Following from yesterday’s post, and continuing on in this week of the 35th anniversary of Roe, I offer the following facts, which surprised me when I first learned them.

Birth control pills have three effects: (1) thickening of mucous, (2) suppression of ovulation, and (3) hardening the lining of the uterus. If effects (1) and (2) “fail” to prevent conception, then after conception a fertilized egg reaches the uterus and is unable to implant in the lining that has been rendered “hostile” by the pill. See here. Effects (1) and (2) are contraceptive, but (3) functions as a back-up after contraception. This “back-up” is an abortifacient, that is, it causes a very early abortion, before the woman would even know she had conceived. If life begins at conception, then the life conceived withers and dies when it cannot implant to find nourishment.

By offering this fact, I do not wish to judge anyone for the decision to contracept. I just hope the decision is made with all the facts. In my experience, doctors tend to avoid or gloss over the abortifacient effects in describing the drugs to patients. Furthermore, according to some of the websites linked above, the insert material in the pills does not disclose the abortifacient effect, but rather refers the reader to additional sources for information, and those sources contain the information about effect (3). Check out the PDR descriptions for further verification, just note the discussion of implantation–if the pill makes the uterus lining hostile and prevents implantation, it affects a zygote after conception.