The Truth about Contraceptives

Some things for you to ponder:

• Oral contraceptives cause abortions before a woman knows she’s pregnant. How many abortions are there in the US each year of this kind? A conservative estimate says 8.1 to 12.75 million.
• Planned Parenthood states that the majority of women who have abortions were using contraception when they were pregnant.
• Barely four years after contraceptives were first tested, researchers found that marriages in which contraceptives were used were twice as likely to end in divorce as those in which they were not used.
• Abortionists themselves attest that the greater use of contraception means a greater rise in the abortion rate.
• In October 2006 the Mayo Clinic published an important study finding that women using oral contraceptives had a 44% higher rate of pre-menopausal breast cancer than other women.
• The results of two major studies have shown that women who take Depo-Provera for two years or more before age 25 have at least a 190% increased risk of developing breast cancer. In addition, Depo-Provera may reduce a woman’s bone density, and worsen a woman’s cholesterol level. Women who had received injectable progestins for at least five years and who had used them at least five years prior, suffered a 430% increased risk of developing cervical cancer. Several studies have shown that women who receive injectable progestins have a 240% higher rate of contracting the AIDS virus if their partner is infected.

Legislation is now being introduced in France and Russia to ban birth control pills because of their adverse effects of women’s health, and some countries, realizing the economic effects that the widespread use of the contraception is having on their countries, are now offering incentives to families with more children.The lie that birth control is important to women’s health continues to be repeated, despite increasing evidence to the contrary. The Catholic Church has been reviled for years for its teaching against the use of artificial methods of family planning. But when even Business Insider publishes articles entitled, “Time to Admit It: the Church Has Always Been Right on Birth Control” (2.8.2012), maybe it’s time we revisit Paul VI’s prophetic encyclical Humanae vitae. There is a new book called Adam and Eve After the Pill: Paradoxes of the Sexual Revolution by Mary Eberstadt. If you are struggling with the Church’s teaching on natural family planning, I urge you to take the time to cut through the nonsense propagated by those with a financial interest in birth control and learn the truth. It may save, not only your soul, but your life.By Father Christopher Smith, STD/PhD. Reprinted with permission from Prince of Peace Catholic Church bulletin, May 4, 2014.