Birth Control - The Silent Abortion

Oral Contraceptives (OCs).

(1) Suppression of Ovulation. When the female reproductive system is functioning normally, the hypothalamus (the part of the brain containing the vital autonomic regulatory centers) controls the release of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), which signals the pituitary gland to secrete luteinizing hormone (LH), which in turn assists ovulation and coordinates the release of estrogen and progestin from the ovaries.

When a woman ingests birth prevention pills, they literally hijack her reproductive system. The pills cause the ovaries to maintain a steady high level of estrogen and/or progestin production, depending upon the type and brand of pill being used. Thus, the woman's body is essentially "tricked" into acting as if it is continuously pregnant. The hypothalamus adjusts to this high level of hormone secretion and essentially shuts off GnRH production.

Therefore, the production of luteinizing hormone by the pituitary gland is also inhibited, and ovulation either ceases or is drastically curtailed. In those months that ovulation is suppressed, the mode of action of the birth prevention pill is contraceptive in nature.

(2) Cervical Mucus Effects. Oral contraceptives also cause changes in the consistency and acidity of cervical mucus, making it more difficult for sperm to penetrate and live in the cervix, a second contraceptive effect.

(3) Endometrial Effects. The third effect of oral contraceptives on the body is to cause certain changes in the endometrium (lining of the uterus), making implantation more difficult. In a cycle where ovulation was not prevented and fertilization takes place, the pill causes a "silent abortion."

Two-Fold vs. Three-Fold Action.

Most of the older "high-dose" birth prevention pills functioned mainly by inhibiting ovulation and affecting the cervical mucus, making them primarily two-fold in function.

Sometimes, however, breakthrough ovulation occurred, and so the older pills were occasionally abortifacient in their actions.

All of the newer birth prevention pills on the market today not only often suppress ovulation and affect the cervical mucus, they often make implantation of the developing human being impossible. This three-fold mode of function means that all of the newer birth prevention pills function at least part of the time as abortifacients.

The Types of Oral Contraceptive.

Overview.

There are currently three general classes of birth prevention pill manufactured in the United States and other countries and used worldwide. These are the high-dose pill, the low-dose pill, and the "mini-pill." The following paragraphs describe these pills and their modes of action.

The High-Dose Pill.

The Searle Pharmaceutical Corporation developed the first oral contraceptive, Enovid, in the late 1950s. In keeping with its defensive anti-lawsuit strategy, the company tested the pill on Puerto Rican women before concluding in 1961 that it was safe for women on the American mainland to use. 1

1 Bogomir M. Kuhar, Ph.D. "Pharmaceutical Companies: The New Abortionists." Reprint 16 from Human Life International, 4 Family Life, Front Royal, Virginia 22630.

Experimentation on foreign women is a typical tactic of the major pharmaceutical companies. They often test birth prevention chemicals and devices on poor women in developing countries so any mistakes or serious health problems are easier to cover up. Poor women on foreign countries have little recourse when their health is destroyed or damaged by this kind of testing.

This is because the companies bring huge amounts of money to their homelands, and protest against the programs can easily be suppressed by local or national governments.

Enovid and other high-dose pills, which have generally fallen out of favor in the United States but are still widely used in developing countries, contained from 1 to 12 milligrams of progestin and/or 60 to 120 micrograms of estrogen, a natural female hormone. This high dosage had a variety of effects, including blurred vision, nausea, weight gain, painful breasts, cramping, irregular menstrual bleeding, headaches, and possibly breast cancer.1

The high-dose pills were primarily two-fold in action. Their primary mechanism suppressed gonadotropin production and therefore ovulation. They also caused changes in the consistency and acidity of cervical mucus, making it more difficult for sperm to penetrate and live in the cervix. Finally, they occasionally caused certain changes in the endometrium (lining of the uterus), making implantation more difficult.

When the high-dose pill functioned by this last mechanism, it was an abortifacient if the woman experienced a "breakthrough" ovulation. Although this occurred only during about 1 to 12 percent of all cycles, it was not the primary intent of the manufacturers.

Beginning about 1975, pill makers, in reaction to bad publicity about the severe side effects of the high-dosage pills, steadily decreased the content of estrogen and progestin in their products.

1 Bogomir M. Kuhar, Ph.D. "Pharmaceutical Companies: The New Abortionists." Reprint 16 from Human Life International, 4 Family Life, Front Royal, Virginia 22630.

The Low-Dose Pill.

Eventually, the older "high-dose" pills gave way to the new, abortifacient "low-dose" pills. Ortho/Johnson & Johnson, G.D. Searle/Monsanto, and Syntex, the three largest manufacturers of OCs in the United States, voluntarily withdrew their "high-dose" products from the U.S. market in 1988 on the advice of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These were the last commercially-available pills containing more than 50 micrograms of estrogen. 1

1 Bogomir M. Kuhar, Ph.D. "Pharmaceutical Companies: The New Abortionists." Reprint 16 from Human Life International, 4 Family Life, Front Royal, Virginia 22630.

The low-dose pills contain from 0.35 to 15 milligrams of progestin in the form of norethindrone, norgestrel, ethyndiol diacetate, or norethindrone acetate, and from 0.7 to 2.0 micrograms of estrogen in the form of ethinyl estradiol or mestranol, a tremendous drop in estrogenic potency compared to the high-dose pills. 2

2 Robert A. Hatcher, et. al. Contraceptive Technology (17th Revised Edition). New York: Ardent Media, Inc., 1998. Table 19-1, "Relative Potency of Estrogens and Progestins in Currently Available Oral Contraceptives Reflecting the Debate About the Strength of the Progestins," page 407.

The low-dose pills work in essentially the same manner as the high-dose pill. However, a much higher percentage of ovulation occurs in women who use the low-dose pills, due to the much lower estrogen dose. This means that women who use these pills frequently conceive, and the low-dose pills prevent implantation of the new human life, thereby acting more often as true abortifacients.

The Mini-Pill.

Scientists have not pinpointed the primary mechanism of mini-pills (progestin-only pills), although women who use them frequently ovulate. Therefore, these pills function primarily as abortifacients.

It is known that pills that contain only progestin alter the cervical mucus. They also interfere with implantation by affecting the endometrium (lining of the uterus) and suppressing ovulation in some women by reducing the presence of follicle-stimulating
hormone (FSH).

This mechanism is confirmed by the Food and Drug Administration,
which has stated that "Progestin-only contraceptives are known to
alter the cervical mucus, exert a progestinal effect on the endometrium, interfere with implantation, and, in some patients, suppress ovulation." 3

3 Federal Register, 41:236, December 7, 1976, page 53,634.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in its 1984 pamphlet "Facts About Oral Contraceptives," compared the action of high-dose pills and mini-pills:

It is possible for women using combined pills (synthetic estrogen and progestin) to ovulate. Then other mechanisms work to prevent pregnancy. Both kinds of pills make the cervical mucus thick and "inhospitable" to sperm, discouraging any entry to the uterus. In addition, they make it difficult for a fertilized egg to implant, by causing changes in Fallopian tube contractions and in the uterin lining. These actions explain why the minipill works, as it generally does not suppress ovulation [emphasis added].

The makers of the mini-pills also admit this mode of action. For example, Syntex Laboratories announced that its progestin-only pill Norinyl "... did not interfere with ovulation ... It seems to affect the endometrium so that a fertilized egg cannot be implanted." 4

4 United Press International news release in the Cincinnati Post, January 11, 1973. In other words, the pill is now truly abortifacient "birth prevention" -- not conception control, as may have originally been intended when the first oral contraceptives were being developed.

5 "What are Legalities of Promoting ECPs?" Contraceptive Technology Update, November 1995, pages 137 and 138.

Pro-abortionists dishonestly call this "emergency contraception," another attempt to erase the distinction between true contraception and abortifacient action. Pills taken under the Yuzpe and similar regimens are often called "emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs)," "morning-after pills (MAPs)," and "postcoital contraception."

When pro-lifers hear pro-abortionists using these and similar terms, they can be sure that they are referring to abortifacient cocktails.

Pregnancies While Using the "Infallible" Pill.

From the very first day that it was introduced, the oral contraceptive has been hailed as the solution to "unwanted pregnancies" and the enabler of the Sexual Revolution. Continued allegations of high efficiency, combined with the easy availability of abortion as a "backup," have inevitably led to widespread careless use of the pill.

Only about 11 percent of all women who use the pill do so correctly, according to a 1989 study. 6

6 Kim Painter. "Most Users of the Pill Don't Follow Directions." USA Today, February 21, 1990, page D1.

Among women in this age group, the method effectiveness of the birth prevention pill is 96.2 percent per year, significantly lower than the effectiveness for older women. This percentage still sounds very high indeed; but the method effectiveness refers to the efficiency of the pill when a woman is in very good health and uses the pill without error. When user error is factored in, the result is the actual user effectiveness rate, also known as the overall effectiveness rate.

The overall effectiveness rate for the low-dose pill is 89 percent
per year. 6

This still sounds high until you calculate the probability of a woman 15 to 24 years old becoming pregnant over an extended period of time when using the pill.

In summary, if a fornicating girl of 15 starts using the pill, and uses it continuously, there is a better than 50 percent chance that she will become pregnant by the time she is 22!

This statistic is verified by pro-abortionists, including Planned
Parenthood abortion statistician Dr. Christopher Tietze, who said
that "within 10 years, 20 to 50 percent of pill users and a substantial majority of users of other methods may be expected to experience at least one repeat abortion." 7 7 Christopher Tietze, quoted in the National Abortion Rights Action League's, A Speaker's and Debater's Guidebook. June 1978, page 24.

Note that Tietze is speaking about repeat (second or more) abortions here. These statistics are significant when one considers that one of the primary goals of school-based clinics (SBCs) is to distribute contraceptives and abortifacients to teenagers without parental consent or knowledge.

Implications for Pro-Life Activists.

Millions of women in the USA and all over the world use oral contraceptives. Many women who would never even consider a surgical abortion now use low-dose birth prevention pills that cause them to abort a new life an average of once or twice every year. A large number of women who say that they are pro-life use these pills.

Many at the urging of their husbands. These are usually the women who are ignorant of the pill's abortifacient mode of action, those who think that their way of life requires that they use the pill, or those who cannot mentally make the connection between contraception and abortion.

Some researchers (using very conservative figures) have calculated that the birth prevention pill directly causes between 1.53 and 4.15 million chemical abortions per year in the United States -- up to two and a half times the total number of surgical abortions committed every year! 8

1 Bogomir M. Kuhar, Ph.D. "Pharmaceutical Companies: The New Abortionists." Reprint 16 from Human Life International, 4 Family Life, Front Royal, Virginia 22630.

2 Robert A. Hatcher, et. al. Contraceptive Technology (17th Revised Edition). New York: Ardent Media, Inc., 1998. Table 19-1, "Relative Potency of Estrogens and Progestins in Currently Available Oral Contraceptives Reflecting the Debate About the Strength of the Progestins," page 407.

3 Federal Register, 41:236, December 7, 1976, page 53,634.

4 United Press International news release in the Cincinnati Post, January 11, 1973.

5 "What are Legalities of Promoting ECPs?" Contraceptive Technology Update, November 1995, pages 137 and 138.

6 Kim Painter. "Most Users of the Pill Don't Follow Directions." USA Today, February 21, 1990, page D1.

7 Christopher Tietze, quoted in the National Abortion Rights Action League's A Speaker's and Debater's Guidebook. June 1978, page 24.

8 S. Killick, E. Eyong, and M. Elstein. "Ovarian Follicular Development in Oral Contraceptive Cycles." Fertility and
Sterility, September 1987, pages 409 to 413.