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The Birth-Control Riddle
The Wall Street Journal ^ | 4/20/10 | Melinda Beck

Posted on 04/20/2010 7:08:45 PM PDT by marshmallow

Fifty Years After the Pill's Debut, Almost Half of Pregnancies in the U.S. Are Unplanned

Next month marks the 50th anniversary of the birth-control pill in the U.S. The dawn of dependable contraception not only ended the post-war baby boom, it also ignited the sexual revolution and helped millions of women to enter the work force.

Nowadays, women can choose from a bevy of birth-control options, including pills, patches and rings that allow them to have as few periods as they like, even none. Implants and intrauterine devices (IUDs) can prevent pregnancy for years at a time and eliminate the need to refill and remember. Morning-after pills that can decrease the risk from unprotected sex are available without a prescription even to teenagers. Women who want to end their fertility permanently can do so in a doctor's office without undergoing surgery. Abstinence is still taught in many schools and homes as being 100% effective if followed diligently.

Yet despite all these options, the rates of unplanned pregnancies remain high: Almost half of all pregnancies in the U.S.—some 3.1 million a year—are unintended, according to the most recent government survey, from 2001. One out of every two American women aged 15 to 44 has at least one unplanned pregnancy in her lifetime. Among unmarried women in their 20s, seven out of 10 pregnancies are unplanned.

An updated version of those numbers from the 2006 National Survey of Family Growth is expected to be released next month. But population experts don't anticipate much change; the rate of unplanned pregnancy was the same in 1994, and smaller studies have found that even newer birth-control methods haven't made much of a dent.

Why are the numbers so high?

The answer is a complex tangle of cultural, religious, behavioral, educational and economic factors. Many of those.................

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: History; Moral Issues; Theology
KEYWORDS:

1 posted on 04/20/2010 7:08:45 PM PDT by marshmallow
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To: marshmallow

There’s no riddle here - not for Catholics. We always knew this is how it would be if artificial birth control became the norm.


2 posted on 04/20/2010 7:13:58 PM PDT by vladimir998 (Part of the Vast Catholic Conspiracy (hat tip to Kells))
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To: marshmallow

American women aged 15 to … your kidding right; so does that mean it’s just consensual sex as defined by the government? Uhm, fantastic statistical story and non-sequitur.


3 posted on 04/20/2010 7:24:57 PM PDT by ntmxx (I am not so sure about this misdirection!)
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To: vladimir998

And were excoriated by it by the secular world and by those formerly Christian bodies when eventually embraced this fantastic new philosophy.

People are people and behaviour is behaviour. The technology doesn’t matter. Birth control and sex education will stop unwanted births. False. They are higher than ever, and without the proscription on unwed mothers, happen at a higher rate than any sustained culture at any time in recorded history. Anywhere on earth.

AIDS is another interesting deal, with the fascinating and repellant rise of bug chasing - young men attempting to catch AIDS. Another related human behaviour.

White kids in the suburbs going into the inner city (Detroit is the one I am most familiar with) in order to score drugs and exciting times.

The parallels with 1984 and Atlas Shrugged are a tribute to the two authors’ understanding of the human condition. I’d suggest that everyone reread those two books. Atlas Shrugged in particular is a blueprint for the Obama administration. 1984 is a prediction for the world post Obama.


4 posted on 04/20/2010 7:34:52 PM PDT by MarkBsnr ( I would not believe in the Gospel if the authority of the Catholic Church did not move me to do so.)
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To: marshmallow
I'm so glad I never got into artificial birth control. It's like women have always been guinea pigs when it comes to the 'latest' contraception idea.

I never planned to use it, so I spent time learning Natural Family Planning, just before we got married, and beefed it up with Sympto-Thermal method when I found out about that, a few years later. It has worked fine for us during our 35 year marriage, and we have four wonderful kids, to boot! Yeah, the downside is sometimes you can't enjoy the full benefits of marital bliss, but it's a small price to pay to not have to worry about chemicals messing up your system.

5 posted on 04/20/2010 8:29:33 PM PDT by SuziQ
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To: marshmallow
Quite interesting that this author fails to mention that in almost all forms of birth control pills, as well as IUDs, the backup function of them in “preventing” pregnancy is to stop a fertilized egg from implantation on the uterine wall. In other words, a “mini-abortion”.

This is a known, though not widely publicized - for obvious reasons - intention if breakthrough ovulation and fertilization occurs. It was the main reason progesterone hormones were included in the formula along with estrogen. For IUDs, this is usually the main reason they work - absent the hormones. It causes an inhospitable surface of the uterine wall that either prevents the embryo from implanting or dislodges it if it does. IUDs have also been responsible for implantation of the egg in a fallopian tube (ectopic pregnancy) which must always be surgically removed and the developing baby destroyed. Infertility and, sometimes, death happen with ectopic pregnancy.

This information is usually included in the fine print but seldom are women given the entire truth about their risks. The older I get, the more I see the wisdom of God and how his “laws” are for our protection - not just to keep us from having fun. I think we would be a far better and happier people if we would understand that fact! The "marriage bed" is the place for sex - period - and children are a blessing from God - not a "punishment".

6 posted on 04/20/2010 8:33:35 PM PDT by boatbums (God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to him.)
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To: SuziQ

Way too much information on your personal life. :-)


7 posted on 04/20/2010 8:35:23 PM PDT by verity (Obama Lies)
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To: vladimir998

By what logic did you arrive at that conclusion?


8 posted on 04/20/2010 8:37:23 PM PDT by verity (Obama Lies)
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bookmark


9 posted on 04/20/2010 9:33:43 PM PDT by redgolum ("God is dead" -- Nietzsche. "Nietzsche is dead" -- God.)
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To: verity

We knew that artificial birth control would lead to the break down of the family and the collapse of sexual morality for quite some time - especially since 1968:

http://www.nd.edu/~afreddos/courses/264/popepaul.htm


10 posted on 04/21/2010 6:52:20 AM PDT by vladimir998 (Part of the Vast Catholic Conspiracy (hat tip to Kells))
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To: vladimir998
From the Article:

the rate of unplanned pregnancy was the same in 1994, and smaller studies have found that even newer birth-control methods haven't made much of a dent.

The theme of the article was about the efficacy of birth control. Your statement addresses morality.

11 posted on 04/21/2010 6:59:47 AM PDT by verity (Obama Lies)
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To: vladimir998

Exactly. Birth control teaches people that they control life and death.

The Catholic Church was far, far ahead of all pro-life groups/Churches on this one. It still is in every case I can think of.


12 posted on 04/21/2010 7:01:44 AM PDT by xzins (Retired Army Chaplain and Proud of It! Those who support our troops pray for their victory!)
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To: verity

http://www.firstthings.com/article/2008/07/002-the-vindication-of-ihumanae-vitaei-28

http://www.catholic-forum.com/churches/luxver/donumsanctum/hv30years.htm

http://catholicicast.com/2010/01/06/humanae-vitae-predictions-come-true-mp3/

http://pop.org/201003231196/prophecies-of-humanae-vitae


13 posted on 04/21/2010 7:16:57 AM PDT by vladimir998 (Part of the Vast Catholic Conspiracy (hat tip to Kells))
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To: SuziQ

Same here. 15 years of using a method God gave us.......sensible and non-toxic.....and nope, no unplanned babies although they would be welcome of course. I have absolutely no understanding of why women would choose pills and “contraptions”.


14 posted on 04/21/2010 7:28:05 AM PDT by Cheryllynn
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To: vladimir998
From the Article:

Nowadays, women can choose from a bevy of birth-control options, including pills, patches and rings that allow them to have as few periods as they like, even none. Implants and intrauterine devices (IUDs) can prevent pregnancy for years at a time and eliminate the need to refill and remember. Morning-after pills that can decrease the risk from unprotected sex are available without a prescription even to teenagers. Women who want to end their fertility permanently can do so in a doctor's office without undergoing surgery. Abstinence is still taught in many schools and homes as being 100% effective if followed diligently.
Yet despite all these options, the rates of unplanned pregnancies remain high...

Perhaps unbridled fornication w/o the use of ariticial birth control causes unwanted pregnancies. Perhaps the introduction of artificial birth control promotes immorality. However, I cannot logically link the introduction of artificial birth control with unwanted pregnancies. Of course, religious doctrine is not always based on logic.

15 posted on 04/21/2010 9:31:31 AM PDT by verity (Obama Lies)
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To: verity

You wrote:

“Perhaps unbridled fornication w/o the use of ariticial birth control causes unwanted pregnancies.”

“unbridled fornication” is encouranged by the contraceptive mentality. With that mentality rules, boundaries and common sense are thrown out the window.

“Perhaps the introduction of artificial birth control promotes immorality.”

It does.

“However, I cannot logically link the introduction of artificial birth control with unwanted pregnancies.”

I can. In every country where contraceptives were introduced, unwanted pregnancies increased rather than decreased. This is not a false association, but a natural result coming from the dominance of the contraceptive mentality coming from the ease and availability of contraceptives and the deformed culture which demanded they be produced.

“Of course, religious doctrine is not always based on logic.”

This is. It is also not religious doctrine. Contraceptives deform cultures. That is not merely a religious concern. It is societal and cultural. Even those with a secularist/liberal viewpoint have begun to notice this in the last two decades: Lionel Tiger and Francis Fukuyama come to mind.


16 posted on 04/21/2010 10:40:58 AM PDT by vladimir998 (Part of the Vast Catholic Conspiracy (hat tip to Kells))
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To: vladimir998

Sorry. I still do not accept your explanation.


17 posted on 04/21/2010 4:17:16 PM PDT by verity (Obama Lies)
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