Adapted from Ethics for a Brave New World, Second Edition, by John S. Feinberg and Paul D. Feinberg. Found at Crossway.org)
The twentieth century saw major changes in humankind’s understanding sexuality—the sexual revolution, the rise of varying understandings of sexual orientation, and of morally permissible sexual activity. The methods of conceiving and gestating a baby have also dramatically expanded. During the last half of the twentieth century there has been a steady increase in the use of birth control devices—for Christians and non-Christians alike. Despite a long tradition of hesitation in regard to birth control, both pragmatic and biblical considerations have led many Christians to conclude that birth control [(any method except abortion)] is morally acceptable.
Before jumping into the ethics of birth control, it’s helpful to understand the pragmatic framework for the rise in the usage of birth control in our culture. From a pragmatic standpoint, advocates of birth control tend to emphasize four main issues:
- Population growth and the apparent depletion of natural resources
Historically, the three main checks to population growth have been war, hunger, and disease. Wars and starvation still abound, and yet population growth continues. The reason is undoubtedly due in part to medicine’s growing ability to control disease and prolong life.
- A change in socially acceptable sexual behavior
Part of the shift in sexual mores involves a change in attitudes toward premarital sex. Because attitudes toward premarital [intimacy] are so positive, there has been much concern about a rise in teenage pregnancies, [thus giving rise to] a greatly accelerated acceptance and us of various birth control devices.
- Women have careers outside the home
Many of these [career-minded] women still want to have children and raise a family. For many women, the answer is to put off childbearing until later in life when these women have already achieved many of their career goals. Given increasing life expectancy for both men and women, there is much less hesitancy to wait until one’s late thirties or early forties, to start a family.
- Family finances and individual careers
Many married couples wonder if it is morally right to potentially deprive existing children [from a secure, comfortable lifestyle] just to increase the size of their family. [They say that they “can’t afford to have children right now”. Is this true? There is a myriad of governmental assistance programs available for low-income families and their children. Some have realized this and have gone just the opposite direction…the more children the better (financially).]
While pragmatic concerns are important, they cannot be determinative for the Christian.
[The following are different ‘levels’ of conviction amongst Christians concerning ‘birth control’. These five levels are ‘no birth control’, ‘natural birth control’, ‘non-abortive birth control’, ‘potentially abortive birth control’, and ‘abortive birth control’.]
(The following is taken from MarsHill.com)
Level 1 – No Birth Control
Some Christian couples determine to only use prayer in their family planning. As a result, they simply enjoy normal marital sexual relations and trust that if God desires for them to have a child, He will provide according to His timing. When this is chosen as the course of action by a Christian couple, family planning by simply praying and trusting that whatever happens is God’s good will is acceptable. [One] problem [with this] is when this conscience preference is legalistically imposed on others as if it were the only acceptable option for a Christian married couple. [Also, some would say that if you follow this method you are going to end up with 20 children over 20 years! They say that God gave us wisdom and it wouldn’t be wise to have that many, and to be so simplistic with the issue. But, isn’t God’s command to be fruitful and multiply still in effect today? Why wouldn’t God want a godly family to have 20 children? Ask the Duggars and the Bates….]
Level 2 – Natural Birth Control
Natural methods include any method of contraception where pregnancy is prevented by abstaining from [acts of pro-creative intimacy] on days where the wife is likely to be fertile. The most popular natural method is the calendar-rhythm method, which has been replaced by more effective methods such as the symptothermal method and the standard days method. Fertility computers are a new development in contraceptive technology that makes these natural methods easier to use by telling a couple when [intimacy] will or won’t result in pregnancy. Natural methods are approved for use by the Roman Catholic Church.
Furthermore, abstaining from [this type of intimacy] does not necessarily require abstaining from all [types of intimacy]. Natural birth control methods have many benefits. Included among them are the fact that, unlike most forms of birth control, they involve the husband, are free, require no surgery, no chemicals, no devices, no drugs, no side effects, are safe, reversible, and can also be used with other methods. One of the potential difficulties is that they require discipline and planning, which not everyone is equally faithful to pursue. In conclusion, natural birth control is permissible for a Christian couple.
Abstinence is not a Bible-supported method of birth control
“Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband. The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife. Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.” (1 Corinthians 7:1-5)
If a couple decides family planning is God’s will for them, the question of method still must be answered. What about abstinence? Some decide to abstain from sexual relations in order to avoid conception. The New Testament does not allow such an arrangement on a long-term basis. In I Corinthians 7 the Apostle Paul says that one purpose for marriage is to protect men and women from fornication. In marriage, couples are entirely free to satisfy themselves. There is nothing unspiritual about relations between marriage partners.
(David Cloud)
Level 3 – Non-Abortive Birth Control
Like the natural methods, non-abortive birth control methods also seek to influence the timing of conception but do so by taking either temporary or permanent additional measures. Temporary non-abortive birth control methods are generally barrier methods. Barrier methods of contraception include all methods that permit intercourse but prevent the sperm and egg from coming together. For husbands, this includes [prophylactics]. For wives, it includes the diaphragm, contraceptive sponges, cervical caps, and female [prophylactics]. Permanent non-abortive birth control methods are those chosen by couples who have decided not to have any more children. This can be achieved either by female sterilization, also called tubal ligation, or vasectomy for men. [These procedures can be reversible in a certain percentage of those that have them done.]
Three things need to be mentioned regarding permanent non-abortive birth control methods. First, the heart really needs to be examined regarding motive on this issue; this method should never be used to abandon the blessing of children. Second, it is unwise for this decision to be made too early in life because it is not uncommon for a couple to later desire more children, or for someone to become remarried after being divorced or widowed and desire to have children with their next spouse. Third, there are Christians who are legalistic on this issue and declare that there is essentially never a good reason for such a permanent measure. However, life in a fallen world is complicated and painful. For example, a pastor and his wife who are good friends of mine suffered eighteen miscarriages before he had a vasectomy to stop what had become for them incredible physical and emotional pain.
Level 4 – Potentially Abortive Birth Control
The pill is a categorical term for more than forty types of oral contraceptives, which are also referred to as birth control pills and sometimes combination pills because they contain a mixture of estrogen and progestin. These hormonal contraceptives are designed to override the female body’s normal cycle and “trick” the brain into believing she’s already pregnant, thus preventing the release of an egg from the ovaries. Today, 50 to 60 million women worldwide take the pill each day and it is the most widely prescribed drug in the world.
The debate over hormonal birth control, particularly birth control pills, is whether or not it results in the taking of a life by destroying a fertilized egg. Randy Alcorn, Christian author and teacher, has addressed this issue in an article called “Does the Birth Control Pill Cause Abortions?” Alcorn refers to the Physician’s Desk Reference (PDR), saying:
“The Physician’s Desk Reference is the most frequently used reference book by physicians in America….As you read the following, keep in mind that the term “implantation,” by definition, always involves an already conceived human being. Therefore, any agent which serves to prevent implantation functions as an abortifacient. This is the PDR’s product information for Ortho-Cept, as listed by Ortho, one of the largest manufacturers of the Pill: Combination oral contraceptives act by suppression of gonadotropins. 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 changes in the endometrium which reduce the likelihood of implantation. The FDA-required research information on the birth control pills Ortho-Cyclen and Ortho Tri-Cyclen also state that they cause “changes in . . . the endometrium (which reduce the likelihood of implantation).” Notice that these changes in the endometrium, and their reduction in the likelihood of implantation, are not stated by the manufacturer as speculative or theoretical effects, but as actual ones. They consider this such a well-established fact that it requires no statement of qualification. Syntex and Wyeth, the other two major pill-manufacturers, say essentially the same thing about their oral contraceptives.”
Very conservative estimates state that the ‘Pill’ kills children between two and ten percent of the time. (Infant Homicides Through Contraceptives)
In summary, Alcorn argues that there is not one but rather three [mechanisms of action] for birth control pills [in preventing pregnancy]. First, the pill exists to inhibit ovulation, which is its primary means of birth control. Second, the pill thickens the cervical mucus with the effect that it becomes more difficult for sperm to travel to the egg. Third, the pill thins and shrivels the lining of the uterus so that it is unable or less able to facilitate the implantation of the newly fertilized egg.
The bottom line is this, the first two purposes for birth control pills are contraceptive in nature and therefore acceptable for use by a Christian couple. However, the third use of birth control pills is potentially abortive in that it seeks to disrupt the ongoing life of a fertilized egg. That potentiality is incredibly controversial; thus, faithful Christians who are staunchly pro-life and believe that life begins at conception are divided over the issue. Even Focus on the Family and the Christian Medical and Dental Associations (CMDA) are undecided on the issue.
Level 5 – Abortive Murder
Abortion is the taking of a human life through the killing of a fertilized egg. Biblically, it is also known as the sin of murder. Abortions include medical procedures of various kinds as well as RU-486 [(Mifepristone)] or the morning-after pill. [RU-486’s mechanism of action is as an abortifacient, and is used within the first 7 weeks of pregnancy. The most popular ‘Morning-After pill ‘ is “Plan-B” which contains a very potent dosing of Levonorgesterol (Progesterone) and can work up to 4 days after intimacy. Plan-B is available OTC.]
In some cases, the [Morning-After pills] prevent ovulation, but in other cases they inhibit implantation of an embryo. In cases in which an embryo cannot implant, the drug acts as a chemical abortifacient. Pharmaceutical companies have addressed this issue by referencing this method of birth control as “emergency contraception” instead of the Morning-After Pill. (ChristianLifeResources.com)
Other items that cause abortion are the intrauterine device (IUD) and Norplant, which do not prevent conception but prevent implantation of an already fertilized ovum. The result is an abortion, the killing of a conceived person. Dr. Thomas W. Hilgers of the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota, says that “the primary action of the IUD must be classified as an abortifacient.”
[Those ‘contraceptives’ that use only ‘Progesterone’ as their active ingredient are not designed to reliably prevent ovulation and thus this increases the likelihood of preventing implantation as its method of contraception. The popular drugs in this category are: Micronor, Nor-QD, Nexplanon, and Depo-Provera.]
(end of MarsHill.com quotes)
It is conservatively estimated that there are more than 6 million contraceptive-induced abortions every year in the USA.
Since 1965 it is estimated that there have been well in excess of 560 million chemical abortions in America!
(multiple sources including ‘Eternal Life’, ‘Pharmacists for Life’, and ‘American Life League’)
Pressure has become so strong in encouraging a young couple to limit the size of their family to no children, or one or two, that I am convinced a Satanic conspiracy is involved. Whatever God commands and promotes as a blessing Satan will attempt to confuse, distort, oppose, and prevent. Since an honest reader of the Scriptures cannot draw any conclusion but that God is in favor of large families (even our Saviour came from a family of at least seven children – Matthew 13:55-56), should not the average believer ask why most Christians are choosing to limit the size of their family or even have none at all?
Doing a little simple computation enables one to see why Satan is desperately trying to convince committed believers in any way he can to either have no children, or to severely limit the size of their family. If we were to assume a godly believer had seven children (after the example of Jesus’ family), and that each of his children would have seven children in each generation, at the end of three generations, he would have 346 godly descendants. At the end of five generations, he would have 16,954 descendants to be soldiers of the cross. At the end of eight generations, he would have the incredible number of 5,815,222 “arrows” fighting for God against Satan’s kingdom! (Ron Williams of Hephzibah House)