Real Marriage_ The Truth About Sex, Friendship, and Life Together - Mark Driscoll [105]
Level 3: Nonabortive birth control. Like the natural methods, nonabortive birth control methods also seek to influence the timing of conception but do so by taking either temporary or permanent additional measures.
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Temporary nonabortive birth control methods are generally barrier methods and include all methods that permit intercourse but that prevent the sperm and egg from coming together. Perhaps the most common is the male condom. There is a reported 3 to 12 percent pregnancy rate per year with typical use.46 Bringing the risk to 3 percent requires using the condom correctly every time.47
If the husband or wife is infected with a sexually transmitted disease, male condoms are the best method for preventing the transmission of it. Complaints about male condoms include the unromantic need to stop in the moment of passion to put one on, diminished pleasure sensation for the husband, and the physical barrier between a husband and wife in their moment of greatest intimacy.
Female barrier methods include the diaphragm, contraceptive sponge, cervical caps, and female condoms. Spermicides are also considered barrier methods because they kill sperm before they can reach a waiting egg, thus preventing fertilization.
There are many factors to consider with these methods. Sponges can be dangerous if left in too long, even causing infection or toxic shock. Female condoms are less effective than male condoms but can be inserted up to eight hours before intercourse, thereby enabling greater spontaneity than the male condom.48 Most spermicides (including sponges with spermicides) use non-oxynol-9, which can create infection in some women but is helpful alongside other methods, such as a condom, by killing sperm. The use of spermicides, however, has been linked to a higher-than-normal incidence of severe birth defects—twice the rate of nonusers.49 The cervical cap, or diaphragm, has been a favorite contraceptive method in Europe since the mid-1800s, and is considered 60 to 80 percent effective. It can be inserted more than a day before intercourse so as to allow greater spontaneity.50 The reported failure rate of the diaphragm is anywhere from 2 to 20 percent.51
Permanent nonabortive birth control methods are those chosen by couples who have decided not to have any more children. This can be achieved either by female sterilization, also called tubal ligation, or vasectomy for men. Both of these methods require minor surgery and should be considered permanent, although it is theoretically possible, but difficult, to have a reversal.
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To summarize, levels 1–3 are options for Christian couples to prayerfully consider without concern that they may terminate a fertilized egg and thereby take a human life. At the next level, we tread into murky waters that are more difficult to discern for Christian couples.
Level 4: Potentially abortive birth control. “The pill” is a categorical term for more than forty types of oral contraceptives, which are also referred to as “birth control pills” and sometimes “combination pills” because they contain a mixture of estrogen and progestin. These hormonal contraceptives are designed to override the female body’s normal cycle and “trick” the brain into believing she’s already pregnant, thus preventing the release of an egg from the ovaries. Today fifty to sixty million women worldwide take the pill each day, and it is the most widely prescribed drug in the world.52
Combined pills are generally very effective, as long as they are taken correctly: “With careful use, fewer than 1 woman in every 100 will get pregnant in a year. With less careful use, 3 or more women in every 100 will get pregnant in a year.”53 Hormonal methods