My colleague Janet Morana, co-founder of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign and author of RECALL ABORTION recently responded to an article entitled “Contraception Saves Lives” published in Christianity Today. Janet’s blog and this article remind me of conversations I’ve had over the years with members of my family and other Christians. Out of concern for our fellow brothers and sisters, we struggle with words like compassion and tolerance.
Before my aunt-by-marriage, Mrs. Coretta Scott King, the wife of my uncle, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. died, we had a series of conversations about “misplaced compassion.” By this I mean that Aunt Coretta was very concerned that I hated certain people groups; like members of the abortion community, members of the gender debates community, members of the what’s the best education for families, and other people groups. At first Aunt Coretta thought that I had become hateful and judgmental. When I reminded her that I am just as human as anybody, and have made choices in my life that others didn’t agree with or understand (including abortions and moral laxity); and that when those choices were against the Word of God I couldn’t hide behind the truth that I had needed to pray and accept God’s truth and forgiveness for my own life; after we had our “come to Jesus” moments together, we got up from our respective positions and agreed that “people need the Lord.”
Having said this, in reading the Christianity Today piece, I remember asking God: “What happened to Margaret Sanger? Who hurt her and confused her?” This article gives a bird’s eye view into the young nurse, Margaret Sanger, who was overwhelmed with the woman’s plight of pain and threat of death in childbirth. The soon-to-be Dr. Sanger chose the wrong path in her attempts to serve women. She chose what would become millions of deaths by chemical, oral and surgical contraceptives and abortions, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of women by strokes, heart attacks, breast and cervical cancer, depression, and countless other ills. She chose what would one day lead to the deaths of over 55 million babies by the 21st Century. This is the story of that path.
“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” —Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
If only Dr. Sanger had been able to pray to Jesus, and not be angry or frightened about the conditions surrounding her, we could have avoided a lot of death and destruction. Make no mistake about it, abortion is connected to much of the death and destruction in our world today.
The scourge of abortion is a curse, a symptom of a sick and dying world. Abortion brings death, not life.
“Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their guilt” (Is. 24:6).
Accepting harmful birth control and abortions as the primary or only salvation for women who are needing help in understanding and managing their God given gifts of fertility and motherhood have resulted in years of heartbreak. Please read Janet’s blog and pray for humanity.
For God so loved the world, that God gave His only begotten Son Jesus, so that if we only believe in His Love and Saving Grace, we can all live in love and peace. Amen.
Christianity Today surprised me, and many of its readers, I would guess, with an opinion piece carried below the ironic headline, “Contraception Saves Lives.” Even more surprising, author Rachel Marie Stone lauds Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger, making excuses for her eugenic beliefs and saying Planned Parenthood did not provide abortion in Sanger’s lifetime. My colleague Bryan Kemper wrote about the Sanger apologetics in his blog, so I will concentrate on the dubious claim that contraception saves lives.
First, let’s refute her assertion, now so familiar, that hormonal contraceptives are not abortifacients. That’s nonsense. One of the ways the birth control pill works is by preventing implantation of the embryo in the uterus. That’s abortion to those of us who know that life begins at conception, which, by the way, is a scientific fact.
Now let’s take a look at some the other ways that contraception ends lives.
Ms. Stone’s article mentions the long-acting contraception called Depo-Provera, which is a-once-every-three-months injection. But here are some of the things she didn’t say about Depo-Provera.
In addition to a long list of nasty side effects—blood clots, breast cancer, ectopic pregnancy, depression, excessive weight gain, facial paralysis, hirsutism, cervical cancer, nipple bleeding and a lack of return to fertility—Depo-Provera increases a woman’s risk of contracting HIV by 40 percent. This is particularly troubling for women in sub-Saharan Africa, where 25,000 million people—70 percent of the world total—are living with HIV/AIDS.
The Pill is not much better for women, as I outlined in a chapter of my book, “Recall Abortion.” The Pill poses numerous health risks, including blood clots, increased risks of cardiovascular disease, cervical and liver cancer, elevated blood pressure, decreased desire, sexual dysfunction and stroke.
Some Pills are worse than others. In 2006, Bayer Pharmaceuticals burst onto the market with Yaz and Yasmin, drugs that were touted as reliable birth control and miraculous cures for acne and pre-menstrual syndrome.
But Yas and Yasmin are not miracle drugs. As of 2014, Bayer had paid out $1.7 billion—BILLION—to settle 8,250 cases brought against it and there are still thousands of cases pending.
Women are suffering from gall bladder disease, pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis and other diseases. In Canada, the deaths of 23 women have been linked to Yaz and Yasmin.
How many deaths does it take before we stop calling a drug safe? I think one death is too many, and here’s why.
After I finished giving a talk in Naples, Florida, a woman approached me to tell me a story about her friend’s daughter, who was prescribed Yaz for a serious acne condition by the campus physician. After taking Yaz for just three months, the girl collapsed one day in her dorm and was rushed to the hospital. She fell into a coma that lasted five years and ended with her death.
So please, Christianity Today, don’t tell me contraception saves lives. That is simply not true.
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