Birth Control: Why We Want More
Our generation has heard all about the joys of contraception. We no longer need to worry about unexpected pregnancies. We can make sure to form our families according to plan. Not to mention, the Pill can help with cramps and even acne!
When I was 17 years old and preparing to go away for college, my doctor asked my mom to leave the room to ask me some confidential questions.
“Now, you have to realize that going to college brings with it a lot of changes, you’ll be discovering more and engaging in new relationships. It would be very smart to go on the birth control pill now, just in case. Would you like me to write you a prescription?”
As I heard these words from my doctor, it struck me how often we hear birth control as the answer to so many things...
How do we fix the teen pregnancy rate? More birth control!
How do we lower the number of abortions? More birth control!
How do we enjoy sex even if we aren’t ready to commit to marriage? You guessed it... more birth control!
But what if contraception isn’t what we were looking for in the first place? Our generation is not looking for more birth control, what we really want is MORE THAN birth control.
Here are 3 reasons why we desire more than the empty promises that we are fed by our doctors, the media, our friends, and even our families:
1.Contraception steals our ability to love the way that God loves.
God intended the love between husband and wife to mirror God’s love for humankind (see why in Marriage Can Wait). When God loved, He created. In the beginning, He loved, and so He created the heavens and the earth. He loved, and so He created human beings in His image.
Love cannot stay wound up within a person, but must be expressed outwardly.
In a sexual relationship, this love flows outward by the possibility of giving LIFE to another human being! When we turn to contraceptives, we turn our backs on the ability that God gave us to participate His creative love.
2.Contraception blinds us to commitment.
When asked how long a couple should be together before having sex, Cosmopolitan UK said “even 3 minutes can be long enough if the time is right.” Why is it that we have accepted this separation between sex and a committed relationship? Simply put, birth control makes it easy to seek the pleasure of sex outside of the union of marriage which fosters long-term commitment necessary for raising children.
If that’s the case, it’s no wonder that it’s become so common for couples to live together without plans to marry.
But is that what we really want? When we let someone know the most intimate parts of ourselves, when we let them come so close as to become one flesh with them, don’t we want the assurance that they will love us not just when things are fun and happy, but also through the rough moments of life- “through sickness and health, in good times and bad, in joy and in sorrow”?
3.Birth control is bad for a woman’s body.
Did you know that birth control is a class 1 carcinogen? That it increases risks of breast cancer, especially when taken at a young age? For a more in depth look at what birth control can do to your body see this comprehensive list of side effects & adverse effects listed for one of the most common forms of oral contraceptives.
To my dear sisters...Our bodies deserve better than this and it's time we stop treating our fertility as a disease. That’s why natural family planning techniques are much kinder to a woman’s body when seeking to wait to have children.
Birth control gives us an easy answer; a chance for pleasure without price.
But I want more than that.
I want the real deal.
I want a love that is not afraid of commitment.
I want a love that reflects the perfect, infinite love poured out by Jesus on the cross.
Ladies, let's not settle for anything less!
This article was originally published here.