C. Contraception - The Hidden Truth, Castle Hill 2158, NSW, Australia, as cited on p63.
• 18) Wetzel, R., M.D. Sexual Wisdom. A Guide for Parents. Young Adults, Educators and Physicians, Proctor Publications, 1998; see also Couple to Couple League, 4290 Delhi Pike, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA 45238, website www.ccli.org
• 19) Familyplanning.net 2005-2006
• 20) Kippley, J&S., The Art of Natural Family Planning, Couple to Couple League, 1996.
• 21) WOOMB and NAOMI
• 22) Hilgers, T.W., Stanford, J.B., Creighton Model NaproEducation Technology for avoiding pregnancy. Use effectiveness. Journal of Reproductive Medicine 43:6, 495-502, June 1998.
• 23)R. E. J. Ryder, "'Natural family planning': Effective Birth Control Supported by the Catholic Church," British Medical Journal, Sept. 18,1993. 307:723-726.
• 24) Wilson, Mercedes - The Practice of Natural Family Planning vs the Use of Artificial Birth Control: Family, sexual and moral issues, Catholic Social Science Review, Vol VII, Nov 2002.
• 25) Shivanandan, Mary, Crossing the Threshold of Love - A New Vision for Marriage, Cua Press, Washington, USA, 1999.
• 26) VandeVusse, L., FehringR.J. et al, Couples' Views on the effects of Natural Family Planning on Marital Dynamics, Journal Of Nursing Scholarship, 2003; 35:2, 171-176.
• 27) de Stoop, C. Contraception - The Hidden Truth, Castle Hill 2158, NSW, Australia, p45.
• 28) Wilson, Mercedes - The Practice of Natural Family Planning vs the Use of Artificial Birth Control: Family, sexual and moral issues, Catholic Social Science Review, Vol VII, Nov 2002.
• 29) All personal testimonies verifiable and used with permission.
• 30) Grant, G., Grand Illusion, The Legacy of Planned Parenthood, 3rd Ed, Highland Books 1998.
• 31) Burke, Theresa, The Contraception of Grief; The Genesis of Anguish conceived by abortifacients and Sterilisation, Rachel's Vineyard Ministeries PA, USA www.rachelsvineyard.org.
• 32) Hatcher, R.A., Trussell, J .et al. Contraceptive Technology 16th ed. Irvington Publishers, New York, 1994, pp637-687.
• 33) Larimore, L, Stanford, J. Postfertilisation effects of oral contraceptives and their relationship to informed consent. Archives of Family Medicine, 9, Feb 2000 pp126-133
• 34) Larimore, W The abortifacient effect of the Birth Control Pill and the principle of 'double-effect' Ethics and Medicine 16:1 2000, pp23-30.
• 35) Vademecum for Confessors concerning some aspects of the morality of conjugal life, Pontificial Council for the Family, Vatican City 12th February 1997, para 1.
• 36) Luke 11:28 & cf Humanae Vitae para31.
• 37) Burke, Cormac, Covenanted Happiness, Love and Commitment in Marriage, Four Courts Press, Dublin, 1990 p38.