Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk came under fire last week for criticizing birth control. Kirk said at an event hosted by Turning Point USA Faith. “A Christian parent should not put her daughter on birth control. Period…if her daughter is on birth control or [your] Granddaughter, please take your clothes off immediately. ”
Kirk also said contraception “messes with women’s brains” and causes anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts. She pointed to the high number of young women being prescribed medications to treat everything from acne to mood issues.
Social media has exploded with criticism of “extremist zealot” Charlie Kirk. But is he wrong?
When I was a depressed, anxious, and sexually inactive 17-year-old high school student, I sat across from my gynecologist looking for answers. I suffered from acne, depression, irregular menstrual cycles, painful cramps, and was unable to go to school and lay in bed.
But instead of an answer, I was given a pill.
I didn’t want to accept it. Something inside me (the Holy Spirit, perhaps) knew it was wrong. But I was hopeless. The state track meet was coming up and I couldn’t afford to miss it due to symptoms I couldn’t manage. I gave up.
Contraceptive pills foster the false belief that something has gone “wrong” if a couple unexpectedly becomes pregnant.
When I stopped drinking after two years, it was like seeing the sun for the first time. I didn’t realize how much my depression got worse while on the pill. Like many other young women, I was sold a lie. I don’t think my doctor intended to mislead me. But instead of solving my health problems, the drug stopped my natural hormone production and wreaked havoc on my body. It put a bandaid on my existing problems and even created new ones.
The truth is that birth control has very real side effects, including an increased risk of: blood clot and stroke, depression, changed charmirregular bleeding, headache, nausea, increased blood pressure, bloating, weight gain. All forms of hormonal birth control increase the risk of: breast cancerhormonal contraceptives classified as Group 1 carcinogens.
Given this about reality, women should wonder whether closure of their reproductive system can have long-term effects on their mental health and fertility. And we should reject the idea that women need to treat their fertility like a disease to be treated.
Kirk is also right to emphasize how contraception is a special concern for Christian women. contraceptives such as pills and IUDs, May act as an abortifacient By preventing implantation of a fertilized human embryo after conception. But it goes further.
Contraceptives reinforce the false belief that something has gone “wrong” when a couple has an unplanned pregnancy, and some people “right” the “wrong” by having an abortion. In reality, sex is inextricably linked to procreation, and until 1930 all Christian denominations recognized that: all Contraceptive methods, including condoms and pessaries, are sinful and contrary to God’s plan for marriage.
In 1930, episcopal church She was the first person to approve contraception on a limited basis. Influenced by social pressure and the sexual revolution, all other Protestant denominations followed suit, some citing moral obligations to limit parental rights.new sexual ethics” Sensitive to current culture and concerns about overpopulation.
However, this acceptance of contraception is completely contrary to the beliefs of the early church fathers and Protestant reformers.John Chrysostom Taught Both abortion and contraception produce barren seeds by stripping sex of its reproductive nature. Both despise God’s gift: children. Both are expressions of a struggle with God’s law. Both turn the curse of barrenness into a blessing, and both treat the blessing of fruitfulness as a curse. And both exploit women. Bishop Augustine of Hippo similarly wrote in the 5th century AD that couples who tried contraception had “nothing left of the reality of marriage.”
Martin Luther too opposed Citing contraceptive methods, onan’s sin“Onan must have been a malicious, irredeemable scoundrel. This is the most shameful sin. It is far worse than incest or adultery. We call it adultery, yes, sodomy. I call it a sin.”John Calvin had the same idea.
These words may be difficult to hear. However, these were common beliefs of all Christians until the sexual revolution taught that in order for women to be free, they must be freed from the natural consequences of sex.
But the truth is that women don’t need ways to prevent pregnancy. With her normal 28-day cycle, a woman is not always fertile.They can only get pregnant for the following periods: The 6th It takes you out of their cycle. In other words, contraception do not have It was actually developed to “control” birth or space pregnancy. Women’s bodies do this naturally. Rather, contraception was created to free people from the potential “burden” of conceiving a child and to “freely” indulge their sexual desires.
And here we probably find the root of all today’s sexual problems. They see children and people as commodities, objects to be used for selfish purposes rather than as precious gifts from God created for love. This is the belief at the heart of abortion, in vitro fertilization, surrogacy, and sexual decadence.
This is a culture of death.
I know this is a sensitive topic. It directly contradicts everything we have been taught by our culture. I’m not saying that all couples who use contraception are knowingly and maliciously contributing to a culture of death. Without God’s grace, all There is a tendency in our hearts toward selfishness and sin. But the truth sets us free, and the truth is that true, perfect, self-giving love is the love of Jesus on the cross, the love between Christ and his church that couples are called to imitate. It is a love that imitates the love of . It cannot coexist with contraception.
Instead of complete selflessness, contraceptives encourage use and desire.
It may be hard to hear, but it’s good news. It is an invitation to a deeper love of human worth, beauty, and dignity. By tracking her own menstrual cycle, a woman can better understand and evaluate her body and fertility, and can even uncover the root cause of hormonal problems. Determining when she can become pregnant allows her and her spouse to communicate and determine if there is a good reason to refrain to avoid her pregnancy.
Most of all, the couple learns to trust God radically. God loves them and will never give them more than they can bear. By welcoming children as gifts as they are, each couple can end the culture of death and usher in a culture of life.
