There may be many ideas about whether contraceptives are good or not for the world. In this post, I seek to ignore that argument intentionally. But I have grown weary of some of the things I keep hearing on the news. Let me state the following:
Contraceptives are not preventive care…
I guess I can give you preventive. They certainly prevent something that naturally occurs in the body. But while the rest of the things called preventive care seek to prevent bad things from occurring, I am not sure what bad this medicine seeks to prevent. Can someone tell me?
Sing along with me, “One of these thing is not like the other ones.â€
| Preventative Care Items (from whitehouse.gov) |
Prevents (mine) |
|
Blood pressure, diabetes, and cholesterol tests |
Heart Disease, Amputation, Death |
|
Many cancer screenings, including mammograms and colonoscopies |
Cancer, Pain, Death |
|
Counseling on such topics as quitting smoking, losing weight, eating healthfully, treating depression, and reducing alcohol use |
Cancer, Heart Disease, Suicide, Liver failure, Death |
|
Routine vaccinations against diseases such as measles, polio, or meningitis |
Disease, Plague, Death |
|
Flu and pneumonia shots |
Flu, Pneumonia, Affixation, Death |
|
Counseling, screening, and vaccines to ensure healthy pregnancies |
Infant Disease, Pregnancy Complications, Death |
|
Regular well-baby and well-child visits, from birth to age 21 |
All manner of sickness, disease, death. |
| Birth Control | Babies, Life? |
Contraceptives are not necessary for Women’s health…
I do understand that medicines labeled for use as contraception can be used in other ways that may benefit women’s health temporarily. But this is not at all what is being referred to in the news. They are talking about their use as indicated for contraception. And here, we must point out that not only is it not necessary for women’s health, it is often antagonistic to their health. Side effects include:
- Nausea
- Weight gain
- Sore or swollen breasts
- Small amount of blood, or spotting, between periods
- Lighter periods
- Mood changes
- Blood Clot
- Abdominal pain (stomach pain)
- Chest pain
- Headaches (severe)
- Eye problems (blurred vision)
- Swelling and/or aching in the legs and thighs (webmd.com)
Many doctors also believe there is a direct connection between the use of birth control and increased risk of breast cancer (cancer.gov).
If you want to argue for birth control as a good thing for society, feel free to make the case. But these points above must be conceded. Contraceptives are not preventative care and are not necessary for women’ health.
Realize that the real argument is about the nature of children themselves. Are they something to be prevented or celebrated? Is some children being born a good thing but many children being born a bad thing? Especially in the public sphere, this is the discussion we should be having.
Another important point is that birth control pills, like all injected or implanted hormonal birth control methods, as well as IUDs, are not strictly contraceptives, but rather earn the name “birth control” because they can also act as abortifacients, causing silent abortions by preventing the implantation of an already fertilized egg (i.e. a baby). Many people are either uninformed or misinformed about the existence of this mode of action of the popular birth control methods they use. It’s not just the “morning after pill” that causes abortions. Only sterilization, barrier methods, spermicides, withdrawal, and rhythm methods (like NFP) are purely contraceptive in nature.
Prostate cancer may be tied to the Pill in water supply also:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45296370/ns/health/#.TzqHZMozI1g
Recognizing the drastically negative socioeconomic implications of decreased fertility rates, many nations are trying to encourage their citizens to have more children by providing financial incentives. In contrast, the U.S. government is presently engaged in this “healthcare” campaign to encourage birth control use.