I’ll continue to talk about the link between the “contraceptive mindset” of the feminist movement and the plethora of social ills it has birthed (no pun intended), because if we don’t get a firm grip on our thinking, and stop letting other people tell us what is acceptable and what is good, we will continue the spiral into moral and physical destruction. And I don’t want that!
Furthermore, as more and more people get this connection, I am more hopeful for the future of our children and grandchildren.
Daja sent me this article that reveals just a few of the problems we’ve brought on ourselves. Isn’t it interesting…God’s Word is always right! After all our “highly intellectual” debating and philosophizing over situational ethics and theology, the simple truth of Scripture comes back to say “I told you so”.
An excerpt from A Second Baby? Russia’s Mothers Aren’t Persuaded reads:
“Cash for babies is the Kremlin’s offer to women in its latest bid to reverse a population decline that threatens to leave large swaths of Russia virtually uninhabited within 50 years.
President Vladimir Putin last week defined the crisis as Russia’s most acute problem, and promised to spend some of the country’s oil profits on efforts to relieve it. He ordered…that women who choose to have a second baby will receive 250,000 rubles ($9,200), a staggering sum in a country where average monthly incomes hover close to $330.
On Monday, young women at the Family Planning Youth Center,… said they liked the sound of more money, but suggested that Mr. Putin has no concept of their lives. ‘A child is not an easy project, and in this world a woman is expected to get an education, find a job, and make a career,’…
Russia also has one of the world’s highest abortion rates.”
This article reveals two problems…a population implosion (don’t sing me a song about over-population), and the obvious connection between the “contraceptive mentality” and abortion. We could unravel a lot more if we had the time.
So we are forced to ask, as I’ve asked many times on this blog, what’s the connection? How is it all related? How can we trace back to the roots of so many social problems and begin to repair them? And most importantly, are we willing to face the true answers?
As you read and consider, remember that judgement begins in the house of God. If this were only a “problem of pagans”, we know the answer is Jesus. But “as the church, so goes the culture”. WE have bought the feminist lie…and we’re paying for it.
Consider the excerpt below that explains how contraceptive mentality leads to abortion mentality. And then, in light of this election, when we Christians are prone to get on our “abortion-fighting high horse”, let’s first take a deeper look and admit that the problem started a long time ago in more subtle activities. And we may be part of the problem.
“Just as contraception is used to prevent an unwanted child from being conceived, so too abortion is used to prevent an unwanted child from being born. As Joseph Boyle states, “the approval of contraception leads–though not in such a direct and logical way–to acceptance of abortion. Contraception is an attempt to prevent the handing on of life, and one who turns against life as it is passed on is likely to remain against it if the unwanted new life begins. The resolve to prevent a child from coming to be is often sufficiently strong that one will eliminate the child whose conception was not prevented.”
One estimate puts the number of American women using birth control at 36 million. Dr. Donald DeMarco remarks that it is ironic that as much as the feminist movement claims to seek greater freedom for women, “The feminist ideology of ‘reproductive freedom’ through medical intervention, actually welcomes medical exploitation.” Alice Paul, author of the original Equal Rights Amendment in 1923 stated, “Abortion is the ultimate exploitation of women.” In 1869, Susan B. Anthony wrote, “No matter what the motive, love of ease, or a desire to save from suffering the unborn innocent, the woman is awfully guilty who commits the deed. It will burden her conscience in life, it will burden her soul in death….”
Maybe, using my “turn left at the end of the road” analogy, “be fruitful and multiply” implies by default that one can’t “be unfruitful and not multiply” at the same time. And maybe God had more in mind than simply the number of children when He gave that command.
27 comments
My mom recently posted the following quote on her blog:
(http://ladydorothy.blogspot.com/)
“When we consider that women are treated as property, it is degrading to women that we should treat our children as property to be disposed of as we see fit.”
(by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, American social activist and leading figure in the early women’s movement)
It’s so sad that these days children are not seen as an integral part of our society, but rather as an extra thing that can be added on or disposed of if one chooses.
In the case of hormonal birth control, contraception doesn’t necessarily even prevent conception, just birth. Hence the words “birth” control. Who knows how many conceived babies are aborted every year simply through the use of abortifacient methods of birth control?
Hi Kelly,
I so enjoy your blog.
Unfortunately, I was one of those ladies who classified herself, unknowingly, as a “feminist christian.” I praise the LORD for the freedom He has given me from that bondage!
Kelly, I see the link between contraception and abortion. When a woman, and shamefully it was me 16 years ago, uses the birth control pill, does she abort a child? I was told that the pill that I used convinced my body that I was pregnant, and supposedly, I would not conceive. Can you help me understand if that was aborting? I guess I don’t understand it from a physical point of view…..I do see the psychological and spiritual implications.
Again, thanks for taking time to write your blog. I feel like I have a friend and kindred spirit in Alabama!
Oh by the way, it sounds like you had such a good time on your birthday! A little late…but Happy Birthday Kelly!
Blessings from Virginia
Leslie,
These links can help explain the science behind why birth control pills cause abortions.
http://gombojav.blogspot.com/2007/07/does-birth-control-pill-cause-abortions.html
http://gombojav.blogspot.com/2007/06/abortifacient.html
Blessings to you,
Daja
I also want to recommend the book:
“Does the Birth Control Pill Cause Abortions?” by Randy Alcorn
It is a very good book, not pushy but so much research! He’s not promoting large families necessarily (though he thinks we might want to re-evaluate our thoughts towards them), he’s simply anti-abortion. He does a great job with some bad news – and admits right up front that he recommended the pill for 16yrs as a pastor and his wife was on it and he really didn’t want to learn that it could be true.
He pretty much sells it at cost + 10% shipping. We buy extras and give them away, actually.
The aditudes behind contraception and abortion are generally the same ideas. Inconvience, financial, wrong timing, etc. It’s creepy, really.
On the flip side, to have babies as God gives them sure brings persecution….and oppurtunity to walk by faith. Since we put the future in God’s hands it hasn’t been easy. BUT at least I have my arms full of my precious babies. 🙂
Blessings,
Ashely
Thank you Daja and Ashley. I’ll check it out.
It is very heart sickening to think that I was a part of this years ago.
I am praying that my children will begin a new generation of having as many children for their King as He desires for them.
leslie,
I just wanted to add that I, too, have been on the Pill. Against my husband’s wishes and what my own heart was telling me. It wasn’t a sin of ignorance, but one of sheer fear and awareness. My husband would ask me to trust God and I would close off my heart. The memories of that are painful indeed.
I finally went off the Pill with a shameful aditude of “Fine! You want children, I’ll give you children!” I was still petrified, but wanted to please my wonderful husband and secretly, I DID sort of, kinda, want children. I just knew they would be monsters. And ruin my life. Trying to parent my teen brothers while my mom worked ‘from the home’ (but was gone a lot) had made me seriously doubt my capacity to be a mother.
The 9 months it took to fall pregnant with our first was a time of great humbling and searching for me.
I just wanted you to know. I haven’t always been where I am today. Far from it! God has been so full of mercy and slow to anger, for which I am eternally thankful….
Blessings,
Ashley
http://www.homesteadblogger.com/Jonash2004
Thank you for sincerely sharing Ashley….
“the approval of contraception leads–though not in such a direct and logical way–to acceptance of abortion.”
I don’t think that I agree with this statement entirely. Is this statement implying that individuals who use contraceptives (of any kind) also accept the gross methods of abortion? Abortion is clearly wrong because it involves one who voluntarily kills a life, and the bible tells us that murder is a sin.
However, I don’t see how using contraceptives (e.g., preventing getting pregnant) constitutes as killing a life. No, I don’t use birth control of any kind, but I am not sure if we should be “condeming” people who use it. Regarding Christians, only God knows what is best for the couple involved. Family planning is between the Christian couple and God. We don’t know each individuals situation, rather for good or for bad.
Also, another thing that I don’t like hearing is that people who only have one or two children (or no children) are assumed to be using birth control because they have “stopped” having children. We don’t know which individuals have “stopped,” which ones (females) where God has closed the womb or which couples are struggling with infertility or some type of sexual dysfunction/anxiety, etc. .
I think making this assumption is not good. Besides, not everyone can be blessed to have big families with oodles of loving children. Besides, I thought it was the quality and NOT the quantity that counted anyway.
I could say more, but I don’t want to get “carried away.”
Mrs. Lady Sophia,
The quote you read is pointing to the connection between the “contraceptive mindset” and abortion. In other words, the same motives are used (generally speaking) behind preventing children and killing them.
I’ve been writing on this thought process for years, and we HATE to hear it…but the connection cannot be denied. (Of course, not all people who use birth control have the selfish mentality that propagates it, but it’s very prevalent.)
Mother Teresa said it best:
“That same selfishness that wants to prevent the child by contraception will grow until it wants to kill the child already conceived.”
If a woman has spent her whole life feverishly trying to prevent a child (her job, finances, inconvenience, “I can’t handle another one”), and an “accident” happens, often sheer panic will drive that woman to abort.
The wide-spread acceptance of abortion could have NEVER existed until we fully embraced the normality of birth control. Fact.
The other stuff you mentioned…infertility, etc….I don’t really see where it fits into this post. Those things are obvious.
A couple of points to ponder, relating to the connection between birth control and abortion:
1. Birth control is a “solution”; that is, it solves the “problem” of having a baby.
What is the logical solution if contraception fails?
2. When we embrace birth control (really we’ve exalted it) for a normative “solution”, we devalue the human life by default; the only things agressively prevented are things that are viewed as negative.
3. The pressure placed on young couples to limit their family size is so enormous, that the sheer harassment for “slipping up” often pushes a couple to consider abortion.
Sadly, the church is just as guilty as any group for taunting the woman with more than two children. Imagine a woman finds herself “accidentally preganant” with number 3…she would certainly be questioned and “advised” as to what causes pregnancy. What will happen if they have another “mistake”?
We can play out scenarios which reveal the logical harm and the connection we have inadvertently created by exalting birth control. There are always exceptions, of course. But the general mentality and acceptance is rooted in self-centeredness and is not so far off from the same mentality that sends a woman to the abortion clinic.
…feminist Germain Greer wrote in 1984,
“Abortion is an extension of contraceptive technology, and the most promising extension of it at that.”
Dr. Malcolm Potts, former medical director of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, said in 1973,
“No society has controlled its fertility without recourse to a significant number of abortions.
Dr. Potts also conceded that “as people turn to contraception, there will be a rise, not a fall, in the abortion rate.”
At the the 1994 National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, Mother Teresa stated quite plainly that contraception not only destroys “the power of giving life,” but it also fosters selfishness in marriage. “Once that living love is destroyed by contraception,” said Mother Teresa “abortion follows very easily.”
“Love your children. Love them first by wanting them. The very employment of birth control is a statement against the gifts of God, and it plants the foot firmly along the road for love to grow cold. It is the very foundation of choice against love. If God gives you five, ten, fifteen, or twenty, then praise Him! He’s given you quite a legacy.
While birth control and abortion are certainly not to be considered as moral equivalents, it must never be forgotten that the argument that foisted the former, cemented the path for the latter.”
Steve Schlissel
While I agree that birth-control is not to be used for birth prevention in my case it is used for hormone control. As I and my sister both have estrogen issues (to much can be a bad thing). We don’t prevent children and if I even suspect that I may be pregnant I can go and have my blood drawn and go off the birth control immediatly.
So please do not say that all “birth-control” products are bad and please don’t shame those of us who are on it because of other health issues. I’ve been using this product since before my husband and I got married not to prevent a baby but to control a health issue.
**hmm…not sure if this posted just now, feel free to delete the extra if it shows up twice. Sorry!**
“The pressure placed on young couples to limit their family size is so enormous…”
Kelly, you are SO very right about this- it is enormous pressure. And not just pressure about limiting the size of your family, but also about the timing and spacing of children.
My husband and I are going to be celebrating our first anniversary on October 6th, and we have a baby due on October 22nd. I am sure that I do not even have to tell you the kinds of comments we have received- and all from Christians at church!
We decided before we were married that we believe that God knows what is best for our family in every area, including children. We trust that He will give us the children He wants us to have in His timing- be that just this one child or many more to come. Such a simple, Biblical belief yet people have looked at me as if I am some sort of irresponsible, naive idiot (I mean, why would we even WANT to have children? We must really be crazy) that must not have understood how to use birth control. We also married at a young age- we are both 22 years old right now- so of course this was some other line that we seemed to have crossed.
I worked for all of last school year at the Mom’s Day Out program at my church and there were days I would come home literally in tears over the things that were said to me or just said by the other women in general that were so hurtful and revealed their non-Biblical attitudes toward children. I dreaded being asked “Was it planned?” which, when you really think about it, is just another way of saying “So, do you even want this child?”. How incredibly sickening- I can hardly type this without crying (in fact I have a balled up tissue sitting next to me right now, but hey- I AM pregnant and have absolutely no idea what has happened to my normal emotional state!).
Since I am so young and obviously fertile I have been warned to “be careful”. This implying that children are some sort of horrible thing we must be careful to avoid.
The things said to me, conversations I overheard, and attitudes I experienced were not from the secular world- where such things might be expected- they were from the Christian women that I worked with in a children’s program at my church! It was truly unbelievable.
Well I see that I am just rambling on, as I tend to do- but I wanted to comment on this and let you know how much I appreciate your boldness to talk about this issue and proclaim God’s truth. I know that a lot of people try to downplay this topic of contraception- as if you should keep your mouth shut and mind your own business- but what you are saying NEEDS to be said, and LOUD and CLEAR at that! Christians today do NOT have a Biblical attitude toward children and probably because a lot of people and churches do not talk about it- so we fall in line with the world around us.
Keep it up, Kelly!
Amy 🙂
Kelly,
Okay, I can see where you are coming from; the fact that both contraception and abortion lead to a similar outcome – to eliminate unwanted children. I also think you are correct when you say that most people practice these methods for selfish reasons.
However, I think there is pressure on both sides: pressures to abort a child out of inconvenience as well as pressures to have a child (or children) IF you DON’T have one. Yes, it is wrong for a mother to abort a child, but I don’t think it’s right for a woman to be “forced” into having a child just because, “that’s what is expected.” Because I currently don’t have children, I am asked ALL the time WHY I don’t have children as well as told that I need to have them for various reasons. However, these individuals don’t know the personal experiences that I am enduring.
I think that is why I get initially irritated when I read posts like yours. I’m not using birth control yet I don’t have children and yet somehow, I feel that because I don’t have children it’s assumed that I automatically am pro abortion. I don’t like that. I know that you are not trying to “single me out.” It’s just my own personal feelings.
Mrs. Lady Sophia,
No, I’m not trying to single you out. Few topics evoke the “by my case is different” story than this one.
I’m addressing a trend that is “at large”; I’m sure it’s equally hurtful for someone to pressure you about having children if you are doing nothing to prevent them.
That’s the irony…we expect everyone to have a couple of children, but if you have more than two, those children are presumed unwanted at best.
It’s a “trophy child” mentality, not a true recognition of the Giver of Life and the blessing and love of children.
Amy W.,
I really appreciate your story…I’m sorry that having a baby can be so stressful!
“You are blessed among women”.
And that’s why I keep talking!
When we embrace birth control (really we’ve exalted it) for a normative “solution”, we devalue the human life by default; the only things agressively prevented are things that are viewed as negative.
Broad statements like this imply that anyone who uses birth control devalues human life and views children as negative. Is that what you mean to say?
Lisa
Oh, amy w! I feel your pain.
Having your first is such a leap into the ‘unknown’ anyway and it’s made out to be so negatively life-altering that it’s hard to let any concerns or hesistation show with the persecution. At least that’s the way it was for me – I pioneered in several areas with using a midwife and having a homebirth. I can’t tell you how many times we were told “Just wait and see after this one. You’ll see!” or “You don’t know what you’re talking about!”
One of the first things out of people’s mouths the day I had my son was – “So, do you want another one NOW?”
It’s so hard to feel loved by my sweet, dear second mama when she glowers at my husband at the mere mention of future pg – #3 is due in Jan. They really, really don’t want us to ever have to buy a bigger car. *laughs*
I was in your shoes with my first not so very long ago. I’d love to listen if you need a friend! 🙂
Ashley
jonash04@sbcglobal.net
http://www.homesteadblogger.com/Jonash2004
Lisa,
While I’m sure there are exceptions (there almost always is), yes, I believe that the acceptance of birth control as “normal” automatically causes a devaluing effect of children in our hearts. The hard thing is, most people don’t think or realize they have a lesser sense of the love of children; but it is very easy to hear and see.
The very fact that someone wants to “prevent a gift” is a contradiction.
Kelly,
I think some of us (me included) have been so blinded by opinions propagated in the public schools, media etc. that we really do not understand that we are confused about what constitutes the beginning of a precious life. Do we know more about what the LORD says about life and children or more of what the average christian “thinks” based on what is popular at the moment?
We seem to be lacking in knowledge of biblical doctrines such the sufficiency of Scripture (both Old and New Testament) and the sovereignty of God in all matters.
I also thing your post yesterday on fear hits it on the head also. We as women fear that we won’t be able to take care of the children for numerous reasons (too many to mention such financial, medical or emotional.) We need to get back to the fact that we are HIS children, and He desires us to be like Sarah of old and not give way to fear as we look at situations like having and raising children. He is sovereign; we need to obey HIS precepts and not let fear direct our thinking on having children for HIS kingdom. I am constantly challenged to fear GOD more than man…..including rude comments from well meaning christian friends regarding the blessing of children.
Just a thought this early morning in Virgina.
Ah, if I had only listened and obeyed earlier in my own life.
In reading the discussion here, it seems to me the biggest objection to The Pill in particular as a contraceptive is that it is inherently abortive. In other words, rather than preventing conception from taking place, it allows it and then ends the pregnancy. Though I am not entirely convinced this is the case, I concede that other readers of this blog who have concluded this to the case have examined the issue with far more detail than I have.
In conceding this, though, I am curious as to the feeling or biblical mandate about contraceptive devices or activities that carry no danger of conception. Specifically, what is consensus regarding the use of condoms for example? It can’t logically be argued that conception occurs when condoms are employed as a contraceptive device within the bounds of marriage. For that matter, what is the thinking here regarding activites between a husband and wife that are unarguably sexual in nature but not such that conception is likely to occur? Must all sexual encounters between a husband and wife be calculated to produce a baby?
ehaley,
I’ve expounded at length on this topic in other posts, and my desire is to expose the slippery slope from, yes, divorcing intimate relationships in marriage from the possibility of children.
It would take a book, but as briefly as possible, I contend that because the conception of life is a supernatural, miraculous event, it can’t be categorized with decisions like purchasing a house.
In fact, we don’t “decide” to have children at all; we can only decide to prevent them.
The goal is not viewing the marriage bed as an opportunity to have children; it is the simple recognition that God has, for a purpose, combined the intimate act of marriage with the possibility of producing children.
It’s His plan. He never made exceptions. He sovereignly chooses to give or withold children (The Bible clearly speaks of His opening and closing the womb–without our help!)
And considering how we’ve come to view children as a society (“you want another one? Not me!”) it’s easy to see that when we kick against God’s order, everything gets out of whack.
Just because man’s technology allows for us to place a barrier between two people who are supposed to be “one flesh”, where did we get the idea that God was OK with that? And where did we get the idea, given our grossly limited wisdom and foresight, that we know if and when an immortal soul is to be ushered into the world?
I’ve always pointed out that our reproductive system is the ONLY bodily function that we have agreed is OK to “break” or interrupt its normal function. Would we even consider interrupting our kidneys from what they were created to do? (Bathroom breaks CAN be inconvenient, you know!)
My challenge is for those of you who haven’t given this much thought beyond what we’ve always been conditioned to think, is that you will look at it with fresh, unbiased eyes.
I’m so glad someone challenged me to do that.
Love your last post Kelly. I love all of this, it’s so encouraging. I’m going to be sending you another e-mail 🙂