Moral dilemma: going on the pill for medicinal purposes?

[Warrior1979]

The good effect, in this case, is the mitigation of troublesome symptoms and the ability to continue practicing marital sex; the bad effect is, potentially, the destruction of one’s unborn child.

The good effect clearly does not outweight the bad there. And the agent can exercise due diligence to minimize harm by remaining abstinent and thus avoiding the potentially abortifacient effect of the Pill entirely.

Thus it seems to me that to continue sexual practice while on the Pill is not in fact justifiable even by good intentions.

This is my opinion, and my opinion only:

I would speculate that the Church took these points into consideration. Fact is, the “abortifacient” action of the pill is virtually nonexistent. The pill basically stops ovulation, so an egg being released and fertilized is highly improbable. Even if that event occurs, it is not a given that the fertilized egg will not implant.

Furthermore, this event can occur naturally in the body and under similar circumstances. An egg can be released “by accident” and be fertilized, yet not implant because the body is in a similar state when taking hormones. The result is the same, yet one is called an abortion and the other a miscarriage.

I would speculate that if there was a high probability of miscarriage occurring, the opinion might be different.

 

[Nate13]

This is my opinion, and my opinion only:

I would speculate that the Church took these points into consideration. Fact is, the “abortifacient” action of the pill is virtually nonexistent. The pill basically stops ovulation, so an egg being released and fertilized is highly improbable. Even if that event occurs, it is not a given that the fertilized egg will not implant.

Furthermore, this event can occur naturally in the body and under similar circumstances. An egg can be released “by accident” and be fertilized, yet not implant because the body is in a similar state when taking hormones. The result is the same, yet one is called an abortion and the other a miscarriage.

I would speculate that if there was a high probability of miscarriage occurring, the opinion might be different.

He actually has a point. Taking the pill is in effect just making the risk of miscarrying much higher. I bet there are lots of other drugs that would have this same effect of increasing the chance of miscarrying and would have to be ruled out if you were going to rule out the pill. I have seen statistics that found the pill to be abortitive 3-4% of the time when an egg does drop though. Considering how many people use the pill, this could add up to millions of babies killed by the pill. Especially when you consider how many people misuse the pill by taking it at the wrong times or forgetting to take it occasionally making the likelihood of an egg dropping much more likely and I would bet that even if you forget to take the pill, the uterine wall does not immediately regain the thickness it normally has. I bet someone knows of a link that could tell us though. If so you may have even more unintentional deaths by those who get off the pill when they want to have a kid and begin trying immediately while some of the effects of the pill are still lingering, causing deaths that shouldn’t have happened.

 

[Warrior1979]

He actually has a point. Taking the pill is in effect just making the risk of miscarrying much higher.

I actually have another point.

This risk of miscarriage is reduced.

The pill impedes ovulation, so the likelihood of of a fertilized egg occurring is very small. OTOH, there is a much higher probably of fertilized eggs occurring when people have sex naturally, and a certain no-so-small percentage of these eggs don’t implant, or are expelled after implantation. Data to support this has been posted on this forum by Catholic sources (note: this was not the intent of the studies, but it was a fact evident from the data).

 

[Nate13]

I actually have another point.

This risk of miscarriage is reduced.

The pill impedes ovulation, so the likelihood of of a fertilized egg occurring is very small. OTOH, there is a much higher probably of fertilized eggs occurring when people have sex naturally, and a certain no-so-small percentage of these eggs don’t implant, or are expelled after implantation. Data to support this has been posted on this forum by Catholic sources (note: this was not the intent of the studies, but it was a fact evident from the data).

haha yes but that is natural miscarriage

 

[Warrior1979]

haha yes but that is natural miscarriage

I personally believe that both should be considered miscarriages. The problem with calling the event an “abortion” when taking the pill for medicinal purposes is that it implies “abortion” is permitted as a double-effect, even when the mother’s life is not in any danger. This is very different from, say, ectopic pregnancy, where the child will die no matter what, and the mother would also die without medical intervention.

 

[Nate13]

I personally believe that both should be considered miscarriages. The problem with calling the event an “abortion” when taking the pill for medicinal purposes is that it implies “abortion” is permitted as a double-effect, even when the mother’s life is not in any danger. This is very different from, say, ectopic pregnancy, where the child will die no matter what, and the mother would also die without medical intervention.

Ahh now if someone is taking the pill for medical purposes for which there is no other viable treatment, then yes I would consider it a miscarriage. That is what we do with other medicines with the possibility of increasing miscarriages. Actually now that I think of it is there any reason the women on the pill could not be using NFP and watching her signs? She actually might be alerted then if an egg did drop and could avoid an occasion to have sex that might lead to an unintended miscarriage?

 

[AAArose]

Doctors are humans like the rest of us, and subject to prejudice, ignorance or bias. Some have alleged that certain doctors use the pill as an ‘easy out’ to mask symptoms of an underlying problem instead of healing the real problem.

There are doctors specifically interested in helping people identify and permanently resolve those problems (if possible). Here’s a good way to find such doctors:
fertilitycare.org/minnesotamedicalconsultants/ Don’t be fooled by the link name, you can pick your own state once you are there.

I agree you are just masking the symptoms with the pill and to find out and fix the problem use nfp. Fertility, Cycles & Nutrition by Marilyn Shannon rent it from the library if you can. your nutrition affects you cycle, get answers, go natrual, get a 2nd option. the pill artificial!

 

[Warrior1979]

I agree you are just masking the symptoms with the pill and to find out and fix the problem use nfp. Fertility, Cycles & Nutrition by Marilyn Shannon rent it from the library if you can. your nutrition affects you cycle, get answers, go natrual, get a 2nd option. the pill artificial!

Nutrition affects everything. The modern diet is very disconnected what humans would eat in nature, and as a result there are widespread medical issues. I wish people would take the same effort in avoiding all medications as they would the “pill.”