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News and commentary from the Pro-Life Action League
A Wall Street Journal article titled “The Birth-Control Riddle” appeared earlier this week in anticipation of the 50th anniversary next month of the introduction of the birth control pill in the U.S.
After referring to the inception of the Pill as “the dawn of dependable contraception”, the author, Melinda Beck, gives an overview of the various contraceptive options now on the market, and goes on to note that nearly half of all pregnancies are unintended — essentially the same as in 1994 — and that “smaller studies have found that even newer birth-control methods haven’t made much of a dent.”
48% of unintended pregnancies, Beck points out, involve contraceptive failure.
She also notes this:
And many young people are in “the fog zone” in which their beliefs about pregnancy don’t match their behaviors, according to a 2009 report by the National Campaign to End Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. In a survey conducted by the Guttmacher Institute of 1,800 single men and women aged 18 to 29, more than 80% of both sexes said it was important to them to avoid pregnancy right now, yet 43% of those who are sexually active said they used no contraception or used it inconsistently.
So much for the glories ushered in since “the dawn of dependable contraception”.
Christina Dunigan points out that a lot of the dot-connecting here can be attributed to risk compensation, the commonsense explanation that observes that people generally behave more cautiously as their perception of risk or danger increases — and, conversely, that they tend to behave less cautiously as their perception of feeling “safe” or “protected” increases.
Couple risk compensation and ubiquitous condoms, pills, and other contaceptives, and it’s no surprise that today’s unintended pregnancy rates and abortion rates (to say nothing of the STD rates) are where they are.
There are a number of problems with the article — such as Beck’s claim that “the pill does not seem to increase the risk of getting [breast cancer],” despite the fact that the American Cancer Society admits it does — but its most glaring deficiency is its treatment of contraception as a great social good with only a few minor drawbacks that have yet to be smoothed out.
Nowhere is the question raised that maybe, just maybe, contraception itself might be A Really Bad Thing.
When the Pro-Life Action League hosted its groundbreaking Contraception Is Not the Answer conference in September 2006, Eric Scheidler mentioned in his introductory remarks that in today’s world, telling people they shouldn’t use contraception is akin to telling them they shouldn’t use soap.
So widespread is the acceptance of contraception today that it’s not surprising that those of us who oppose it would not register even a passing mention in an article on the topic in the mainstream media.
And this is precisely why, now more than ever, we must tell the truth about contraception.
The 8 fascinating presentations given at the CINTA conference examine the various ways in which contraception has impacted society—its effect on women, on men, on marriage, on the culture—and show that contraception is the taproot of abortion.
Conference highlights include Jennifer Roback-Morse on the cultural contradictions of contraception for women, Dr. Janet Smith on how contraceptives alter intimate relationships, Fr. Tom Euteneuer on the spiritual effects of contraceptive use, and Rutgers University sociologist Dr. Lionel Tiger on the impact of contraceptives on men and masculinity.
In the wake of the conference, the CDs were in great demand, and our supply was quickly sold out. But with the fawning treatments we can expect from the media in the coming weeks marking the 50th anniversary of the Pill, we’ve decided to reissue them.
Order yours today. You won’t be disappointed!
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I am a strong pro-life supporter. Killing a pre-born baby is wrong.
I have followed the A-B-C (Abortion- Breast Cancer) debate for decades. While i do believe that the pro-abortion people look at the evidence thru their preconceived biases, I am wondering why you provide a link in the article above to the American Cancer Society site:
” — such as Beck’s claim that “the pill does not seem to increase the risk of getting [breast cancer],” despite the fact that the American Cancer Society admits it does — ”
i followed your link, and carefully read the site and also THEIR link to “Is Abortion Linked to Breast Cancer?” On both pages, they deny there is any ABC link. This contradicts what you are trying to say in the above statement.
Please can you help me understand why you included the above comment? Am i missing something?
thank you.
kathy
Posted April 23, 2010 at 5:37 pm
ARUUGGHH! My bad! I am so sorry — i failed to see that you were linking the pill and breast cancer, not abortion and breast cancer.
(i would have immediately deleted my comment, but that option did not appear to be available.)
However, the American Cancer Society says there is only a small increase risk, which decreases to normal after 10 yrs. of not using the pill.
I am totally a pro-life person. I just am concerned that we need to accurately represent what the other side says, to not look silly. I thought i was being really careful in reading the ACS website, but even i made this mistake by not careful reading.
Another person might ONLY read your statement, without further research, and then tell others that the ACS admits the pill increases breast cancer — and then our side is discredited.
thanks for listening.
Posted April 23, 2010 at 5:48 pm
“Nowhere is the question raised that maybe, just maybe, contraception itself might be A Really Bad Thing.”
comment:
The dogged, seemingly endless pursuit of justifing contraception points to the HUMAN ACTION of ABORTING the natural reproductive process.
Posted April 23, 2010 at 7:10 pm
Abortion is against Creation.
Contraception is against Creating.
Posted April 23, 2010 at 7:18 pm
Abortion and contraception both harm women, men, families and society.
Posted April 24, 2010 at 11:11 am
Mother Teresa of Calcutta:
“Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but (rather) to use any violence to get what they want.
That is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.”
—————————————————————————————–
The culture of death:
Countless millions of innocent children are NEVER born (abortion)…..and EQUALLY HORRIFIC, NEVER even conceived (contraception).
——————————————————————————————
Posted April 25, 2010 at 8:25 am
Abortion is the murder of an ACTUAL unborn human being.
Contraception is the murder of a POTENTIAL unborn human being.
Posted April 28, 2010 at 5:09 pm
[...] you click here, you can read an article published on the Pro-Life League website as respond to an article by [...]
Posted May 3, 2010 at 4:50 pm
Your RSS feed is not work in my browser (google chrome) how can I sort it?
Posted May 6, 2010 at 4:49 am
[...] Contraception Is Still Not the Answer [Back to Top] [...]
Posted May 10, 2010 at 2:05 pm
So let me get this straight…
You guys are anti-abortion and yet you:
- are against providing people with accurate information about contraception. Information which would greatly reduce the amount of contraceptive failure (most failure is caused by improper use of contraception).
- against providing people who are too poor to afford birth control with that recourse at a affordable price.
- are against emergency contraception.
- and generally as with 99% of anti-abortion activists I know probably don’t donate much to adoption agencies or do any adopting yourselves.
I would like to point out that the southern states, where abstinence only education is pushed over comprehensive sex-ed, have much higher rates of teen pregnancy than the northern states. The reason for this is not faulty birth control, but rather a lack of knowledge about it.
Statistically, people will have sex regardless, and if you are so concerned with preventing abortion, why don’t you support recourses which would help prevent unwanted pregnancies (which are more likely to lead to abortion) among the sexually active population?
Posted June 29, 2010 at 12:10 am
Contraception is the ROOT CAUSE of abortion.
Contraception and abortion, being the destruction of the future of the human race, (cataclysmic proportions), is the worst evil the world has ever known.
Posted July 5, 2010 at 10:05 am
“I would like to point out that the southern states, where abstinence only education is pushed over comprehensive sex-ed, have much higher rates of teen pregnancy than the northern states. The reason for this is not faulty birth control, but rather a lack of knowledge about it.”
“higher rates of teen pregnancy”…….thus LESS ABORTION!
Posted July 5, 2010 at 10:25 am
If the mindset is to NOT abort the making of a human being (contraception), one will also see that killing the conception…..pregnancy, is also wrong!
Posted July 5, 2010 at 10:46 am
Abortion is NOT healthcare.
Contraception is NOT reproductive health.
Posted July 5, 2010 at 4:26 pm
Abortion is the murder of an ACTUAL unborn human being.
Contraception is the murder of a POTENTIAL unborn human being.
Posted July 5, 2010 at 4:32 pm
“- and generally as with 99% of anti-abortion activists I know probably don’t donate much to adoption agencies or do any adopting yourselves.”
implication being……
Since they “probably” will not be cared for, lets kill them before they are even born.
Posted July 7, 2010 at 6:07 am
or even kill the making of them (contraception).
Posted July 7, 2010 at 6:17 am
“Statistically, people will have sex regardless, and if you are so concerned with preventing abortion, why don’t you support recourses which would help prevent unwanted pregnancies (which are more likely to lead to abortion) among the sexually active population?”
sexually active population…..sex (pleasure thereof) WITHOUT any consequences whatsoever:
http://familiesagainstplannedparenthood.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=39&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&sid=5e6ed27a7ccdf089ffc922ad0554d415
Posted July 7, 2010 at 12:21 pm