I mentioned in yesterday’s blog, “Many religious organizations have voiced strong objections as they liken the method that the pill works to abortion.” Some of 
you wonder how the pill can be likened to abortion. Well, the way the pill works is at the literal heart of the issue.
The pill attempts to stop ovulation in women. If ovulation is stopped then there is no egg to fertilize. However, ovulation still occurs in about 27% of women taking the pill. Thus the pill has two other lines of defense. First, the pill causes cervical mucus to thicken to help prevent sperm from entering the uterus and then the fallopian tubes. Secondly, the pill is over 90% successful in thinning the uterine lining to the point that a fertilized egg can’t attach or implant. It is this last aspect that likens the pill to abortion. Once the egg is fertilized it is a new human being with active cell replication occurring. By the time implantation would occur in the uterus, 7-8 days later, this new being is called an embryo. It is the sloughing off of this living human embryo caused by the pill that is likened to abortion.
Using man-made definitions, some say that pregnancy doesn’t officially occur until the human embryo implants in the uterus. Others say that pregnancy begins when fertilization occurs; therefore, the baby embryo is aborted as a result of the pill making the uterus unsuitable for implantation.
While Christians argue both sides of the equation, abortion after implantation is strongly regarded as killing a human being by Christians, which makes some of the political stances by Christians hard to understand. President Obama is a strong abortion advocate. In fact, while in the Illinois Senate, he repeatedly supported terminating babies that survived abortions. Yet, speaking for my own religion, a majority of Catholics voted for him and other pro-abortion candidates. I realize this is just one issue but it is a defining issue.
The abortion issue has become so political that it has gone away from the rights of the unborn and helpless. Instead, it has gone mainly into the rights of women. Beyond that, it has gone into equal rights between men and women. In fact, just yesterday, President Obama said in commemorating Roe vs. Wade, “We must also continue our efforts to ensure that our daughters have the same rights, freedoms, and opportunities as our sons to fulfill their dreams.” In other words, since men can’t be saddled with pregnancy, women shouldn’t have to be either. It goes along with what he has said previously, “But if they (his daughters) make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby.”
Indeed, the pill and abortion are defining issues of one’s heart and soul. How do they define you?
"It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish." -Mother Theresa.
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