The sanctity of life -- Roe v. Wade, morning-after pills and birth control pills

#1 · January 17, 2005, 4:49 pm

Quote from Forum Archives on January 17, 2005, 4:49 pm
Posted by: homenews <homenews@...>
Dear Hope Chest friends,

As you may know, January 22 is Sanctity of Life Sunday. It is the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision which loosened abortion restrictions in 1973. In light of this, I have prepared a special message. Please read all the way to the bottom for time sensitive information and a more personal note from me, the pregnant mama.

Roe v. Wade

First, on January 18, Norma McCorvey (the original "Jane Roe" of Roe v. Wade and now a pro-life Christian) will file a legal appeal with the Supreme Court to have Roe v. Wade reversed.  For more information, click here: http://www.operationoutcry.org

The Morning-After Pill

When I picked up my e-mail this morning, I saw a news blurb from the Orlando Sentinel that the FDA is considering this week whether the morning-after pill should be sold without a prescription. There is even debate on whether this should be restricted to only those over the age of 16. Can you imagine a 14 year old walking into the local pharmacy and buying a morning-after pill? Yow! There are serious moral implications in terms of encouraging pre-marital intimacy. But that's not the only objection. For those who don't know, this "Emergency Contraceptive Pill" supposedly "prevents" a pregnancy after intimate relations. Unfortunately, it can also cause an already fertilized egg (i.e. a conceived baby) to be flushed out without implanting in the uterus. According to the Sentinel article:

"The morning-after pill is a higher dose of the contraceptive hormones found in the Pill. It prevents ovulation or fertilization, and can prevent a fertilized egg from implanting into the uterus. Because medical experts do not consider a woman to be pregnant until after an egg implants into the uterus, the morning-after pill is not considered abortion, although some

conservatives object to any interference with a fertilized egg."

And conservatives should object, for reasons I shall explain in a moment!

Related to this, Wendy Wright, Senior Policy Director of Concerned Women for America (http://www.cwa.org), will appear tonight on MSNBC's The Abrams Report at 6:30PM, EDT, to discuss the dangers of allowing easy access to the morning-after pill, also known as Plan B. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) faces a January 22 deadline to decide whether or not to make Plan B available over-the-counter. Click here to see a video clip of Wendy explaining why she is opposed to easy access to the morning-after pill: http://www.cwfamedia.org/media/wrightfox5.mpg

The Birth Control Pill

What makes this ironic is that I was just sitting down to write a short review of Randy Alcorn's booklet "Does the Birth Control Pill Cause Abortions?"  This booklet is not about the morning-after pill, though it mentions it several times. It is about the regular birth control pill, which so many Christian women take. (I did for nearly a year in the mid 1980s, until we moved to Maryland and my new pro-life family physician, Dr. Dan Boyle (a devout Catholic and father of 12)  challenged me to go off of it and "just start having babies." Mary was conceived a month later, and I never quite stopped having babies after that! 🙂 Thanks, Dr. Boyle.)

Randy Alcorn is a best selling Christian author, pro-life rescue leader, and pastor who had often recommended the pill to married couples. In the late 1990s, he started hearing rumors among the pro-life community that the birth control pill can prevent implantation of an already conceived baby -- in other words, aborting it. He was extremely skeptical and didn't want to believe it, but decided to research the issue thoroughly.   His booklet about it was first printed in 1997, but is now in its 7th revised and expanded edition. In it, he explains that the pill has three mechanisms:

prevent ovulation -- it does this most of the time

thicken cervical mucus to inhibit fertilization

altering the endometrium (blood lining) of the uterus to make it inhospitable to implantation of the growing baby, which by this time, is 6 days old

I wish I could go into the technical stuff more, but I don't have the time right now, and you can read about it in the booklet or on the Eternal Perspective web site (www.epm.org) In this 115 page booklet, Alcorn documents his findings with extensive research. (The end notes alone take seven and a half pages!)   He expounds on why this issue really matters and answers the objections he has received from the Christian community, which seems very reluctant to relinquish its reliance on the pill. Please note that Alcorn is not opposed to birth control methods which are truly contraceptive -- which prevent fertilization in the first place. He is just opposed to those that cause prevent already conceived babies from implanting in the uterus -- such as the oral birth control pill, the morning after pill (which is just a super strong birth control pill -- basically the same chemicals), Depo Provera injections, Norplant implant, and the IUD.

You can order the booklet for $3 from Eternal Perspective Ministries at:

Web site: www.epm.org

E-mail: [email protected]

  Phone: 503-663-6481

  Address: 2229 East Burnside #23, Gresham, OR 97030

Here are just three of the many article links from the Eternal Perspectives web site. All articles are free to be copied and distributed as widely as possible.

A condensation of the book "Does the Birth Control Pill Cause Abortions?"  by Randy Alcorn

http://www.epm.org/articles/bcp5400.html

"Birth Control Pill: Abortifacient and Contraceptive" by William F. Colliton, Jr., M.D., FACOG (This statement was signed by 26 pro-life physicians. Dr. Colliton is Clinical Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at George Washington University Medical Center -- and coincidentally, was one of my obstretricians when I was pregnant with Mary) http://www.epm.org/articles/26doctor.html

"The Growing Debate about the Abortifacient Effect of the Birth Control Pill and the Principle of the Double Effect" by Walter L. Larimore, MD (Dr. Larimore is a distinguished and nationally-recognized family physician, award-winning medical journalist and best-selling author.) http://www.epm.org/articles/pilldebate2.html

A Personal Note from a Pregnant Mama

I hope that this information is helpful to you, even if it is a bit challenging.

I was shocked yesterday when our senior pastor, Danny Jones, held up Randy Alcorn's booklet during his sermon and explained what he had found out while reading it. I wasn't shocked because of what the book said because I've been aware for many many years that the pill is an abortifacient. What shocked me was actually hearing a pastor have the guts to speak out about it from the pulpit, knowing that this was going to be hard news for much of his congregation to hear. I applaud his courage, and his foresight in ordering several dozen copies for the church bookstore.

On a more personal note, I have always been convinced of God's sovereignty over each conception, and I have always welcomed my sweet little babies. Still, I confess that I have been harboring some negative attitudes about being 41 years old and 12 weeks pregnant with baby #10. Several items in the Sunday sermon convicted me and encouraged me that this is, indeed, God's plan for me. He knows what I can handle, and he will certainly uphold me.  Children are a blessing, a gift, a treasure, a privilege. Bearing and birthing them is a ministry -- who knows how God will use each one in his divine plan? Tears flowed as I saw my need to repent of my thoughts and to fully embrace the precious child within me.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.

When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Psalm 139:13-16

Blessings,

Virginia Knowles

www.TheHopeChest.net
  --  To subscribe, send ANY message to: [email protected]  To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: [email protected]  Visit my web site at www://thehopechest.net  

Posted by: homenews <homenews@...>

Dear Hope Chest friends,

As you may know, January 22 is Sanctity of Life Sunday. It is the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision which loosened abortion restrictions in 1973. In light of this, I have prepared a special message. Please read all the way to the bottom for time sensitive information and a more personal note from me, the pregnant mama.

Roe v. Wade

First, on January 18, Norma McCorvey (the original "Jane Roe" of Roe v. Wade and now a pro-life Christian) will file a legal appeal with the Supreme Court to have Roe v. Wade reversed. For more information, click here: http://www.operationoutcry.org

The Morning-After Pill

When I picked up my e-mail this morning, I saw a news blurb from the Orlando Sentinel that the FDA is considering this week whether the morning-after pill should be sold without a prescription. There is even debate on whether this should be restricted to only those over the age of 16. Can you imagine a 14 year old walking into the local pharmacy and buying a morning-after pill? Yow! There are serious moral implications in terms of encouraging pre-marital intimacy. But that's not the only objection. For those who don't know, this "Emergency Contraceptive Pill" supposedly "prevents" a pregnancy after intimate relations. Unfortunately, it can also cause an already fertilized egg (i.e. a conceived baby) to be flushed out without implanting in the uterus. According to the Sentinel article:

"The morning-after pill is a higher dose of the contraceptive hormones found in the Pill. It prevents ovulation or fertilization, and can prevent a fertilized egg from implanting into the uterus. Because medical experts do not consider a woman to be pregnant until after an egg implants into the uterus, the morning-after pill is not considered abortion, although some

conservatives object to any interference with a fertilized egg."

And conservatives should object, for reasons I shall explain in a moment!

Related to this, Wendy Wright, Senior Policy Director of Concerned Women for America (http://www.cwa.org), will appear tonight on MSNBC's The Abrams Report at 6:30PM, EDT, to discuss the dangers of allowing easy access to the morning-after pill, also known as Plan B. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) faces a January 22 deadline to decide whether or not to make Plan B available over-the-counter. Click here to see a video clip of Wendy explaining why she is opposed to easy access to the morning-after pill: http://www.cwfamedia.org/media/wrightfox5.mpg

The Birth Control Pill

What makes this ironic is that I was just sitting down to write a short review of Randy Alcorn's booklet "Does the Birth Control Pill Cause Abortions?" This booklet is not about the morning-after pill, though it mentions it several times. It is about the regular birth control pill, which so many Christian women take. (I did for nearly a year in the mid 1980s, until we moved to Maryland and my new pro-life family physician, Dr. Dan Boyle (a devout Catholic and father of 12) challenged me to go off of it and "just start having babies." Mary was conceived a month later, and I never quite stopped having babies after that! 🙂 Thanks, Dr. Boyle.)

Randy Alcorn is a best selling Christian author, pro-life rescue leader, and pastor who had often recommended the pill to married couples. In the late 1990s, he started hearing rumors among the pro-life community that the birth control pill can prevent implantation of an already conceived baby -- in other words, aborting it. He was extremely skeptical and didn't want to believe it, but decided to research the issue thoroughly. His booklet about it was first printed in 1997, but is now in its 7th revised and expanded edition. In it, he explains that the pill has three mechanisms:

prevent ovulation -- it does this most of the time
thicken cervical mucus to inhibit fertilization
altering the endometrium (blood lining) of the uterus to make it inhospitable to implantation of the growing baby, which by this time, is 6 days old

I wish I could go into the technical stuff more, but I don't have the time right now, and you can read about it in the booklet or on the Eternal Perspective web site (http://www.epm.org) In this 115 page booklet, Alcorn documents his findings with extensive research. (The end notes alone take seven and a half pages!) He expounds on why this issue really matters and answers the objections he has received from the Christian community, which seems very reluctant to relinquish its reliance on the pill. Please note that Alcorn is not opposed to birth control methods which are truly contraceptive -- which prevent fertilization in the first place. He is just opposed to those that cause prevent already conceived babies from implanting in the uterus -- such as the oral birth control pill, the morning after pill (which is just a super strong birth control pill -- basically the same chemicals), Depo Provera injections, Norplant implant, and the IUD.

You can order the booklet for $3 from Eternal Perspective Ministries at:

Web site: http://www.epm.org

E-mail: [email protected]

Phone: 503-663-6481

Address: 2229 East Burnside #23, Gresham, OR 97030

Here are just three of the many article links from the Eternal Perspectives web site. All articles are free to be copied and distributed as widely as possible.

A condensation of the book "Does the Birth Control Pill Cause Abortions?" by Randy Alcorn

http://www.epm.org/articles/bcp5400.html

"Birth Control Pill: Abortifacient and Contraceptive" by William F. Colliton, Jr., M.D., FACOG (This statement was signed by 26 pro-life physicians. Dr. Colliton is Clinical Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at George Washington University Medical Center -- and coincidentally, was one of my obstretricians when I was pregnant with Mary) http://www.epm.org/articles/26doctor.html

"The Growing Debate about the Abortifacient Effect of the Birth Control Pill and the Principle of the Double Effect" by Walter L. Larimore, MD (Dr. Larimore is a distinguished and nationally-recognized family physician, award-winning medical journalist and best-selling author.) http://www.epm.org/articles/pilldebate2.html

A Personal Note from a Pregnant Mama

I hope that this information is helpful to you, even if it is a bit challenging.

I was shocked yesterday when our senior pastor, Danny Jones, held up Randy Alcorn's booklet during his sermon and explained what he had found out while reading it. I wasn't shocked because of what the book said because I've been aware for many many years that the pill is an abortifacient. What shocked me was actually hearing a pastor have the guts to speak out about it from the pulpit, knowing that this was going to be hard news for much of his congregation to hear. I applaud his courage, and his foresight in ordering several dozen copies for the church bookstore.

On a more personal note, I have always been convinced of God's sovereignty over each conception, and I have always welcomed my sweet little babies. Still, I confess that I have been harboring some negative attitudes about being 41 years old and 12 weeks pregnant with baby #10. Several items in the Sunday sermon convicted me and encouraged me that this is, indeed, God's plan for me. He knows what I can handle, and he will certainly uphold me. Children are a blessing, a gift, a treasure, a privilege. Bearing and birthing them is a ministry -- who knows how God will use each one in his divine plan? Tears flowed as I saw my need to repent of my thoughts and to fully embrace the precious child within me.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.

When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Psalm 139:13-16

Blessings,

Virginia Knowles

http://www.TheHopeChest.net

  --  To subscribe, send ANY message to: [email protected]  To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: [email protected]  Visit my web site at www://thehopechest.net