Abortifacient Contraception
Infant Homicides through Contraceptives
is a thoroughly documented 63-page booklet first published in 1994 and revised
in 1998 and 2003 by the Ad Hoc Commission to Study Abortion Deaths. In this
booklet the Rev. John A. Hardon, S.J. (now declared a Servant of God), one of
the commission’s two spiritual directors, said, “Contraceptives themselves are
homicidal drugs and devices. They are more widely lethal than the commonly
known surgical forms of killing unborn children.”
Charles E. Rice,
J.S.D. (professor emeritus at the University of Notre Dame Law School), one of
12 distinguished Ad Hoc Commission members, said, “Contraception is the defining
evil of our time. Its legitimization leads inevitably, not only to abortion and
euthanasia, but to a host of other evils, including promiscuity, divorce,
pornography, and homosexual activity.”
Another commission
member, Eugene F. Diamond, M.D. (professor of pediatrics and past pediatrics
department chairman at Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine)
explained the following:
These so-called contraceptives work
primarily by their effect on the prevention of the implantation of the blastocyst.
This anti-implantation is an abortifacient effect. To be truly pro-life
requires that we go beyond surgical abortions to oppose those early abortions
which result from pills and intrauterine devices. … these “silent” abortions.
The evidence speaks for itself
The booklet’s
major section titled “Abortifacient Drugs and Devices: A Short Review,” written by Bogomir M. Kuhar, Pharm.D.,
B.S. Pharm., F.A.S. C.P., provides a thorough overview of the extensive
research and data supporting the above statements. Dr. Kuhar is a clinical and
consultant pharmacist, a pharmacology instructor, and the founder and executive
director of Pharmacists for Life International (www.PFLI.org). He explains,
Infant Homicides through
Contraceptives …
clearly and unequivocally [provides] the conclusion that all steroid-based
so-called “contraceptives” and many other products are abortifacient in some
instances, often more than has been surmised previously.... Having swallowed the
poisonous lies of the pharmaceutical manufacturers and their financiers—such as
the ubiquitous Rockefeller Foundation, Warren Buffet, and all their fellow
travelers—many even so-called “pro-lifers” have fallen prey to the
“contraceptive mentality,” which most often leads to the “abortion mentality.”
Aided by a
biostatistician and an environmental epidemiologist from the University of
Pittsburgh, a technical consultant from Ohio State University, statistics from
contraceptives manufacturers and federal agencies, and voluminous amounts of
documented scientific research, Dr. Kuhar describes how abortifacient
contraceptives and devices function and estimates approximately how many early
abortions they cause.
A staggering death toll
One of the three
mechanisms of action that oral contraceptives (OCs, also known as “the pill”)
have is preventing implantation/nidation of the newly conceived baby onto the
lining (endometrium) of the mother’s womb. Research into the molecular biology
of OC effects has recently elucidated and again confirmed [that] OCs prevent
implantation by altering cell adhesion molecules called integrins, chemical
receptors which are crucial for uterine receptivity of the newly conceived
human being. It has been estimated by various sources that … the abortifacient
mechanism of action comes into play anywhere from 2 to 10% (and at times
higher) of female cycles per year.
Dr. Kuhar has
calculated the likely number of abortions caused by OCs by taking into account
the estimated number of OC prescriptions written and refilled each year, data
on the breakthrough ovulation rate while using OCs, and the 25-percent overall
fertilization rate for “normally fertile couples of average sexual activity.”
He estimates that OCs cause 600,000–3,000,000 abortions annually.
Both
Depo-Provera, an injection, and Norplant, an implant, function by the same
three mechanisms of action as OCs, including the prevention of implantation.
[Norplant was withdrawn from the U.S. market in 2002 and replaced by Implanon
which is “a different trade mark for the same basic item” (as per
correspondence with Dr. Kuhar on 8/12/12).]
Based on estimated numbers of American women using these drugs,
breakthrough ovulation rates for each drug, and the overall fertilization rate,
Dr. Kuhar calculates that Depo-Provera causes 1,800,000–2,700,000 abortions in
the U.S. annually, and that Norplant
(Implanon) causes 330,000–2,100,000 abortions annually.
With regard to
intrauterine devices (IUDs), Dr. Kuhar points out that they are “primarily” [as
per correspondence with Dr. Kuhar on 4/28/2012] abortifacients, rather than
contraceptives, because “IUDs do not [“primarily”] prevent ovulation (despite a
disinformation campaign recently by population control groups and manufacturers.)”
Instead, they “kill preborn children … via two mechanisms of action:
interfering with enzymatic processes (as in the case of copper) or interfering
with implantation / nidation of the 5 to 14-day old embryo (baby) by chemical
or mechanical inflammation of the endometrium.” Based on the estimated number
of IUD users in the U.S., the overall fertilization rate, and the known “IUD
user unplanned continued pregnancy rate,” he calculates that IUDs cause
3,825,000 abortions annually.
According to Dr.
Kuhar’s estimates, which he describes as conservative, in the U.S., between
1973 and 1996, the total number of abortions
caused each year by the use of
OCs, Depo-Provera, Norplant (Implanon), and IUDs ranges between 6,555,000 and
11,625,000. This figure is significantly higher than the total number of
surgical, prostaglandin, and saline abortions committed each year during the
same time period (1,350,000–1,400,000, based on data from the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, and the Guttmacher Institute).
Now multiply these figures for contraceptive- and
IUD-induced abortions by the number of years since 1973, and you will see the
staggering death toll resulting from the intrinsic evil of contraception!
Personalizing the data
On January 9,
2012, the following email was sent to Dr. Kuhar: “Would you write for me
the expected (average?) abortion rate for an individual who uses any of these drugs or
any of these devices? This information
will personalize/individualize the data
for an individual using or considering using them.”
Dr. Kuhar’s answer came later in the day:
The estimate we developed when
writing the original piece in the 1990s was approximately 0.8
chemical/mechanical abortions per year per female user, [which,] rounded up,
means approximately 1/abortion/year/user It is only an estimate [emphasis
added]. I hope that helps.
To reiterate: There is approximately one contraceptive or
IUD-induced abortion each year among those who use these abortifacient
contraceptives or IUDs. There
could be more or fewer for each user, depending on the chemicals or devices
used, and other factors such as hormonal variations, disease states, nutrition,
and use of other drugs.
Are the scales
falling from our eyes? If not, please reread the previous two paragraphs. Given
these facts, the relative silence among most Catholics (both clergy and laity)
regarding the intrinsic evil of contraception must be reversed. Our vulnerable
young people—our unaware and unsuspecting lambs—must be educated about these
realities in every available forum. There’s no time to waste! This is a matter of life and death!
[This article appeared in large part
in Celebrate Life as “The unheard-of
holocaust: Abortifacient contraception”, July-August 2012. Infant
Homicides through Contraceptives is available from American Life League (see www.ProLifeGear.com or call 866-538-5483).
For more information on the tremendous harm caused by contraception, see also www.ThePillKills.com ]