In the twentieth century, society undertook a vast experiment. Women sought to free themselves from the pain, the work, the exhaustion of big families. They took “control” of their biological systems, and in the process, they put all their female organs on the shelf, refusing to breastfeed their children, and even refusing to bear those children in the first place, with the exception of one, or maybe two, when the timing was just right. Later, the small family philosophy was reinforced by the “Population Bomb” scare of the seventies, leading many women to think that having a large family was simply irresponsible. It was the century of birth control and formula feeding, when motherhood was placed in the hands of science, and women were liberated from the chains of their own biology.
But then, after a while, disturbing things began to surface. We discovered that science had not done such a good job at feeding our children. Year after year, new research came out on the miraculous nature of human milk, and slowly the pendulum swung back as more and more women returned to breastfeeding as the very best beginning they could give their babies.
Yet, the other part of the experiment, the part about refusing to bear those babies in the first place, has remained for the most part unquestioned. Sure, there have been a few “religious nuts” here and there who’ve preached that the Bible teaches that children are a blessing, but mainstream science never seemed to back up the idea.
Until now.
What’s going on, why the turn away from such a treasured idea as birth control? Well, to be blunt, women are dying. Those female organs we put on the shelf turned out not to have quite the shelf life we had assumed. They started to fall apart, victims of cancer. Breast cancer rates are soaring. A 2002 article in New Scientist proclaimed that modern women in the UK were facing breast cancer rates as high as those of childless nuns in the nineteenth century and said,
Western women could reduce their breast cancer risk by nearly 60 per cent if they returned to pre-industrial levels of fertility and breastfeeding….For each child a woman has, her risk of the disease declines by 7.0 per cent. On top of this, for every year that she breast feeds, her risk declines by 4.3 per cent.
Birth control is a strange issue. Like breastfeeding, it’s a matter of health. And for many women, it involves putting chemicals into their bodies, which ought to make us wary enough to talk a lot about it. But it also has to do with marital intimacy, and the highly personal and emotionally charged questions of family size and the timing of births, and because of that, there’s a general reticence to discuss it, a squeamish, hush hush feeling of “whatever you and your husband decide must be fine for you.”
But here and there, I’ve come across these alarming articles, tidbits of indicting information that have led me to the conclusion that birth control is not good for you. I’m of the quiver-full mindset, but I’ll save those “religious nut,” Biblical arguments on the blessings of children for another post. Today, I really just want to share what I’ve learned from a purely health related perspective, the kind of information that should be readily available for everyone to weigh whether or not they’re open to having as many children as God gives them.
You see, the choices we make for how we use our bodies, what we put into them, what we ask them to do day by day, all have an effect on our health. Most of us are used to hearing about how important it is to eat right and exercise. We’re aware of the research that shows that whole grains are better for you than refined flours. We may make the lifestyle choice to buy Wonder bread instead of Aunt Millie’s 100% whole wheat, but at least we don’t get offended at the idea that it should be an informed decision. Same for choosing not to exercise. When you choose not to exercise, you are choosing to put your health at risk. And it’s time we got over the squeamishness and were willing to talk about the fact that when you choose not to have children, you are also choosing to put your health at risk.
So how does this work? Why would a “return to pre-industrial fertility” help save women’s lives? Why is it that any decrease in childbearing, or postponement of childbearing increases your breast cancer risk? It’s because estrogen itself is a carcinogen. Every month a woman has a menstrual cycle, she is exposing herself to estrogen. That’s dangerous any time it happens, but it’s worse if she hasn’t had a full term pregnancy yet. This is why delaying childbearing “until you and your husband have gotten to know each other,” or “until you get your career established,” is actually risky business. The earlier you have your first baby, the lower your breast cancer risk. According to Daniel B. Kopans, M.D., Director of the Breast Imaging Center at Massachusetts General Hospital,
…a woman who has her first full-term pregnancy by the age of 18 has about one-third the risk of developing breast cancer as a woman who has her first full-term pregnancy after age 30.
When a girl reaches puberty, her breasts start to develop, but they don’t actually finish developing until she begins making milk for her first baby. The immature breasts of a woman who has not yet gone through pregnancy and breastfeeding are composed of type 1 and 2 lobules. (A lobule is a milk duct and several milk producing glands around it.) In fact, 70% of this woman’s breast tissue is type 1. Type 1 lobules are the most susceptible to breast cancer. 80% of breast cancers are formed in Type 1 lobules. 10% form in type 2 lobules. When women reach the last eight weeks of their first full term pregnancy, at least 70% of their breast tissue matures to type 3 lobules, and then when they begin nursing, their breasts fill with milk and become type 4 lobules. Type 3 and 4 lobules are cancer resistant. The sooner a woman’s breast tissue matures to type 3 and 4 lobules, the safer she will be from breast cancer because she will have exposed her cancer-vulnerable, immature breasts to fewer menstrual cycles, and therefore fewer onslaughts of estrogen. And the more babies she has, the more lobules will mature. (For more information, click here and read the excellent FAQ.)
But not only do many women delay and/or decrease childbearing, they do so through hormonal contraception (like the Pill), which contains steroidal estrogen. And while it is claimed that estrogen given with progesterone (as it always is in hormonal birth control) is not dangerous, there have been numerous studies linking hormonal contraception with increased breast cancer risk. A Mayo clinic meta-analysis of 23 studies found that 21implied increased risk, and combining the studies gave an estimated 44% increase in pre-menopausal breast cancer risk in women who used the Pill before their first full term pregnancy. The World Health Organization, in its own studies, found the risk to be slightly lower (24%), but still high enough to be scary, to me anyway. (Read more here. Click on “Girls on Steroids”)
Is it possible that we’re killing ourselves, dying to avoid a large family?
Obviously there are many, many women who struggle with fertility issues, who actually cannot have more children. But this should not stop us from sharing the information on the risks of choosing not to let natural fertility take its course any more than the fact that there are people with medical conditions which prevent them from exercising should stop us from declaring the benefits of exercise for the rest of us. For most human beings, exercise is necessary for good health, and choosing not to exercise because it’s not the lifestyle you want is going to come with health risks. No one minds if we say this. We need to come to the point of being willing to tell the truth about birth control, too. It was a bad experiment. God designed women’s bodies, not for years and years of monthly cycles, but for pregnancy and breastfeeding. And choosing not to have children because it isn’t the lifestyle you want is going to come with health risks.
When I was a young wife, the idea of having ‘as many children as God gives you’ scared me to no end. I knew no one who lived that way and no one who would have helped or encouraged me. I felt overwhelmed at the prospect of only having one tiny, helpless human being to be responsible for. Add in a workaholic husband and a culture that had me confused over staying home or going to work, and that was enough to scare me away from even listening to anything like you’ve written above. Along with giving women this information, we’re going to have to change the way we relate to each other. We would need a serious shift in the messages we’re sending to young girls (and boys) about their lives. Women are going to have to make themselves available to younger women as friends and helpers, at least in the beginning. (I’ve been married nineteen years and my oldest is 18, and I feel like I could use a friend and helper right now.)And, if it is indeed healthier to have your first child by 18…I can’t imagine that being embraced by the culture at large without a serious cultural revolution (too strong a word?). Teen brides are hardly encouraged. I’m glad to see this information coming out, I’ll share it with my daughters, but I’m wondering what will have to go with it in order for it to do any good.
That was fascinating. Thanks for posting it.
You have answered a lot of questions that I have had about our bodies, but have never had time to research. Like you, we are quiver full minded, but it is interesting to know that there is more to is than just the ‘religious’ convictions, that it is actually best for our bodies. God’s plan is so amazing and so perfect!
This is an incredible post, the information you’ve presented is amazing. I’ve had six pregnancies in the last seven years, and as a result I am constantly fielding questions about my health from people who are convinced that being pregnant multiple times is risky. I’d love to link to this post, if you’ll allow me to. I also wanted to let you know (but couldn’t find a way to contact you in private) that I’ve done a lot of research on the biblical aspects of birth control and have been working on a book on the subject for a few years now. If you ever do get around to posting the “religious nut” Biblical arguments on birth control and want a (practically exhaustive) list of bible verses on the subject, I’d be happy to share them with you.
Sandy,
You raise such a good point! We need to fight on so many fronts to reclaim the family model that God created. Women need lots of friendship and support as they set out on this counter-cultural journey.
Rina,
I would be honored to have you link to my post! And I’d love to see your list of Bible verses (and your whole book, whenever you are able to finish it). I will send you an e-mail so you have my e-mail address.
I loved your article. Very well written. I appreciate all the links, but was not able to link to the “Girls on seroids” article. Keep up the great work. I enjoy your blog.
Mrs. Parunak,
thank you for this post: even for a non-believer like me (I hope you aren’t offended by this) the information you give is very interesting and important. Although we don’t share the religious values, we seem to be of the same opinion about the unnatural rhythms of life we are forced to by society and about the damages that pressure to deny our nature brings.
I wish you all the best and remain a passionate follower of your blog.
Lelir,
Thanks for your encouraging comment! I’m always happy for anyone to read my blog, no matter what they might believe. It’s nice to have you.
Finally science is figuring out what God has always tried to show us…that His way is always the best way!
Lanita,
Thanks for the heads up on the non-functional link. I think I have fixed it. Let me know if it still doesn’t work for you.
Thank you for this post. All the points about breastfeeding are ones I’ve know for years and tried to point out to encourage people to breastfeed, however I had not even considered the birth control side of it – I’m not really sure why, I guess I always bought the worlds views on this. It’s only since I became a Christian that I began reconsidering . I’m extremely saddened about all the years of my life I wasted believing what the world said on this.
I really enjoyed this article . . . I’ve read simular things but this is VERY well written in my opinion.
I sent my sis-in-law a link to this post.
God bless,
Ashley
What an excellent article.I as yet do not have enough faith to give my womb to the Lord but I do support my friends who do,(childbirth has not always been that easy for me ).Not too long ago I actually thought they were a bit extreme.We use natural family planning but I now have some scientific info to support my friends’ decisions and maybe who knows my daughter’s one day.
I already knew that there were cancer risk increases when women didn’t bear children and breastfeed, but I didn’t know exactly why. Thanks for sharing!
I really enjoyed this article. My father, the ever info-sharing epidemiologist was very excited to share with my the good news on breast feeding.
I thought the whole birth control aspect was interesting as well, I would love to hear more about your views about child spacing, and birth control. I know it is a scary thing for many people. I also know that chemical birth control comes at too high a cost for me, the health risks not only for myself, but for any potential “accidental” pregnancies are too high. From my research any form of hormonal birth control has a “fail safe” mode, in case it does not prevent fertilization which is the goal, it makes the uterus hostile so that if the woman accidently gets pregnant the egg can never implant.
Rachel,
You’re absolutely right about hormonal birth control. It functions as an abortifacient much of the time (the exact amount depends on the particular mix of hormones you are taking, but none is without risk).
There’s lots more to say on the birth control issue as a whole. It probably deserves another post (or several).
As far as child spacing goes, the Lord has set it up beautifully so that frequent breastfeeding (such as ought to be happening with a baby during most of the first year) naturally spaces babies an average of two years apart for most women. Modern society has short-circuited this quite a bit with handy inventions like pacifiers and bottles, and of course, the great-granddaddy of all interventions, the infant feeding routine, which usually translates into no night nursing after about eight weeks or so. For most women, once feedings are spaced more than four hours apart in the day time and more than six hours at night, fertility will return. For a full explanation, see this article.
Terrific discussion . . . you have provided a great deal of info to digest. I have long thought the “plank in the eye” of the evangelical community is their stance on birth control.
Thank you so much for this information. I’m a newlywed and have felt that hormonal birth control was awful stuff; this information backs up my feelings. My husband’s been on my side but my family just hasn’t understood.
I still have a lot of thinking and research to do on the “quiver-full” concept. I very much appreciate your blog! I’ve been silently reading for weeks. Thank you for your inspiring viewpoints on life and faith.
For some of us, pregnancy, though natural, is akin to a physically harmful disease. For women like us, contraception is a blessing — and thankfully, there are plenty of hormone-free barrier methods. Nothing is 100% effective (except abstinence), but multiple barrier methods come close.
My doctor told me to stop at two c-sections, and I “cheated” and snuck in one more. I don’t want to push my luck, and risk leaving my three children motherless. Nor do I want to tell my husband that since we’re done having babies, we ought to refrain from sex, ’til death do we part. For me, barrier contraception is truly a Godsend!
Merry Christmas, and a blessed new year, to you and your family.
We constantly got the question as to whether or not our son was sleeping through the night, even though we were intentionally getting him into the routine of eating at least once during the night. I was told I was spoiling him.
I usually only went a couple of hours without nursing, as much as 4 at night. My fertility returned at ten months, I was hoping for a little longer. I kept track and then was expecting when our son turned 13 months.
my mom told me didn’t show signs of fertility until I was 18 months…. so I was suprised. I guess everyone is different.
Rachel,
I’m a pregnant at 13 months girl, too, or at least that’s how it’s happened three times in a row. That works out to babies spaced every 22 months, which my midwives tell me is pretty average. And you’re right, everyone is different. There are some women who can’t get pregnant even nursing just once a day, and some who are so fertile, they’ll loose their milk supply unless they nurse twice at night. (I have friends in both situations.)
As far as the “spoiling” thing goes, would you believe I’m currently working on a post on a very similar topic? I’ll be interested to hear your thoughts.
Great post and extremely interesting! I think my husband would really enjoy it as well and encourage him in our decision making to let God be God in our fertility!
I am 30 years old, the oldest of 10 children, my parents believe in the full quiver thing, so I know the good and bad that goes with a large family. I have 3 daughters ages 9,7 and 3. I nursed all 3 of them, the last 2 for over 2 years. I have never used any hormonal birth control because I’m scared of the side effects. With each of my pregnancies I get so morning sick and have terrible heartburn the entire time, I get so depressed and irritable, like I’m not myself. I am truely scared to get pregnant again, so we’re doing natural family planning. I feel like I could not care for the children I have properly if I got pregnant at this time, I believe that God wants us to use common sence, not just let whatever happen, saying its his will.
I enjoyed this post! I am an anomaly in my community, having my first baby at 23 (which should be any day now…)Everyone tells me to wait and that I am too young, but my husband and I disagreed. However, I do feel that we have to use common sense in having families. I know a couple of married couples who do not use birth control and they have tremendous financial and relationship struggles because of it. For me, this pregnancy has been very trying physically with vomiting, etc. I could not have done this while having to care for another small child. So there are some instances where family planning might be prudent.
Thankyou for this post, it’s good to have the information out there about the Pill and the associated health risks. It’s certainly not something to take lightly. It’s quite scary how much it raises the risk of breast cancer and cervical cancer, although I hear it’s protective against ovarian cancer. http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/news/archive/pressreleases/2008/january/401148
Laura,
Thank you for bringing this up. A lot of people are very excited about the reduction in ovarian cancer risk associated with hormonal birth control. The article you linked to is an excellent example of the sort of glowing reports that are out there. What these articles usually fail to mention is that having babies is actually a much better safeguard against ovarian cancer. As this study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine found, ovarian cancer risk goes down 12% per birth and only 0.2% per year of oral contraceptive use. The study also found that, while births protected all women, including those who had a genetic mutation predisposing them to ovarian cancer, the Pill only benefited women without the mutation. In other words, if you have ovarian cancer in your genes, then having babies will help you avoid the disease, but taking the Pill won’t.
That’s very interesting, thanks for the link. There hasn’t been as much press about the protective effect of pregnancy against ovarian cancer, even though from that study it seems to have a much greater effect, but I suppose in the press the health debate is much more about hormonal versus other methods of birth control, rather than hormonal birth control versus pregnancy.
Wow! Thanks for this! I have been looking for some research-based arguments to support the case against birth control!
I just became familiar with your blog today after reading your article at At The Well. I thought it was great as well. I could totally relate! I have so many thoughts going through my head after reading your post(man! I wish I could call you on the phone…lol!)
I read your “About Me” section and it says you are a homeschool graduate and that you went to Stanford? Were you homeschooled through 12th grade?
LaSandra,
Thanks for your encouraging comments!
You asked about my educational background, and it turns out that, because of the tremendous flexibility of homeschooling, whether I was homeschooled “through 12th grade” is a difficult question to answer, actually. The easy way to say it is that I was homeschooled until I started college. But that was sort of after eighth or ninth grade, depending on how you look at it. There’s so much redundancy between high school and college these days that I mostly skipped high school. I started taking non-credit community college classes at 14, and credit courses at 15. The only subject I didn’t “skip” the high school level courses on was math. I took what were supposed to be “refresher” courses for adults who had been out of school for years. They weren’t “refreshers” for me, of course, since it was the first time I had seen most of it, but it worked out quite nicely, and being in classes with mature adults (instead of immature, partying college students) made for a nice transition into the college world, especially for someone as young as I was. I didn’t go full time until I was 18, when I enrolled in a degree program. After I graduated from community college, I transferred to Stanford and finished my bachelor’s after two more years.
I would be very hesitant to recommend this path to everyone (just because there is SO MUCH TRASH going on in secular universities), but it did work out quite well for someone with my personality.
Terrific post! Thank you for bravely proclaiming the truth!