There is a very interesting comment thread on a post I wrote over at Think Christian: No Birth Control for Baptists.
In my post I asked:
For those of us who believe that life begins at conception is there an ethical difference between abortion and birth control methods that prevent implantation?
The answers to that question have been very interesting to say the least. Another thing that I first noticed on Jim’s post is that there is some confusion between fertilization of the egg and implantation of the embryo. Just goes to show you what happens when theologians (and mostly men) try to discuss gynecology!
to me yes there is a differeance between birth control and abortion,
there are many different types of pill out there,
let us realise girls aswell as guys will have sex out side of marraige no matter what we try to do,
we know that std is on the rise yes it would be better to wait till your married to have sex
but lets get in the real world it happens lets help these youth come along side them with compassion and help and not judgement
I suppose there are some who are anticipating this but I wonder how many supporters of “life at conception” have considered the legal ramifications. Surely a pregnancy ended prematurely due to an automobile accident will need to be considered man-slaughter. Drinking or smoking during pregnancy might need to be reckless endangerment. I am not sure where skiing or ski-diving while pregnant would fit in.
Sure, this is a silly slippery-slope argument. Or is it? Having read the comments on Think Christian (I am not a member), I realize that there are people for whom no slippery-slope is ever silly.
I am reminded of the project asking abortion protesters whether women who have illegal abortions should go to jail. The people are dumbfounded, as if they had never thought about that before!
Oral contraceptives have been around since 1960. I took them in the early 70s. I don’t recall ever hearing anything other than “they prevent ovulation and therefore prevent pregnancy” until very recent years. Was I just stupid and uninformed? Was there a conspiracy of silence? I don’t know. But I’ve done some study on this since first learning more of the scientific details and I think I wouldn’t have taken them if I knew then what I know now.
I guess in some ways I could plead ignorance for my earlier actions. But now that I know more of the science of oral contraceptives, I’m responsible for that knowledge.