There are essentially three principal ways the birth control pill prevents the sperm from fertilizing the egg:
1) Suppresson of Ovulation - the pill’s hormones attempt to prevent the ovum from being released from the ovary each month.
2) Cervical Mucus Change- the cervical mucus of a woman’s body becomes thicker and more difficult for the sperm to reach the ovum.
3) Thinning of the Endometrium- the pill weakens the lining of the womb and thins it, preventing the fertilized egg from attaching (implantation).
Women have 28-day cycles and thus have 13 cycles/year (365/28 = 13.3).
According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute , 10,410,000 U.S. women are current pill users, a figure that constitutes 26.9% of all those using some method of contraception.
Dr. Don Gambrell notes that there is a 14% breakthrough ovulation rate in females taking the 50 microgram pills (10,410,000 x .14 = 1,457,400 ovulations each cycle). (1)
1,457,400 x 13 cycles/year = 18,946,200 possible exposures to pregnancy each year.
Since the normal fecundity rate (chance of pregnancy without using contraceptives) for the average couple is 20%, and if we were to suppose that the cervical mucus change cut down the sperm reaching the ovum by 50% (a very generous allowance), that means that there would be 20% x 50% x 18,946,200= 1,894,620 fertilized ovums that would have otherwise implanted in the walls of the uterus.
Of this number, the accepted rate for “pill pregnancies” is 3-5 per 100 women years i.e 3%-5%. (2)
This means that 95-97% of these unborn babies were prevented from implanting in the lining of the womb because of the oral contraceptive’s thinning of the endometrium (#3 above).
In other words, approximately 1,800,000 (95% x 1,894,620) babies die every year through the use of oral contraceptives in the U.S. alone.
Therefore the ratio between BCP abortion vs. conventional abortions is 2.2 : 1.
This means that for every ONE woman aborting through conventional means, more than TWO women are aborting through the use of oral contraceptives.
Endnotes:
(1) When women missed only two tablets during their cycle, escape ovulation was indicated in 14% of women during the first cycle and in 36% of the same woman during the fourth cycle. The omission of two tablets, either intentionally (as in this study), or accidentally (as in real life) indicates the precarious hold that the pill has on ovulation. (Source). This 14% break-through ovulation rate is consistent with the 3-5% failure rate model adopted in this analysis (see footnote 2 below).
Rough Calculation: 1 missed pill / 30 days x 80% non-fecundity rate = 2.64% failure rate; 2 missed pills / 30 days x 80% non-fecundity rate = 5.34% failure rate.
(2) The U.S. FDA cites oral contraceptives failing 1-2% of the time without human error. With human error, the rates climb anywhere from 3% – 13%.
Sources
Response to Joel Goodnough MD, “Redux: Is the oral contraceptive pill an abortifacient?” (Must Read Smackdown)
Excerpt in appendix to article:
Gregory Pincus was the steroid guru of his day and was internationally acclaimed. I reviewed only 4 boxes (#’s 93,107,142, and 145), but the contents were most revealing. With regard to the issue of the abortifacient nature of the BCP, the following correspondence is enlightening. It is a letter from Albert Segaloff, M.D., dated September 4. 1964. He must have been an editor for Steroids, an international journal. He writes: “Dear Goody, I am enclosing your manuscript on `Further Studies on Implantation Inhibitors: I want to thank you for submitting this most fascinating paper on a very interesting series of compounds to Steroids.” The opening paragraph of this paper co-authored by Upendra K. Banik and J. Jacques of the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology and the College de France reads: “Twenty-three compounds injected on day I or days I through 3 of pregnancy in rats have been tested as possible inhibitors of implantation. Among them eight have proven active at total doses of 1.5 mg per rat or less. Administration of some of the active compounds by gavage has also led to implantation inhibition. The group of compounds found to be active were also the most potent in uterotrophic assay in immature mice. Among them a highly active compound, A-nor-androstane-2a, 17a-diethyny-2b, 17b-diol (V) has been examined in detail. It appears to act primarily by causing expulsion from Fallopian tubes and uterus of the free, pre-implantation ova (sic), and was ineffective in the usual sterilizing dose in terminating implanted embryos.” In 1965 in the World Health Organization Technical Report Series No. 303 appeared an article titled “Mechanism Of Action Of Sex Hormones And Analogous Substances: Report of a WHO Scientific Group.” On page 17, paragraph 5.1 reads: “Both the steroid hormones and the synthetic analogues, when used during long periods, have effects on the reproductive tract that need evaluation. In the normal female, endogenous hormones are secreted cyclicly (sic), involving the interrelated rise and fall of oestrogen and gestogen; this seems to be a protective mechanism of considerable significance. If there is continuous exposure to even low doses of oestrogens, either endogenous or exogenous, pathological effects are produced, the endometrium becoming hyperplastic. On the other hand, if progestogens and gestogens are given continuously at even low levels, amenorrhea and sterility result, with regression of the endometrium to a thin layer having scant if any secretory activity.” This finding has been known for a long time. In Dr. Pincus’ files was a paper by Professor L. T. Samuels, a temporary member of the WHO Scientific Group. On page 5 of his paper we note: “Excess oestrogens can interfere with either fertilization, blastocyst formation, or implantation, depending on the time after ovulation when the high level occurs.” And later on the same page he adds: “The retention and rate of development of the blastocyst in utero has long been known to be progesterone-dependent. Oestrogens inhibit the blastocyst stimulating effect of progesterone. It is, of course, well known that excess oestrogens prevent implantation, just as they prevent gestogen-induced deciduorna formation in experimental animals.” I found several other references verifying these findings, but sufficient to clinch the long-known fact of the abortifacient nature of sex steroids under certain circumstances is another letter from Victor A. Drill, M.D., Director of Biological Research for G.D. Searle & Co. It is dated July 14. 1954 and addressed to Dr. Pincus. On page 2, one finds this paragraph: “We will not send any compounds for anti-ovulatory or anti-implantation tests this month. If you need any for the following month, this, of course, will be indicated on your list of requested numbers of compounds.”6
The Birth Control Pill: Abortifacient and Contraceptive. See endorsers below.
Marie A. Anderson, M.D., FACOG
Tepeyac Family Center
Fairfax VA 22033
Paddy Jim Baggot, M.D.
Geneticist, Perinatologist
Pope Paul VI Inst., Omaha NE
Thomas L. Bodensteiner, M.D.,
FACOG
Beatrice NE
John J. Brennan, M.D., FACOG
Assoc. Clinical Professor of
Obstetrics and Gynecology
Medical College of Wisconsin
John T. Bruchalski, M.D.
Diplomate, American Board of
Obstetrics and Gynecology
Medical Director, Tepeyac Family
Center, Fairfax VA
William F. Colliton, Jr., M.D.,
FACOG, Clinical Professor of
Obstetrics and Gynecology
George Washington University
Medical Center (ret.)
Lorna L. Cvetkovich, M.D.,
FACOG, Wichita KS
Mary L. Davenport, M.D.,
FACOG, El Sobrante CA
Charles H. Dahm, M.D.,
FACOG, St. Louis MO
Michael B. Dixon, M.D.,FACOG,
Dip. ABFP, St. Louis MO.
Hans E Geisler, M.D., FACOG,
FACS, Dir. of Gyn. Oncology, St
Vincent Hosp.& Health Centers,
Clin.Prof. Obst.and Gynecology,
Indiana Univ. Medical Center
Kim Anthony Hardey, M.D.
Diplomate, American Board of
Obstetrics and Gynecology
Lafayette LA
David R. Harnisch, Sr., M.D.,
F.A.A.F.P., J.F.A.C.O.G.
Beavercreek OH
[...] Here’s some information about the Pill and Abortion. [...]
i thinking i am two months pregnant can i take birth control pills for abortion , and can you please tell me the name of birth control pills which are available in medical store.
Without using an oral contraceptive, more than 25% of fertilized ovum do not implant in the lining of the womb. These fertilized ovum die. So does this means that all sexually active people are serial killers?
That’s a little strong, I mean…there was no active effort to kill the ovum in this case. Although this article does mention that contraceptive users would be considered serial killers, as they are actively seeking to make the womb lining uninhabitable.
But in the USA, parents are considered legal guardians of their offspring until such a time where that obligation is legally transferred to another party. Thus instead of all sexually active people being considered serial killers, they would only be guilty of a measly multiple cases of child abuse resulting in death.
Thank you for this information. When tis reality becomes fully understood by people, many will be horrified.
Go bless
MS
“Women on BCPs [birth control pills] have 28-day cycles and thus have 13 cycles/year (365/28 = 13.3).” – what kind of logic is this?? I haven’t ever used BCPs and I’ve always had a (healthy) 28-day cycle.
It was badly worded. I’ve fixed it.
Response to Druk:
Even if there wasn’t an active effort to kill the fertilized ovum, this does not mean that the the embryo is not killed. One does take the active effort to take an oral contraceptive.
If we went by your logic, there are many (natural) miscarriages during a late term pregnancy, then would it be permissible to intentionally abort that baby at that stage as well because it does sometimes happen naturally?