Does the Birth Control Pill Cause Abortions

The redefinition of “contraceptive” Dr. Diamond speaks of has gradually crept into the medical
literature. Because of the change, some medical professionals will state the Pill is only a
contraceptive, even if they know it sometimes acts to prevent implantation. But the old meaning of
contraceptive, the one more scientifically accurate and distinct, is also still widely used.
I have in front of me a recently issued metallic circular “Pregnancy Calculator,” produced by Wyeth-
Ayerst Laboratories, a leading manufacturer of the Pill. These are routinely used by Ob/GYNs to
calculate a pregnant woman’s due date. The calculator points to the first day of the last menstrual
period, then points to 14-15 days later as “Probable Day of Conception.” However, implantation (also
called nidation) does not happen until day 21 of the new cycle, six or seven days after conception.
Hence, the Pill-manufacturer that makes the pregnancy calculator still defines “conception” in its
historical sense, not that adopted by the ACOG.
According to the meaning conception always had—which is the meaning still held to by the vast
majority of the public and many if not most medical professionals—there is no way any product is
acting as a contraceptive when it prevents implantation. (Call it a contra-implantive, if you wish, but
when it works in that way it is not a contraceptive.)
In this book, I will use “conception” in its classic sense—as a synonym for fertilization, the point at
which the new human life begins. Contraceptives, then, are chemicals or devices that prevent
conception or fertilization. A birth control method that sometimes kills an already conceived human
being is not merely a contraceptive. It may function as a contraceptive some or most of the time, but
some of the time it is also an abortifacient.
The problem of “contraceptives” that are really abortifacients is not a new one. Many prolife
Christians, including physicians, have long opposed the use of Intra-Uterine Devices (IUDs), as well
as RU-486 (“the abortion pill”) and the Emergency Contraceptive Pill (ECP). Some, though not all,
have also opposed Norplant, Depo-Provera, and the “Mini-pill,” all of which sometimes or often fail to
prevent conception, but succeed in preventing implantation of the six day old human being. (For
more details, see “The IUD, Norplant, Depo-Provera, RU-486, and the Mini-Pill,” in the addendum
following the appendices.)
But what about the widely used Birth Control Pill, with its combined estrogen and progestin. Is it
exclusively a contraceptive That is, does it always prevent conception Or does it, like other
products, sometimes prevent implantation, thus producing an early abortion That is the central
question of this book.
My Own Vested Interest in the Pill
To make the issue personal, let me tell you my own story. In 1991, while researching my book
ProLife Answers to ProChoice Arguments, I heard someone suggest that birth control pills can cause
abortions. This was brand new to me—in all my years as a pastor and a prolifer, I had never heard it
before. I was immediately skeptical.
My vested interests were strong in that Nanci and I used the Pill in the early years of our marriage,
as did many of our prolife friends. Why not We believed it simply prevented conception. We never
suspected it had any potential for abortion. No one told us this was even a possibility. I confess I
never read the fine print of the Pill’s package insert, nor am I sure I would have understood it even if
I had.
In fourteen years as a pastor, doing considerable premarital counseling, I always warned couples
against the IUD because I’d read it causes early abortions. I typically recommended young couples
use the Pill because of its relative ease and effectiveness.