Did You Know That Certain

Contraceptives Cause Abortions

and Serious Side Effects?

by Priestmonk Kosmas

Many say that the issue of using contraceptives is a medical one and therefore should only be discussed with one’s doctor. The problem with this is that there are a growing number of people in the medical community, as well as Orthodox clergy and monastics, who have come to understand that hormonal contraceptives and copper IUDs can cause abortions. Therefore, the Orthodox Church absolutely needs to get involved because abortion is a great sin, even if committed unknowingly. Women who use these contraceptives, and men who engage in sexual relations with them, as well as medical professionals who prescribe or sell them, should immediately stop, repent, and confess to a spiritual father who understands the seriousness of this sin, and accept the penance given by him. No one should despair because God is merciful and forgiving, and desires everyone’s salvation.

When does life, and pregnancy, begin? 

Until the mid-1960s, it was universally accepted as a scientific fact that human life, and therefore pregnancy, begins at the moment of conception - that is, when an egg is fertilized by a sperm in a fallopian tube. However, after the mid-1960s, a controversy began because many in the medical community abruptly changed the official definition. The new definition stated that life, and therefore pregnancy, begins at the time when a fertilized egg implants in the uterus, which is 6-12 days after fertilization. This was done to enable the promotion and selling of hormonal contraceptives and copper IUDs for profit-and above all, to limit the number of people born in the world.  

However, the Orthodox Church has always believed that human life, and therefore pregnancy, begins at the moment of conception/fertilization. The fertilized egg (embryo) is a newly-conceived human being, with his or her own unique DNA, and a soul destined for eternal life. It is therefore holy from its very beginning:

Saint Paisios the Athonite (†1994)

“Parents need to understand that life begins at the moment of conception.”  

Saint Gregory of Nyssa (†394)

“Soul and body have one and the same beginning…”

Elder Athanasios Mitilinaios, Greece (†2006)

“The sperm enters, meets the egg, and conception begins... the embryo begins its life… From that moment!”

Elder Cleopa, Romania (†1998)

“The embryo has a living soul, created by God from the very moment of conception.”

Saint Gervasios Paraskevopoulos, Patras, Greece (†1964)

“Even if only one hour from conception, this child, on the day of judgement, will resurrect...”

What are hormonal contraceptives and copper IUDs?

There are currently six types of hormonal contraceptives that use synthetic forms of the natural hormones estrogen and/or progesterone.

These are the oral contraceptive pills (such as “the pill”, the “mini-pill”, or the “emergency contraceptive pill”, also known as the “morning after pill” or “Plan B”), IUDs (such as Mirena or Kyleena), implants (such as Nexplanon), contraceptive rings (such as NuvaRing), birth control patches (such as Evra), and injectables (such as Depo-Provera).

IUDs are small T-shaped devices that are inserted into the uterus (womb) by either a doctor or a nurse. There are two types — hormonal (progestin only*) and non-hormonal (copper, such as Paragard). Although they work in different ways, both types can be either contraceptive or can cause abortions. Both types of IUDs are also associated with serious side effects and health risks for women.

* Progestin is a synthetic form of progesterone. 

How do embryo-killing contraceptives work? 

Information about hormonal contraceptives may be found in most drug reference manuals and the information leaflets that come in the drug packages. We learn that they can work in three ways (mechanisms):

1. They may stop or reduce the monthly release of an egg from the ovaries (ovulation),which decreases the likelihood of the fertilization of an egg by a sperm.

2. They thicken cervical mucus, which makes it more difficult for sperm to travel through the cervix and into one of the fallopian tubes to reach an egg.

3. They thin the lining of the uterus, which decreases the likelihood of the fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus. (The lining of the uterus of women who do not use hormonal contraceptives thickens to between 7 and 16mm compared to around 1.1mm for women who do use them. A minimum of about 7mm is needed for successful implantation.)

The first two mechanisms prevent pregnancies. However, when these fail and fertilization does take place, the third mechanism causes the fertilized egg (embryo) to die and be expelled from the uterus, whereby the newly created human being, with a soul, is aborted. Unfortunately, the third mechanism happens often.

As for copper IUDs, they produce an inflammatory reaction which creates a toxic environment in the uterus, cervix, fallopian tubes, etc. This toxicity can: (i) be contraceptive, (ii) poison the embryo directly or(iii) prevent the embryo’s successful implantation in the uterus. In the last two cases, the result is an abortion.

All the above reveals the reason the definition was changed of when pregnancy, and therefore life, begins. However, despite what we are told, it is untrue that the destruction of a fertilized egg before implantation is not an abortion - it is absolutely an abortion. One of the world’s best kept secrets is that hormonal contraceptives and copper IUDs cause abortions!

What do Orthodox holy people say?

Saint Paisios the Athonite (†1994): “Abortion is a terrible sin. It is murder, and indeed, a tremendous murder, because unbaptised children are killed.” 

Saint Nikolai Velimirovich, Serbia (†1956): “The Orthodox Church has condemned abortion and the avoidance of childbearing in repeated Synods.”

The Council of Trullo, Canon 92 (691 AD):“Those who supply drugs for the purpose of committing abortion, and those who take embryo-killing poisons, are made subject to the penalty prescribed for murderers.”

Eldress Galaktia of Crete, Greece (†2021): “The earth is bloodied by abortions, by the pills that kill children and the devices [IUDs] that women put inside themselves which kill the poor, unborn children when they are tiny seeds in their mother’s belly.”  

Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica, Serbia (†2003):“God gives life and a woman destroys it. Great repentance is necessary, from the depths of her soul.”

Archpriest Dimitry Smirnov, Russia (†2020):  “The majority of contraceptives can cause abortions and are harmful to the health of the mother... Unnoticed by the woman, the children conceived within her are periodically destroyed.” 

Archimandrite Raphael (Karelin), Georgia: “In most cases birth control is effectively a
‘mini-abortion,’ and in no essential way different from murder… Such forms of birth control destroy far more lives than [intentional] abortions.”

More children are unknowingly aborted by these contraceptives worldwide (in the hundreds of millions per year) than by intentional abortion procedures (73 million per year), making it the greatest holocaust of all time.

What are some side effects & health risks?

• In 2005, the International Agency for Research of Cancer, a branch of the WHO, labelled hormonal contraceptives as a Group 1 carcinogen (known to cause cancer) similar to asbestos, radium, and tobacco.
• Hormonal contraceptives increase the risk of blood clots, strokes, heart attacks, infertility, severe headaches (RCVS), deep vein thrombosis, high blood pressure, pelvic inflammatory disease, breast cancer, cervical cancer, liver tumours, ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage, STDs, and mental health problems.
• Copper IUDs can lead to copper overload (toxicity) in the body. They increase the risk of anemia, infertility, infection, pelvic pain, reproductive & sexual problems, uterine perforation, heavier & longer periods, anxiety, depression, insomnia, and other mental disorders.

Frequently asked questions

• What happens to children who are aborted?
• Are non-abortive contraceptives allowed to be used?
• Is there an alternative to contraceptives?
• What are the mental, physical and spiritual consequences of abortions?
• What prayers can be read by those who have committed abortion, both for themselves and for their aborted child?
• Is it enough to just confess the sin of abortion, or is there more one must do?

For answers to these questions, and more information:

www.OrthodoxTalks.com/Hormonal-Contraceptives

Produced with the blessing & prayers of His Grace George,
Bishop of Sydney, Australia and New Zealand
of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia

For free copies, email info@OrthodoxTalks.com

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