Since this question came up in a comment, I thought I would reprint this from the EWTN Catholic Q&A forum. This is a common question and there is much misinformation out there on this subject.
| Irregular cycles and the pill Question from Rani on 04-10-2004: |
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I read in one of your previous answers that irregular menstrual cycles in women are the result of “underlying problems”. I have study this subject and know for a fact that many women who have irregular cycles are perfectly healthy. Many women use the birth control pill as a way of regulating their cycle, because an irregular cycle can be very frustrating and even embarrasing at times. I’d like to know the Church’s position on using the pill solely for this purpose. Also, if such a married woman engages in intercourse with her husband while on the pill solely for the aforementioned purpose, is she still sinning in the eyes of the Church? |
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Answer by Fr. Richard Hogan – NFP Outreach on 04-11-2004: |
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If a woman is taking the pill for MEDICAL REASONS, i.e., non-contraceptive reasons, and THERE IS NO ALTERNATIVE, then she is not sinning. However, since while on the pill, she can ovulate (break-through ovulation), she can conceive if there is sperm present around the time of ovulation. If there is a conception, a new child, then the baby will travel down the fallopian tube and try to lodge in the womb, but will be unable to do so because the pill prevents the build-up of soft lining in the womb. So the baby is “flushed out” of her body. This is the killing of a child, a very early abortion.
If there is absolutely no medical choice (and competent physicians have assured me over and over that there are alternatives for almost all conditions), then a woman MAY take the pill for medical reasons, but if she is married, she MUST abstain from the marital embrace for about ten days every month (the time when she would be normally fertile), otherwise there is the possibility of an abortion and a very grave sin. Thanks for writing. |
5 comments
I went to multiple doctors trying to find some answers and some relief for cycle irregularities. I took charts with me and explained what was going on with my body and how I wanted to get to the root of the problem. I still always got “why don’t you just take the pill” even though that would just mask the problem.
It took me a while till I found a doctor who listened and appreciated a patient who had tried to educate herself.
I honestly think they teach them in Med school to prescribe it for every irregularity. Of course then when women get off of it and can’t get pregnant, they run to the fertility Doctor totally perplexed. The number of people with “fertility problems” has grown by leaps and bounds over the last few decades.
Pain of the degree described by some of your commenters is pathological and should be treated. It is probably indicative of the condition endometriosis. Birth control pills can suppress the condition somewhat, but probably are not sufficient treatment for someone that has that severe a condition.
Too many of my colleagues (docs and nurse-practioners and nurse-midwives) will simply throw the Pill at women (especially those who aren’t ‘ready to have a baby’) rather than do adequate diagnosis and treatment. There are many alternatives but they require a lot more work on the part of both the health care provider and the woman involved. The alternatives require both time and money – but have the advantage of trying to heal the problem at the root rather than halfway up the tree.
NaProTechnology is one system that uses NFP charting as a starting point for diagnosis and treatment. Marilyn Shannon of CCL has a good book on the interaction between nutrition and the menstrual cycle, with some excellent suggestions for interventions. There are lors of alternatives.
Alicia,
I was hoping you would weigh in on this subject, considering your expertise. Thanks.
There are reasons other than ‘irregularities’ for non-contraceptive use of the Pill. My wife had to take the pill after complications in childbirth left her with bleeding for over 10 weeks. She was non-ovulating due to just having given birth at the time, but we still didn’t like it. She finished the 2 months, and we were happy it was over (my wife is also studying biology/biochemistry, and she knows that all those extra hormones in the body isn’t good for her)
When we move, we’re going to look for a good OB who doesn’t ask her every visit about what form of contraceptive she plans on using (only to hear ‘NFP,’ and then not write it down on the chart, so he asks again the next time…)
Usually when we use the pill for medical reasons, the lady has infertility problems already.
For example, if you take the pill to prevent ovarian cysts, you aren’t ovulating the egg, and the cysts break and cause scar tissue. The pill stops the ovulation, and voila, fewer cysts…
When you take hormones to shrink endometriosis, you also shrink the lining of the uterus, but again the original problem probably caused the egg not to embed. So does this cover taking danazol, GNRH antagonists, or even Tamoxifen for Breast cancer?
Finally, when you take the pill for hemorrhage every month, the thick lining of the uterus probably stops the egg from embedding…and often the woman is so tired from anaemia and pain that she hasn’t the energy to care for her family, let alone have sex. Unhealthy moms tend not to get pregnant too, even if they ovulate, probably due to poor egg or poor uterine lining.
I figure this is covered by the principle of double effect…yes, there are pregnancies lost due to the pill but the rate of non pill users losing pregnancies in the first week after conception is also quite high…and for older women the percentage that can’t embed is also high…if we followed this advice, we older women who have infertility due to structural uterine problems wouldn’t have sex at all…
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