More on Birth Control

A lot of the information below is adult in nature and somewhat personal. Read at your own risk.

MSN [via WaPo] finally picked up on a story that's been heating up the blogs for about two weeks.

Does Bush proposal threaten access to the pill?

A Bush administration proposal aimed at protecting health-care workers who object to abortion, and to birth-control methods they consider tantamount to abortion, has escalated a bitter debate over the balance between religious freedom and patients' rights.

The Department of Health and Human Services is reviewing a draft regulation that would deny federal funding to any hospital, clinic, health plan or other entity that does not accommodate employees who want to opt out of participating in care that runs counter to their personal convictions, including providing birth-control pills, IUDs and the Plan B emergency contraceptive.

Conservative groups, abortion opponents and some members of Congress are welcoming the initiative as necessary to safeguard doctors, nurses and other health workers who, they say, are increasingly facing discrimination because of their beliefs or are being coerced into delivering services they find repugnant.

Its a long article. But you should probably read the whole thing.

The most controversial section defines abortion as "any of the various procedures -- including the prescription, dispensing and administration of any drug or the performance of any procedure or any other action -- that results in the termination of life of a human being in utero between conception and natural birth, whether before or after implantation."

That definition would include most forms of hormonal birth control and the IUD, which most major medical groups believe do not constitute abortion because they primarily affect ovulation or fertilization and not an embryo once it has implanted in the womb.

Again, this is somewhat dishonest. BC and I have never been friends. I don't like introducing strange hormones into my body and I had a severe emotional / mental reaction the first 3 -4 months that I was on the pill. So, take what I'm about to say from that.

"Most major medical groups" don't consider hormonal birth control an abortion because they don't consider a fertilized egg the start of life, and probably because our body naturally miscarries so many of these eggs on it's own.

But hormonal birth control does not stop the fertilization of an egg. What it stops is the ability of said fertilized egg to attach the wall of the uterus. So, a fertlized egg seeking a home, would be "aborted" or "miscarried" during the next cycle.

Now, the percentage that this happens naturally is pretty high. Contrary to what they tell us in high school, getting pregnant is actually rather difficult. And the older you get the harder it gets. And it all greatly depends on your genetics.

But to say that they don't think it's abortion because it mainly affects ovulation or fertilization is ... well true and not true. Because the hormones stop you from getting pregnant by not allowing a fertilized egg to attach and grow, and it forces ovulation every month. Which is why so many women go on the pill in order to regulate and ease their monthly courses. But it does destroy a fertilized eggs chance at life. That's just a fact.

It all goes back to definition of human life.

That having been said ... these are my personal opinions and they in no way should be the law of the land. In fact, I think that this plan by the Administration seems very similar to the "Fairness Doctrine" for radio. And if you're not familiar with that ... well listen to talk radio sometime or read the link.

Forcing employers to hire people based on their beliefs is just another kind of descrimination. And a backdoor regulation that defines abortion is not going to do anything other than upset a very powerful contingent of our populace.

Birth control has it's place in the world. I get fuzzy on abortion because I hate it so much. And I know there are those that think the answer to one is the other ... but sometimes I just wish people didn't and wouldn't treat sex like an extracuricular activity and saw it as something sacred, loving and who's purpose and end goal is in the birth of a child. That's the organic way of things.