Hormonal Birth Control and Abortifacient Mechanisms
Running head: HORMONAL BIRTH CONTROL Hormonal Birth Control and Abortifacient Mechanisms Catherine Powell A Senior Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation in the Honors Program Liberty University Spring 2012 HORMONAL BIRTH CONTROL 2 Acceptance of Senior Honors Thesis This Senior Honors Thesis is accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation from the Honors Program of Liberty University. ______________________________ Cindy Goodrich, Ed.D., M.S.N, R.N. Thesis Chair ______________________________ Mark Foreman, Ph.D. Committee Member ______________________________ Linda Gregory, R.N., M.S.N. Committee Member ______________________________ Marilyn Gadomski, Ph.D. Assistant Honors Director ______________________________ Date HORMONAL BIRTH CONTROL 3 Abstract Recently, there has been a growing controversy, especially among evangelicals, over whether the birth control pill might have an abortifacient mechanism that sometimes causes early chemical abortions. An understanding of this controversy necessitates a clear definition of abortion, abortifacient, pregnancy, implantation, and especially personhood. If a zygote (fertilized egg) is not a person, then it has no fundamental rights and there is essentially no debate concerning the possible link between birth control pills and abortion. There is strong indirect evidence of post-fertilization, or abortive, effects of hormonal birth control. If zygotes are people, and birth control pills do kill them, health professionals and the public, especially Christians, need to be informed about the situation. HORMONAL BIRTH CONTROL 4 Hormonal Birth Control and Abortifacient Mechanisms Of the 64 million women in the U.S. who are of childbearing age, 62% of them use some form of contraception. Approximately 31% of women choose not to use contraception for either personal or health-related reasons, because they are trying to conceive, or because they are not sexually active.
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