(music)
- I'm glad somebody asked that question because
I think a lot of times couples get married without
even thinking about whether there are moral considerations
with birth control.
And sometime later in their marriage they might come
across something that tells them some form they've
been using or used to use has some moral considerations.
So there's a few key points that I want to address.
We need to recognize that our culture breeds a sort of
pro-creative liberty.
In fact, it's one of the highest values that
some people hold.
And that includes what I would call birth control mentality,
with the emphasis on control.
We want to be in control of everything.
And often this is quite contrary to the biblical picture
of children as a gift from God.
Because, of course, gifts are something that we
receive, not something that we are completely
in control of.
And so when we consider the use of birth control,
I think one of the things that we want to be clear on
is that children are a gift.
We can never have complete control,
or we should never have complete control over the
process of procreation.
And sometimes the use of birth control,
at least in our culture, portrays children as a burden
to marriage, children get in the way of marriage.
And even sometimes Evangelicals can have a tendency
to think in those terms so we need to be careful about that.
Then the second consideration is that there's two basic
kinds of birth control that I would address.
One is those forms of birth control that prevent
conception from taking place,
and the other are forms of birth control that act
after conception which would prevent the newly created
human life, the new embryo from implanting in the
mother's womb.
So methods that prevent fertilization would include
barrier methods such as condoms or diaphragm or
we might include, it's a little bit different,
but we might include in this natural family planning.
In which the way this works is that intercourse
takes place when the woman is not in her fertile period.
So there's no conception that takes place there, either.
Those methods that act after fertilization would include
things like implants, hormonal implants, IUDs,
or RU486 and these operate as a form of abortion,
in effect.
Abortification effect because they act after fertilization
has taken place, preventing the embryo from implanting
in the womb.
Now, one other form that I would mention here would be
oral contraceptives.
This is very commonly used and there is some controversy
among Evangelicals about this because of how they operate.
So one of the secondary effects of oral contraceptives,
or I'll say birth control pills,
is that they will thin the uterine lining making
implantation difficult.
So some Evangelicals have come out very vocally
in opposition to birth control pills because of
this effect.
While others will come back and say we need to think
more carefully about this in some ways because
their rationale is that if breakthrough ovulation occurs
the pill has failed.
And if the pill has failed then it is likely not acting
to thin the uterine lining so it's not creating a more
hostile place for implantation.
In fact, they would argue, if conception occurs after
breakthrough ovulation then the woman's body is
starting to produce hormones that will make the uterus
friendly for implantation.
So I'm not a medical doctor, I've read a lot of literature
on this, but I would counsel couples to refer to
a healthcare provider who can give better information
and fuller information and for couples to discuss that
with their healthcare provider.
Although they should recognize that sometimes their
healthcare provider won't have any objection to
types of birth control that do prevent implantation.
So they need to recognize that and simply ask questions
about how the particular form works.
So a third consideration has to do with if you are looking
at those forms of birth control that are acceptable
because they don't prevent implantation,
then we might want to consider some basic things.
This is just marriage 101.
That we ought to be in agreement on the form that we use.
And neither the husband or the wife ought to put pressure
on the other to use a particular form.
And a given couple may find one form of birth control
more burdensome than another and it may vary from
couple to couple so we need to think about these things
together.
The last point that is often raised is the issue of
permanent measures.
So something like a tubal ligation for the wife,
or a vasectomy for the husband.
And one of my concerns here is that this is a different,
qualitatively different from other forms of birth control.
So the fact that it's permanent, one of the things that
I would teach about marriage is that since procreation
is one of the purposes of marriage we ought to always
be open to procreation.
And it seems to me difficult to say in what meaningful way
we are open to the gift of procreation if we've taken
a permanent measure to avoid procreation.
Now there still may be reasons for doing that,
and so I don't want to say that just to do this is wrong.
But some of those reasons might be because of the
couple's age and they've had a number of children
and now they're up in age.
Or maybe there's a high risk of a genetic problem.
Or there might be some other reasons.
But I would exercise great caution if it's just
a matter of having had one, or two, or three children
and deciding we don't want anymore so this is going to
be our effective method.
I would be very cautious about that.
One of the questions that students often ask me
is in what sense can you be open to the gift of children
if you're using contraception?
And my answer to that is because overall you can be
open to the gift of children, but for a time you may
simply be using contraception.
And I would illustrate this, in fact, in my own life
when we had had our third child and it was a difficult
time for my wife because it was a difficult labor
and delivery and our daughter was having some difficulty thriving
And so we weren't planning on getting pregnant
any time soon.
And so we were using contraception for the time being.
And within about two months she found out that she was
pregnant again.
Now if you're open to the gift of procreation,
the way I would illustrate that is that you receive
that news with joy.
And, frankly, it came a little bit as a shock and we
weren't sure how we were going to handle that,
but it did come as a gift from God and so we received
that with joy and were quite pleased.
The bottom line is, then, when you consider contraception
or you consider birth control methods there's a
distinction between those that prevent fertilization
and those that act after fertilization.
And I would reject those that act after fertilization.
And then, finally, just to remember that whether planned
or not, every child is a gift
from God of immeasurable value
(music)
- [Narrator] Thanks for watching Honest Answers.
You can submit your questions by email, Twitter,
or in the comments section below.
And don't forget to subscribe to find out the answer
to next Wednesday's question.
(music)