Say Yes To Life -- Freedom

Today, the National Women’s Law Center will be co-hosting a blog carnival with Planned Parenthood to discuss the upcoming decision by the Department of Health and Human Services on which preventive services will be covered without a co-pay by all new health insurance plans.  They are hoping and actively working to get artificial contraception, namely the prescription birth control pill, on that list, and have titled their event “Birth Control: We’ve Got you Covered.”

So this is the response. A pro-life, open-to-life blog carnival. Click here for more.

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I've already ranted about the ridiculous birth control commercials that feed our culture with untrue, blissful ideas of "freedom." Whether it be condoms, "the pill," an IUD, or the shots that trick your body into thinking it's pregnant, I stand in opposition to their fake "promises."

What about the flip side? What about the results of these commercials and the messages pushed by the birth control agenda? Who do they affect?

I've heard birth control be likened to the "greatest invention of the 20th century," especially for women. I've heard the arguments about how the existence of birth control is something I'm "just going to have to accept." I've been accused of neglecting to think about the poorer community or of judging those who do not have my beliefs and therefore don't agree with me.

I've been asked questions like, "Don't you know what having a lot of kids does to a woman?" Questions like, "Are you naive enough to think that you can be married and not have sex when you want to?" Things like, "What about over-population?" And finally, "Don't you think you should keep your opinion to your unmarried self?"

To the last question, I can only smile.

It saddens me to think that the culture of convenience and reverence to "science" and technology above all else has caused people in our society to neglect some of the most basic and natural parts of life.

Secularism tends to make some people more comfortable. God gave us the ability to find Him, no matter how hard we try to avoid Him, so I'll stay secular for five minutes.

Sex between a man and a woman has several results and purposes:

• It bonds a man and a woman.
• It can provide pleasure for a man and a woman.
• It can result in a child; it always has the possibility of producing a child, no matter what time of the month it occurs or what precautions have been made to prevent a child from being produced.

These are biological results, broken down to their most simple forms.

I don't own the rights.

Chemical or barrier contraceptives attempt to divide an entire purpose from sex. This is spiritually unhealthy for a couple because they are interrupting something that would otherwise be a natural expression of their life outside of the bedroom.

Having sex as often as possible with reckless abandon, or anything more than in the infertile times of the month, while using contraception isn't a total example of Love for the simple fact that it leaves out part of sex's purpose.

It also invites lust, which would otherwise be left out if the couple were totally open to creating a new life.

No one should suggest we force people to have sex without contraceptives; that's impossible and unethical. But let's be faithful to our beliefs, not defeatist because our 7 billion person world is divided on one of our opinions.

"Keep your opinions to your unmarried self."

Nope. I explored this topic and completely changed my opinion of it. I'm now a young woman who looks forward to NFP and the discomfort that will accompany the abounding bond that it will bring with God and my husband.

Follow up: I recognize that many women take birth control as medical treatment for illness. While I still think there are alternatives for almost all cases, I recognize I am not in their position. If I was in this situation, I think I would try to follow NFP charting, while on the contraceptive medicine, so I can still keep the value for procreative sex, though my chances of producing a child are far less.