“The Pill”

*cue 1950’s-style horror movie music*

I’m hearing debates about birth control everywhere lately, especially since a few of my friends are working on the front lines in Colorado. That’s an historic happening by the way, and the results of that vote will send ripples through society for generations, either eventually outlawing all forms of chemical and hormonal birth control (which would happen, no matter what people may tell you) or setting a huge precedent by cementing its current status as an accepted part of life.

I happen to be neutral on the issue. Getting into that aspect of the pro-life movement causes a huge conflict of interest for me, because aside from being pro-life, I’m also a rape survivor advocate. Part of my job in that respect is to fight for survivors rights and one of those rights (at least currently) is access to emergency contraception (EC) to prevent any unintended pregnancies that could occur as a result of a sexual assault.

Emergency contraception generally works in one of two ways: By either preventing ovulation entirely, or if it has already begun, by thinning the lining of a womans uterus so an already-fertilised embryo cannot implant and is destroyed. The problem lies in the second method, since most pro-lifers I have met believe that human life begins at conception/fertilisation and not implantation. In that instance, EC acts as a supposed abortifacient. Some people say that EC can cause a pregnancy to terminate after an embryo has successfully implanted. I have never seen any convincing evidence to support that position.

My problem is that, due to my experiences in my years working as an advocate, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that, because of societal apathy, peoples asinine tendency to blame survivors for being sexually assaulted, and plain old lack of resources, society does not have the means or the will to provide assistance to every person who becomes pregnant as a result of a sexual assault. It just simply will not happen until a lot of things change.

I believe that every unborn child should have the right to live. I believe that, someday, every unborn child will. I am in no way saying that children born of sexual assault are somehow less valuable than those that aren’t, and they should never be an exception to any law prohibiting abortion. I wholeheartedly despise the “pro-life” ballot issue in South Dakota for the simple fact that it provides that exception.

What does emergency contraception actually do? When does it act? When doesn’t it act? Is an embryo a human life or just a potential life? How do I balance being pro-life with my support for, if not the benefit of emergency contraception, the necessity of it? These are hard questions. They don’t have easy answers and they aren’t going away anytime soon.

Unfortunately, that means my conflicted conscience isn’t going anywhere either.