Why is the morning after pill wrong?

[mystagogia87]

Most of a woman’s fertilized eggs do not implant. Why is the morning after pill wrong, then, when it simply seems to heighten a natural process of the woman’s body?

If life begins at conception, why would God make a woman’s body in such a way that most human lives (fertilized eggs) are so promptly lost? Is heaven mostly populated by those who were never born?

 

[Lapey]

Most of a woman’s fertilized eggs do not implant. Why is the morning after pill wrong, then, when it simply seems to heighten a natural process of the woman’s body?

If life begins at conception, why would God make a woman’s body in such a way that most human lives (fertilized eggs) are so promptly lost? Is heaven mostly populated by those who were never born?

Are you being serious? So if I shoot my wife, I’m just enhancing the normal & natural process of her dying anyway, so it’s okay…right?

And yes, I am being absurd…in order to illustrate absurdity. Please don’t tell her…

We can justify anything if we try hard enough. Catholic moral teachings are to be followed, whether we understand them, beliee in them, or not.

These drugs cause abortion; if a fertilized egg is prevented from implanting, it is killed. If it naturally does not implant, it dies naturally.

 

[mystagogia87]

Here’s what bothers me: Why would God make human life in such an inefficient way, such that most human beings loved by God are never born?

 

[Lapey]

Here’s what bothers me: Why would God make human life in such an inefficient way, such that most human beings loved by God are never born?

This is exactly what I am talking about. Because God is inferior, my actions, which are not in line with His Church’s teachings, are okay.

Things happen that we cannot explain or ever understand, and they are caused or allowed by God, not us.

Father Larry Richards, “I ready to give God everything…untill He asks for something I’m not ready to give.”

If there has to be justification for anything you do, beware.

 

[mystagogia87]

I never said that God was inferior, and my comments were interpreted very uncharitably. I was simply asking a question that had been bothering me.

 

[Callum]

Most of a woman’s fertilized eggs do not implant. Why is the morning after pill wrong, then, when it simply seems to heighten a natural process of the woman’s body?

If life begins at conception, why would God make a woman’s body in such a way that most human lives (fertilized eggs) are so promptly lost? Is heaven mostly populated by those who were never born?

I will try to answer from basics upwards, so forgive me if this is a little patronising:

The morning after pill is abortifacient - it risks the destruction of human embryos in utero. We assume that an embryo has the same moral status as any other human being, so it would be wrong for it to be killed (hence similar proscriptions against abortion and “the pill”).

The difference, however, is this.

The natural loss of embryos through failure of the reproductive process is largely inevitable and generally unintended. There is no moral obligation to prolong all lives all the time. It is unfortunate, but an accident none the less.

Interventions (such as the morning after pill) which deliberately exterminate an embryo are sinful not because of the death itself but because of the intention. The intention of taking an abortifacient treatment is to actively and purposefully kill the embryo. This is wrong. “Thou shalt not kill” &c.

Your point about the inefficiency of the human reproduction system is valid. The death rate from natural embryo death is very high indeed. (See a similar question I worried about here: forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=650196).

I am unsure as to why God made humans this way. I am sure that this is some hidden wisdom in the design. Certainly this is not the only inefficiency in the human body.

It is not necessarily the case that the afterlife is full of deceased embryos, as we do not know the exact point at which ensoulment occurs. That doesn’t mean it is acceptable to kill embryos (the “soul” is greater than and distinct from “life”).

 

[Hokomai]

Most of a woman’s fertilized eggs do not implant. Why is the morning after pill wrong, then, when it simply seems to heighten a natural process of the woman’s body?

If life begins at conception, why would God make a woman’s body in such a way that most human lives (fertilized eggs) are so promptly lost? Is heaven mostly populated by those who were never born?

Life does not begin at conception. Both sperm and egg are alive before conception. As I understand the Catholic teaching, and I am sure a Catholic will correct me if I am wrong, a human being comes into existence at the moment of conception and has a right to life. Catholics believe that the end never justifies the means, so to kill a zygote (fertilised egg) is wrong, not matter what the perceived good outcomes (prevention of a pregnancy in a raped 12-year-old for example). The science from memory is that about one-third of fertilised eggs are lost naturally (I found a source for this and posted it on another thread). so heaven, should it exist, must be only a third full of people who died from early natural abortion, as all the born people eventually die anyway. Catholics believe in natural law which is based on the idea (in relation to human biology) that parts of bodies have natural ‘ends’ and that the natural end of the procreative system is to make babies, not destroy them. So even in the face of such massive natural destruction, Catholics consider that it is unnatural for people to do the same, as the natural ‘end’ is a live baby, not a dead one. Catholics: please feel free to grade this attempt to describe your views!

 

[jinc1019]

Most of a woman’s fertilized eggs do not implant. Why is the morning after pill wrong, then, when it simply seems to heighten a natural process of the woman’s body?

If life begins at conception, why would God make a woman’s body in such a way that most human lives (fertilized eggs) are so promptly lost? Is heaven mostly populated by those who were never born?

I understand where you are coming from…but biologically speaking, if you believe life begins at conception, the morning after pill often results in abortion, and the reasons why that is wrong are self-explanatory.

However, to use your logic, some people are born without the ability to walk…Does that mean it’s ok to go around disabling people? That’s the same line of thinking if you believe life begins at conception. If life does not begin at conception…then the morning after pill doesn’t matter at all. Personally, I think all of the biological, medical, and scientific signs point toward life being commenced at conception, thus making the morning after pill a form of abortion.

 

[mgoforth]

Here’s what bothers me: Why would God make human life in such an inefficient way, such that most human beings loved by God are never born?

Behave yourself and reject the ways of evil (including the morning after pill) and you just might be able to ask Him yourself someday Although I know I would be just a tiny bit embarrassed to ask the Almighty God who created everything why he didn’t consult with me first…

 

[edwest2]

As Catholics, we are taught that after The Fall, all of Creation was affected. All of us are worthy of God’s infinite mercy but we will be judged by our behavior and actions. We all have dignity as human beings.

Whether a fertilized egg implants or not is not a choice we make. Taking the morning after pill is a choice we make to prevent pregnancy from occurring. We need to take responsibility for our decisions as most sex acts occur between two willing parties.

Peace,
Ed

 

[dsf11785]

Most of a woman’s fertilized eggs do not implant. Why is the morning after pill wrong, then, when it simply seems to heighten a natural process of the woman’s body?

If life begins at conception, why would God make a woman’s body in such a way that most human lives (fertilized eggs) are so promptly lost? Is heaven mostly populated by those who were never born?

As you try to figure this out, here is another question that might help your thought process.

For the majority of human history, the probability of infants surviving to adulthood has always been very low, due to disease and poverty. Take, for instance, my great-great-grandparents who lived in Slovakia during the 1870s-90s. They had about 12-15 children, but only 4 or 5 survived past infancy. I once looked at a list of their children, and at one point they had a boy and named him John, and he died the same year; then they had another boy, and named him John, but he also died the same year; then they had another boy, and named him John, and he survived (and he was my great-grandfather); and the rest of the family list went on in a similar manner. The fact that they named all of their boys John until they finally got one who survived shows me how common and expected infant death was back then. I would guess that the majority of families throughout human history were similar to this family. It was probably not until the modern technology and prosperity and vaccines of the twentieth century that infant survival rates passed 50%. Since none of us are old enough to remember before this, I think most of us don’t realize it.

Anyways, let’s imagine that you are my great-great-grandmother, and you have just had another baby. This baby has about a 30% chance of surviving. Now I have two questions for you.

1. If you decide that you don’t want the child for some reason, maybe because you are too poor to take care of it properly, would it be moral for you to kill the child, figuring that it is probably going to die anyways?
2. Why did God create a world in which the majority of humans born do not survive past infancy? Is the majority of heaven populated by people who never made it past age 2? (I’m sure my great-great-grandmother asked herself this question many times.)

If you can answer these two questions, would you agree that the answers can be applied to your question as well, because they are the exact same concept? Or do you think that there is some difference between your scenario and mine that makes the answers different?

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this.

 

[twoangels]

Here’s what bothers me: Why would God make human life in such an inefficient way, such that most human beings loved by God are never born?

Interesting. This is entirely a different question to why the morning after pill is immoral. The real question is why do so many children die before implantation even when the woman is not on hormones to prevent the child from implanting? Women and their families have no idea the child existed. The child is alive for maybe a handful of days and then quickly dies. And then even if the woman becomes aware she is pregnant, miscarriage early in the pregnancy is very common. Many women wait till they are further along to inform people of their pregnancy because informing too early can mean that your baby died while people are still being informed that you are pregnant and coming up and congratulating you and asking you things that make mourning the loss difficult.

i suppose the answer is that it is not how long our lives our that determines our value. Even if we are only alive for 24 hours, God still loves us.

Do they go to Heaven? No idea. The Church teaches that we are born with original sin. These are children who have never been born physically and have never been baptized. It could be assumed that they are conceived in a state of original sin, else when children are born, that would mean the process of birth steals away the grace God gave them when they were first conceived. This is ultimately why their used to be speculation about a limbo for unbaptized children. Ultimately though the Church has looked into this and there is nothing within Divine Revelation to enlighten us about what happens to children who die before they can be baptized. There is speculation that perhaps their parents’ intention to baptise them had they been born works in the same was as baptism of desire works in an adult. But again this is speculation. Ultimately the Church’s ruling has been that we entrust them to the mercy of God. We know that God is perfectly just and perfectly merciful. He has not told us what happens to them, but we can have hope in our knowledge that God loves everyone and wants everyone with Him in Heaven.

In the end, that is what we do at every funeral. No matter how faithful someone seems, only God can judge that person’s heart. We can only have hope that they will find themselves in Heaven. There is nothing to guarentee that when any of our loved ones die that they are automatically “in a better place.” We hope they are, but the funeral is about praying for their soul. And while some people act like even entertaining the thought that people could be in Purgatory or even Hell while their family is greiving for their loss, I can tell you that when my grandmother died, I found much comfort in praying for her. It was a way i could help her. It was similiar to when she was getting older and needed to rest. I could help out in the kitchen, I could offer a shoulder for her to lean on if she were so exhausted and needed assistance into a chair. My work wasn’t over in her death. And praying for her helped me through my mourning process because it helped me to trust and let her go into God’s merciful hands. I didn’t need empty feel good words.

 

[Nate13]

Here’s what bothers me: Why would God make human life in such an inefficient way, such that most human beings loved by God are never born?

Humans are pretty inefficient lol. The death rate of those of us that are born has been near the death rate before death before in history. How many people did we kill off in during the Civil War here in the U.S and the World Wars? Human beings are fragile at whatever stage of life you are talking about.

 

[JimG]

If life begins at conception, why would God make a woman’s body in such a way that most human lives (fertilized eggs) are so promptly lost? Is heaven mostly populated by those who were never born?

How do we even know how many fertilized eggs fail to implant? I’ve seen numerous claims that most or many fail to implant. I’ve even read journal articles which reference the same thing. It seems to be takend for granted. But I’ve never seen the methodolgy explained by which this can be demonstrated.

 

[Nate13]

How do we even know how many fertilized eggs fail to implant? I’ve seen numerous claims that most or many fail to implant. I’ve even read journal articles which reference the same thing. It seems to be takend for granted. But I’ve never seen the methodolgy explained by which this can be demonstrated.

Yeah I would have to ask the OP what percentage she is basing her question on, and if she has studies to back it. This is far from a known established quantity. Some believe the 'failure to implant" percentage is as low as 5%. I’d also ask how we don’t know that our diet and what we eat, medications we take, are not having an effect on that percentage as well? There are many things that can cause the uterus lining to thin, and thus make implantation less likely.

 

[JimG]

Yeah I would have to ask the OP what percentage she is basing her question on, and if she has studies to back it. This is far from a known established quantity. Some believe the 'failure to implant" percentage is as low as 5%. I’d also ask how we don’t know that our diet and what we eat, medications we take, are not having an effect on that percentage as well?

It just seems to me that to get an accurate figure would take a large and intrusive sampling. One would have to study nearly every menstrual cycle over a period of time to verify unimplanted fertilized eggs. It just doesn’t seem feasible. But somehow, someone has made this estimate, and I simply don’t know the methodology or the extent of its validity.

 

[kbwall]

The morning after pill is an abortificant and all that this implies.

Why would God create human life such that it is easily destroyed before it can see the light of day? I believe this is just one of those questions that no human knows the answer to. Why are we given life if we are going to die anyway no matter what we do? Why are some people given longer lives than others? Why does evil exist at all?

 

[edwest2]

Why does evil exist? We are taught an angel and other angels along with him disobeyed God. The same with our first parents, Adam and Eve. They were in communion with God until they disobeyed a simple command. There are bad things that happen by accident, and there are bad things that happen because we want them to happen or because others want them to happen: revenge, murder, etc.

Peace,
Ed

 

[sw85]

Most of a woman’s fertilized eggs do not implant. Why is the morning after pill wrong, then, when it simply seems to heighten a natural process of the woman’s body?

If life begins at conception, why would God make a woman’s body in such a way that most human lives (fertilized eggs) are so promptly lost? Is heaven mostly populated by those who were never born?

Is it OK for me to cluster bomb a populated neighborhood because, after all, there’s a chance they won’t kill anyone?

Of course not – I have no business cluster bombing any neighborhood in the first place!