Birth Control - My Story

As I was cleaning out the bathroom closet this morning, I found an old container of birth control. My first impulse was to find some matches and burn it to a crisp. Are there any words I could use to say how much I regret ever using birth control?

Before I got married, several people I respected and admired told me that taking birth control was no big deal. “There are the different kinds and you just have to take the right one.” “It makes being a newlywed so much easier, ect.” I believed them and, I am ashamed to say, did not do much research on my own.

I took birth control for approximately six months. But after a while, I began to question using it. I felt more moody and my body was not behaving normally. I also began to have doubts as to the morality of birth control. What was I putting in my body? 

My dear husband was fully supportive of going off birth control. And after much prayer, we decided to see if the Lord had a baby in our near future. I was crushed when several months passed and no little one began to grow inside of me.

I went to every doctor at my OBGYN. All of them said the same thing. They said something I had never heard before.

“It can take up to a year for a woman’s body to bounce back from being on birth control. You’re so young. Don’t worry about it.”

I was horrified. After all, I only took it for six months. Many women are on birth control for years and the first month off, they get pregnant. But not me. My husband and I endured an excruciating wait as we prayed and hoped for a baby. I often thought, “Did I permanently damage my body?”

I saw more doctors. None of them were concerned. They did not understand so young a woman wanting to have a baby so urgently.

 Almost one year later, the Lord said “Yes!” to our prayer. I think I cried for a full hour after seeing that beautiful little pink line. Every day I am struck by the amazing, undeserved, blessing this little one has already been in my life. And he is not even here yet!

Now, I am on a mission. Not a mission against every type of family planning. I know there are so many different situations out there, and I cannot hope to have enough wisdom to judge all of them.

However, I do take every opportunity to warn my friends and families away from birth control in pill form. There are simply too many unknowns. Too little research has been done. Often, the research is skewed, because people want birth control to be harmless. Even Focus on the Family did research on birth control that was inconclusive. The point is, researchers do not know the exact connections between early abortions and birth control. And they do not know the exact effects birth control can have on a woman’s fertility.

So there is my story. I hope it can help someone who is struggling with making this tough decision. Our bodies are temples of the Living God. We need to make doubly sure what we are putting in them is right and honoring to God.