The “Pill”

According to a report published in L'Osservatore Romano (the Vatican newspaper) earlier this week, the pill is rendering men infertile.

Since the introduction of the "pill" millions of women around the world have begun to take artificial hormones to prevent pregnancy (estimated at 100 million women). As a result, Pedro Jose Maria Simon Castellvi, President of the International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations says the pill releases tones of hormones into nature through the urine of women taking the pill. The result is environmental pollution leading to male infertility. (See the story here.) Immediately after the story was released, several organizations (including contraceptive research groups) denied it stating that once metabolized, the hormones lose their female characteristics.

But this isn't the first time that the pill has been accused of having detrimental effects on men. The Aberdeen Fertility Center (not Catholic) found female hormones lowered sperm count in British men, and another study showed that men have developed mammary breast tissue usually found only in women. (See story here.) There are also studies showing that hormones released in female urine from the pill are adversely affecting aquatic life in Canadian rivers and lakes. Other studies show that the pill causes early onset puberty in girls.

While I titled this post rather facetiously, I want to ask a serious question. If, as our society claims, we want to do thing naturally so we don't harm planet earth, why are we telling women they need to get on the pill? If these levels of estrogen are seriously harming aquatic life (to the extent that some rivers have trans-gendered fish) what are they doing to the women who are directly ingesting the pill? The list of potential side effects of the pill are absolutely horrifying. We don't accept some of the side effects in life saving medications, and yet the pill- which has no medical benefit whatsoever- is handed out to women like candy. Very few women are made aware of the potentially dangerous side effects of the pill; sure they are told they might gain weight and that their acne might clear up, but few are told they could be rendered infertile, or even die as a result of blood clots from the pill.

Even fewer women are told that the pill is actually an abortifacent- it causes chemical abortions. Watch the video at the top of this post- it explains how the pill works, and how it causes abortions. Fortunately for the medical community, they don't need to tell women it causes abortions because according to their definition of pregnancy, a woman is not pregnant until the embryo implants in the womb. (Conveniently they changed the definition of pregnancy in the 1980's from conception to implantation to allow the pill to be approved- seriously, check out a medical textbook from the 1960's and today and compare the definitions of pregnancy).

Make no mistake- the pill is a form of abortion. A child that is conceived will be prevented from implanting in the womb, and as a result, it will be expelled in the menstrual process and die, with the mother never aware that she was pregnant.

But with this new report, it's clear that we aren't just aborting children and hurting women with the pill; we are also harming men, children and the environment. Why is such a dangerous pill allowed? Oh right, because it frees women. I forgot. All is forgiven then. As long as men and women can fornicate freely with no thought to the consequences, who cares what harm is caused? Silly me.

In all seriousness though, please send you friends and family the link to this video, and check out the science behind it. There are a lot of women who are on the pill who would be horrified to know that they could be aborting their own children. This is not an easy topic to broach with people (they tend to get defensive) but when raised in charity with no hint of judgment (after all many women are so misinformed by their doctors they don't know what they are doing) lives can be saved- and that is what's really important.