Note: The following comments are from Randy Alcorn’s website at Eternal Perspective Ministries

Readers' Responses to the book Does the Birth Control Pill Cause Abortions?

I am an OB/GYN who practiced for 30 years. I found your booklet Does the Birth Control Pill cause Abortions? online and must admit I read it in its entirety in one sitting! I commend you for your research, historical development and fairness to both sides of the question. I am involved in teaching natural family planning and plan to share your booklets with engaged couples. I am retired from clinical practice at this time but would change my prescribing habits if I were still practicing. — L.M., MD

I am a first-year family medicine resident. I have made the difficult decision to not prescribe any contraceptives (pills, patches, IUD’s, etc.) in my practice. The main motivation for this has been Randy’s article Does the Birth Control Pill Cause Abortion? These possibilities were not taught to me in medical school and I really believed that the Pill completely suppressed ovulation. Now I know differently and it has changed the way I approach women’s health care. I encourage Natural Family Planning and I am trying to put together some resources to give patients. I wanted to let you know that as a ministry, you are changing hearts and my wife and I are all the more committed to life. We had been on the pill for our first 3 years of marriage. After we both read the article, we felt that the Spirit was telling us to trust God and not use contraception except NFP. It has been the best year of marriage yet! We are even expecting our first child in April! Thank you for preaching the truth fearlessly even in the face of so much confusion in the Christian medical world. — D. H.

You were instrumental in God’s directing me to stop using the pill shortly after my husband and I were married in 2002. I was searching online to order a supply of pills and I ran across your booklet. God began to give me a vision for our future children. I have to say a big thank you, which words can’t express, for influencing my family in such a profound way. Thank you for being bold enough to stand strong on a message that many Christians would feel uncomfortable with. God blessed us with a pregnancy only a few weeks after I read your booklet online. My firstborn son is now 5 and has given his heart to God. His life is a wonderful blessing to me and to his younger brother and sister. I can’t believe I was so close to missing out on his life altogether! I see God’s perfect plan unfold in our family as we follow the ways of our Creator rather than thinking we can improve upon His design. Well-written, tons of documentation, and makes the point clearly without feeling like they are pointing a finger of condemnation. The most important book a woman of child-bearing age can read! — S. A.

I read Randy Alcorn’s book Does the Birth Control Pill Cause Abortions? From front to back in one evening. I think it is a much-needed resource and Randy has saved me the trouble of writing the book myself. Last year before marrying, I researched the pill and found that it has a possibility of preventing implantation of tiny embryos. The mini-pill only suppresses ovulation 50% of the time and there was no available information stating how often the combined oral contraceptive does this. I believe more peer-reviewed journal articles on this topic are urgently needed, and hope the book provokes this. I hope future editions of this book will address a wider audience, not just Christians. — K. B., New Zealand

In this book, Randy Alcorn is honestly looking for answers with an open mind. Counseling newly married couples in the past and suggesting that they use birth control pills for the first few years of marriage—he was searching for the truth, not wanting to lead anyone astray. And he did find the truth. A must-read for any woman. Read with an open mind and you will be surprised at what Mr. Alcorn found. — M. A.

Thank you for your very informative article on the abortive effects of the pill (Does the Birth Control Pill Cause Abortions?). I am a pastor, and up until this point I have recommended the pill to others. Furthermore, my wife and I have used it as our primary means of birth control. I have heard rumors that the pill might cause early abortions, but like many others I had not seen any hard data, so I assumed it was a legend built up by those who are against all forms of birth control. Today I was on your website looking for sermon illustrations on hope even in desperate situations (like the Christians in your book Safely Home), and I came across your section on prolife issues. I am strongly prolife, and even got arrested with Operation Rescue a few years back, so I was interested in what you had to say. After reading your article I am forced to change my mind on this issue. You presented the facts clearly, and I can no longer reconcile my belief that life starts at conception with the use of the pill for personal use or to recommend it to others. - M. S.

I would like to purchase multiple copies of Randy Alcorn’s book Does the Birth Control Pill Cause Abortions? so I can give them out through my practice and at church. A few weeks ago was Sanctity of Life Sunday and knowing that BCPs are not usually addressed in pastors prolife sermons, I asked to speak as a medical doctor to the congregation after his message on the horrors of the unborn holocaust in our country. I explained about the issue of Christians being strangely silent when it comes to the issue of using BCPs while being staunchly anti-abortion. I explained in front of the whole church how BCPs work to try and prevent conception but often fail and result in a fertilized egg. Most Christians believe in the sanctity of life of the unborn at the point of conception and don’t understand that the pills don’t protect against conception all the time but are very efficient in covering that problem by making the uterus inhospitable to the fertilized egg and prevent implantation. I’ve gotten several folks thinking about their using birth control pills. In fact, until I found out how the pills worked, my wife and I used them. I am a physician and was not taught the “other side of the coin” about preventing implantation in medical school. My wife and I were guilty of putting off having children by using the pill as recommended by her pastor father and mother. I naively went along with it and we’ve since repented of this act and speak out boldly on it now. I have stopped writing BCPs except in the case of severe intractable bleeding problems that BCPs can help to stop the flow and regulate periods. However, I always explain to the patient the mechanism of action and that barrier measures or even abstinence before marriage is the key and only full proof method of preventing an unwanted pregnancy. — C. H., MD

I just felt like I should share with you that almost two weeks ago, I stopped taking the birth control pill. It was not an easy decision to make; by God’s grace I was able to take this huge step of faith. But it would have been much harder had I not had the support of my godly husband. It was he who read your book first. I thank God that he did not give up trying to get me to read it. Honestly, I did not want to. To me, the birth control pill represented such freedom and such independence. I always had the perspective that w/o the pill, there was such a high percentage that I would be the loser in it all. I would be the one to have to carry the child at such a young age, (I’m only 21). I would be the one to have to pretty much lose my youthful figure. I would be the one to be cheated out of an education. Do you notice how many “I" statements were just mentioned? The Lord used your book in my life to help me see that being blessed by him with a child with the man that I love would not make me the “loser”, b/c children are a blessing, and not a curse. He also showed me that I was losing a whole lot more by taking the pill....my health, and quite possibly, our baby... Thank you so much for being bold, Randy. I know many Christians have probably given you a hard time for what you take a stand for, but please let my story encourage you today and tomorrow too. Elton and I will keep you, your family, and your ministry in our prayers. — K. W.

I came across your booklet Does the Birth Control Pill Cause Abortions? last week. I must admit I was devastated to discover the information you so eloquently presented. My husband and I are Christians, just celebrating our first anniversary last week. We both immediately decided that the only course of action open to us was to immediately stop taking the pill. I am also a writer. I contacted the editor for one of the college webzines I write for, and she has agreed to post an article I am in the process of writing regarding the abortive effects of the pill and my personal reaction to the discovery. I plan to incorporate a great deal of your research. Although this was not at all the information I ever wanted to find, I am grateful that you took the time to make the truth known. I hope I can do the same. — D. E.

I've literally been crying for an hour after reading this. The thought that there is a possibility that I may have killed my own child rips me apart. I've been on the pill three years now since my husband and I were married. We both just talked about this and I am now going off the pill. We both wish we would have known this sooner. Thank you for sharing this information so that I may prevent the possibility of an abortion from now on. — A.P.

I am a family physician in the military. After a friend gave me your booklet Does The Birth Control Pill Cause Abortions? God convicted me to change my medical practice and in 2000 I stopped prescribing birth control. I haven't had patient complaints and no one ever requests to be changed to another doctor. They may see someone else to still get birth control but they still come back to me for other care. I'm thankful for the way God used you in my life. — E. H.