The Inconvenient Truth About Birth Control

[Rachel333]

briannaheldt.com/2013/11/18/women-deserve-better-choices/#sthash.TQ1fuiXm.dpbs

Here this blogger "braves the controversy" and shares her experience with birth control because "Women ought to know the truth and have the ability to make an informed decision when it comes to relationships and health!" It's a lot of the same anti-birth control stuff I'm used to hearing, but I found this post particularly frustrating. She tries to use feminist language, hence the title "women deserve better choices." Apparently the pro-birth control faction (which includes Focus on the Family--not conservative enough for her) doesn't really care about women. You should rethink birth control "because it’s high time we women started reclaiming our health and demanding to be seen as whole and integrated people worthy of care and love" and because "we deserve to be seen as human beings, not merely sexual creatures doomed to operate off of base instinct, like animals do."

I'll admit that this blogger is actually one that comes close to being a pet fundie for me. Despite everything, I do find myself really liking her. I started reading her blog after she adopted her two Ethiopian sons (she's since adopted two more Ethiopian girls with Down Syndrome). I think she's one of the better examples of adoptive parents, and she's spoken against the same sort of adoption practices we criticize here. She's also converted to Catholicism since I started reading her blog, which was a transition I found interesting. Still, she's definitely a fundie and her post here is really obnoxious.

[FakePigtails]

Ew, I hate when the anti-birth control crowd pretends to be feminist.

[dairyfreelife]

"women deserve better choices." Apparently the pro-birth control faction (which includes Focus on the Family--not conservative enough for her) doesn't really care about women. You should rethink birth control "because it’s high time we women started reclaiming our health and demanding to be seen as whole and integrated people worthy of care and love" and because "we deserve to be seen as human beings, not merely sexual creatures doomed to operate off of base instinct, like animals do."

:wtf: did I just read. :cray-cray:

[salex]

briannaheldt.com/2013/11/18/women-deserve-better-choices/#sthash.TQ1fuiXm.dpbs

Here this blogger "braves the controversy" and shares her experience with birth control because "Women ought to know the truth and have the ability to make an informed decision when it comes to relationships and health!" It's a lot of the same anti-birth control stuff I'm used to hearing, but I found this post particularly frustrating. She tries to use feminist language, hence the title "women deserve better choices." Apparently the pro-birth control faction (which includes Focus on the Family--not conservative enough for her) doesn't really care about women. You should rethink birth control "because it’s high time we women started reclaiming our health and demanding to be seen as whole and integrated people worthy of care and love" and because "we deserve to be seen as human beings, not merely sexual creatures doomed to operate off of base instinct, like animals do."

I'll admit that this blogger is actually one that comes close to being a pet fundie for me. Despite everything, I do find myself really liking her. I started reading her blog after she adopted her two Ethiopian sons (she's since adopted two more Ethiopian girls with Down Syndrome). I think she's one of the better examples of adoptive parents, and she's spoken against the same sort of adoption practices we criticize here. She's also converted to Catholicism since I started reading her blog, which was a transition I found interesting. Still, she's definitely a fundie and her post here is really obnoxious.

Ok, don't most animals operate off base instinct by only breeding to reproduce--ie, when the female is in heat/in season/fertile. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Doesn't sex for recreation only take us further from how most animals operate rather than making us more animalistic?

[halfheartedheroine]

Okay, that's unfortunate that she had side effects from the medication she tried. But I once had a seizure from a medication and I don't go around screaming that no one should ever take it, because I trust that a patient and doctor will take into account benefits/risks and go from there. (I was too out of it to consent to the medication, but my parents went through the risks with the doctor and consented by proxy. If I'd been mentally capable of issuing consent, I would have completely agreed to the medication as well. I just was in the unlucky percentage of side effects and I acknowledge that) People should be informed of the risks of their medications before taking it, but it's probably in that little information pamphlet she never even read! :angry-banghead:

And she says that "children are an inherent and natural part of married sexuality"... I've never been married before, but do they do fertility checks on couples before they get hitched? "No, we're sorry, you're not fertile but your fiance is, so he can't get married to you because no babiez will occur from this union." (sarcasm, honest)

Edited to add about informed consent.

[FloraKitty35]

Ok, don't most animals operate off base instinct by only breeding to reproduce--ie, when the female is in heat/in season/fertile. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Doesn't sex for recreation only take us further from how most animals operate rather than making us more animalistic?

Sex for recreation is a no no. :penguin-no: Sex is for procreation. Recreation is for dusting ceiling fans or performing music. :violin: ;)

[chaotic life]

I have always has a very BAD reaction to hormonal birth control pills. I know now that I have a clotting disorder and likely a lot of the side effects I experience are related, but if they are not then the side effects likely saved my life the times I tried to use hormonal birth control.

However, there's a HUGE leap from I didn't handle hormonal birth control to it is EVUL and you are KILLING ALL THE BABIES.

[Khan]

Just be sure that you don't dance to that music, now!

[tanksmom]

I truly hate when people make a blanket statement as a way to support their claim. In her post she states that society tells people that newlyweds aren't supposed to have children so of course she went on birth control. Maybe it's just me but I got married at 25, at my wedding I had people my age that had children (up to someone who had a teenager, oh the horrors) and people who had been married for years that still didn't have children. No one told me whether or not to have children, and believe me that I had quite a few people who weren't shy about sharing their opinions.

I think once again a fundie has relied on stereotypes to justify their position. Whether you try to space out children using birth control, natural family planning or just plain luck it's your choice. Don't try to make me feel like I'm less than you based on junk science and bad information. And if you want to use the inserts with all of their scary warnings as justification you might just want to verify why those scary warnings are there. It has been shown again and again that the pill does not act as to cause an abortion but since science at this point can't 100% prove it the warning is still there. If I'm in a drug trial & I miscarry because I was in an accident it still shows that I miscarried while I was on the medication. It doesn't account for why!

[FakePigtails]

I have always has a very BAD reaction to hormonal birth control pills. I know now that I have a clotting disorder and likely a lot of the side effects I experience are related, but if they are not then the side effects likely saved my life the times I tried to use hormonal birth control.

However, there's a HUGE leap from I didn't handle hormonal birth control to it is EVUL and you are KILLING ALL THE BABIES.

And only one type at that! There are so many combinations of hormones in pills it's silly to try just one prescription and proclaim that. Sure, it's fair to decide you don't want to bother to try others, but that doesn't mean there's an inherent issue with every medication of that type :angry-banghead:

[GeoBQn]

I hate it when people go into the "natural talk." "Why are you taking pills? Your fertility isn't an illness! Pregnancy isn't a disease!"

Medicine isn't just about treating illness. It is also used to maintain a standard of health. For example, people take medicine for high blood pressure and high cholesterol, but those things aren't diseases.

In my case, my standard of health includes not being pregnant. (For me, it also includes not having testosterone levels that are three times higher than normal.)

[GawkingToo]

In her post she states that society tells people that newlyweds aren't supposed to have children so of course she went on birth control.

In previous posts she's acknowledged that the fact that she was a 20-year-old college student also factored into her decision . . . [Edit]

I started reading Brianna's blog back when they had just gotten back from Ethiopia with their two sons. I only stopped following after she switched to the new domain name. A lot of the things Brianna feels strongly about are also things she comes by naturally. For instance, she writes about the importance of family and being home together a lot, but she also happens to be an introvert who really feels more comfortable at home. Although her current views on birth control fall in line with her Catholic beliefs (post-conversion), I suspect that her earlier unofficial adoption of NFP was mostly because that was what worked best for her personally.

Which isn't to say that we don't all do that to some extent. Or at least I do. I'm an incredibly truthful person and, while I'd like to think I'm just morally superior, the truth is that lying is really anxiety-inducing for me, much more than for the average person. And if I weren't already lactose intolerant, who knows whether I'd have gotten around to making the leap from vegetarian to vegan. (-ish. I still cheat for things like milk chocolate. See it's that lying thing. I can't do it.) Etc.

So I don't want to be too hard on Brianna, so much as to offer a gentle criticism. Truthfully, the reason I didn't follow her to the new blog address is because her blog got boring. I do follow people who blog about religion, but it's much more interesting when they grapple with hard questions. Brianna did some of that as a Protestant. (In retrospect, it was while she was leaning towards Catholicism but just wasn't "out" about it yet.) She just doesn't do that any more. She always tows the party line and just extolls everything as true and perfect. And, frankly, her prose isn't pretty enough to make up for what has come to feel flat and bland.

Finally, one last bit of context. I think Brianna is well aware that she's lost most of her original, adoption-focused readers. She has said at least once that she writes under the assumption that it's mostly Catholic readers. So I think some of the sweeping statements (e.g., sex being procreative, etc.) things you could read as her saying, "As Catholics, we believe that..." She makes the sweeping statements without much to back them up because she's not really trying to convince anyone so much as point out how what she's writing ties in with Catholic dogma*. Which isn't to justify the non-science about birth control, but just to offer some context to some of the other bits.

*Is dogma the right word in this context?

[Rachel333]

Wow, I was just looking through the comments.

This is a great post. We stopped using birth control early in our marriage when it took awhile to get pregnant and I saw the huge difference in how I felt being off the pill. More recently we have looked into abortification side of the pill. My husband is a physician and it has implications in his practice, but as evangelical christians who believe that life begins at conception, we have made the decision that he will no longer prescribe it. He’s explained his decision to colleagues and patients and while most of the response has been fine, there is a sense of oddness to people. Sometimes it’s not easy to make the right decision, but so important to follow God’s leading rather than society’s.

And the author's response:

B thank you so much for sharing your story! What an incredibly beautiful witness you and your husband are. My OB does not prescribe hormonal birth control either, and we need more doctors who are willing to stand for life. God bless you both!

I find it really disturbing that there are doctors (OBs, even!) who refuse to prescribe birth control. Imagine asking for a prescription and being told that you can't have it because he doesn't believe in birth control. I think usually if you're unwilling to do part of your job because of your religion, you should get a different job.

[Dysfundamental]

"Teaching" rather than "dogma" on this topic, as the Roman Catholic Church stance on birth control comes from papal encyclicals. "Dogma" in the Roman Catholic context refers only to doctrinal statements made by Church councils (Council of Trent, Council of Nicaea, etc.) or made by the Pope when explicitly invoking his ex-cathedra authority.

Also, literally every heterosexual Roman Catholic under 50 I know (who is not a priest, monk, or nun) has used birth control at some point.

[GawkingToo]

"Teaching" rather than "dogma" on this topic, as the Roman Catholic Church stance on birth control comes from papal encyclicals. "Dogma" in the Roman Catholic context refers only to doctrinal statements made by Church councils (Council of Trent, Council of Nicaea, etc.) or made by the Pope when explicitly invoking his ex-cathedra authority.

Thanks, Dysfundamental!

[dawbs]

The fact that there aren't a lot of good birth-control options is a problem--a real problem.

But the 'solution' is NOT to demonize hormonal birth control--for people who claim such a fondness for babies, they sure are eager to throw them out with the bathwater.

I mean, my husband and I are in a pickle about what to do for BC--our options are 1-try something that would risk me catching PG [which isn't a good idea--I have no choice but to be on meds that would be very very bad for a fetus], 2-Have me use hormonal BC (which is the current solution, but which has its own problems for us and my hormones have issues--although, FTR, I will probably never ever ever ever EVER be fully off of fake hormones. I'll take them, any day, to my alternatives; I need to be on them for medical reasons and BC is a pleasant side effect), 3-use barrier methods (ugh), 4-surgical permanent BC (I'm not that confident in that decision for us). I suppose there's an option 5, which she'd love, which is to have regular abortions...

We do deserve better choices--how about working on getting RISUG approved in the US? (linky: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reversible ... r_guidance).

How about working to educate young men on it being their responsibility too?

How about working on some of the ultrasound methods of male contraception, or some of the rather abandoned male methods that haven't been fully researched/marketed?

Why is the solution offered "have more kids/chart and hope for the best/abstain from sex" instead of an actual CHOICE that's workable in marriage.

/rant.

[Ariel]

We do deserve better choices--how about working on getting RISUG approved in the US? (linky: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reversible ... r_guidance).

How about working to educate young men on it being their responsibility too?

How about working on some of the ultrasound methods of male contraception, or some of the rather abandoned male methods that haven't been fully researched/marketed?

Why is the solution offered "have more kids/chart and hope for the best/abstain from sex" instead of an actual CHOICE that's workable in marriage.

/rant.

I've never heard of that before, that's awesome!

I also think it's important to make contraception seem normal. I was in a relationship with a guy once who (at age 20) was too embarrassed to buy condoms (While to me, it's no different than going to the store to buy some milk). It was so frustrating because I ended up being 100% responsible for the contraception all the time because I'd go to his place and lo and behold! no condoms had been bought because he was embarrassed :roll:

It further incensed me, because it is waaaaaay more socially acceptable for men to buy condoms than women, so I'm sure I got judged more than him.

[already hungover]

People like him make me want to use contraceptives in like 100x the quantity I already do just to be contrary.

Speaking of, I went to the pharmacy to pick up my birth control (generic Seasonique or whatever the 3 month stuff is called) this month and found out it's free now because ebil Obama hates!!!!1 all teh preshuss baybeez. Apparently only certain brands are available at no cost, but if you're already on the pill, it might be worth asking your doctor to switch you over to a free one. I kind of love feeling even more like a forsaken HEATHEN than I did before my pills were gubmint handouts.

[theCR]

I don't understand why people care so much about what others do to their body or thier lives.

No one is forcing birth control down your throat so quit your bitchin.

[Jane_Goth]

"Teaching" rather than "dogma" on this topic, as the Roman Catholic Church stance on birth control comes from papal encyclicals. "Dogma" in the Roman Catholic context refers only to doctrinal statements made by Church councils (Council of Trent, Council of Nicaea, etc.) or made by the Pope when explicitly invoking his ex-cathedra authority.

Also, literally every heterosexual Roman Catholic under 50 I know (who is not a priest, monk, or nun) has used birth control at some point.

I know quite a Catholics over 50 who have used it too! (including my parents) I'm 44 I went to a Catholic secondary school, the vast majority of my classmates were Catholic, there were no mega families (larger than 4) in my year or below! There were more mega families at the Anglican school up the road.

[August]

The pill gives me headaches, which is why I use other methods of birth control. And so does every catholic I have ever met. The largest catholic family I've ever known was a childhood friend who had three older brothers, all 2 1/2 to 3 years apart. And the mother's experience with the old style IUDs scared me off them forever.

I don't understand how I could possibly have more choices than I do now. A male contraceptive would be good, and IVF so effective that everyone can get pregnant... but I suspect she's not talking about that. Maybe she means universal free childcare, healthcare and welfare so I could have six children and still choose to work? Oh no, wait, catholics only care about my uterus, not my children.

[2xx1xy1JD]

Haven't read the post yet, but one of my pet peeves is people making a blanket condemnation of "birth control", when they are really just referring to the Pill.

Newsflash - other methods of contraception exist! The Pill (and some other hormonal birth control such as Nuva Ring) works well for many women who find it convenient and effective, but hormonal methods are not the only option. Please don't scream about the problems with hormonal birth control, and then make a blanket statement against ALL birth control because you follow a certain theological doctrine.

[FWIW, in the non-Catholic world, NFP is considered to be a birth control method.]

[freedomjesusfootball]

Ok, don't most animals operate off base instinct by only breeding to reproduce--ie, when the female is in heat/in season/fertile. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Doesn't sex for recreation only take us further from how most animals operate rather than making us more animalistic?

Yes, and part of that is that there are no outward signs of when a human female is in her fertile period. In other primates, there is swelling of their genitals when they are in heat. There are some theories that women collecting fat on our butts was an evolutionary thing to make us look always-fertile, and thus keep men around and not spreading their resources elsewhere. Although, really, some of the closer primates (chimps and to a greater extent bonobos are already using sex as a social, rather than reproductive tool.

I am not sure that this lady is going to get too far with the "we deserve better than sex whenever we want! Using the rhythm method is soooooo liberating!"

[Alice_Fraggle]

Oy, this woman. I stopped reading awhile ago, and then had a peek at her blog again and was completely turned off by taking her kids to an anti-choice rally. REALLY!? She's gross.

[2xx1xy1JD]

Re the whole "birth control pills cause abortions!" line:

Even if the BCP does cause the uterine lining to become somewhat less friendly to implantation, how does that matter if it ALSO prevents ovulation? You can't be killing babies (ie. microscopic fertilized eggs) if no egg is released.

Also - can we have a show of hands here from everyone who had a doctor who DID mention risks and side effects? I heard all about the risk of blood clots (the most serious potential side effect), got asked repeatedly if I was smoking, and had my doctor refuse to prescribe me it once when she heard that I wanted to take it for a vacation that was a 15 hour flight away (since she was worried about the blood clot risk).

I remember having my adjustment to the meds being monitored, having the public health clinic note any unusual ups or downs in my weight, discussions about more minor side effects like effect on mood, etc. I also remember breast cancer risks being discussed.