“About our security measures,” says the preschool director, “We have a couple of airtight ways of keeping the kids safe and in the building. One: we have locks on the doors. Two: we have security cameras and staff keeping an eye on the parking lot. Those 2 measures almost always work, but on rare occasions, they get past those security measures, so we have a guillotine at the door. Nobody gets past that.” “Great!” you say. “Sign us up!”

That’s insane, right? Already you know where I’m going and are typing flaming response comments in your head. Hang on a minute. Let’s just look at this practically.

If you are pro-life and preventing pregnancy, you might be violating your own convictions, unaware. Here’s why. 

Hormonal birth control, for the most part, works in these 3 ways. The first: it prevents ovulation. Second: It thickens cervical mucus to prevent the sperm from reaching the egg, and third: it thins the endometrial lining so that a fertilized egg has nowhere to implant and is forced to miscarry. The third way is an emergency measure to prevent pregnancy, should the other measures fail, and it is, by definition, abortive.

I’m not getting this info from Fundie Homeschoolers for Life and Mega Families’ website, updated July 1996. This is from the product information for most, if not all, hormonal contraceptives. For example: from Ortho Tri-Cyclen Lo:

“Although the primary mechanism of this action is inhibition of ovulation, other alterations include changes in the cervical mucus (which increase the difficulty of sperm entry into the uterus) and the endometrium (which reduce the likelihood of implantation).” (bolding mine)

You can do the research: pills, IUDs, contraceptive injections, and vaginal rings work in these 3 ways. In addition, the non-hormonal IUDs work by a similar concept: the foreign body can irritate the uterine lining, preventing implantation of a fertilized egg.

I’m writing this to maybe draw attention to something you are not aware of: your birth control may be abortifacient. If that makes you angry, challenge yourself to think about why. We need to be pro-life in the deepest realms of our marriages and our wombs.