61.
Every single one of you advocating NFP are religious. Preach to your choir because not only are many people agnostic/athiest, but many religous folks don't believe god insists that we get pregnant every year or two.

I'm grateful to birth control. Thanks to it, I have the biological child I wanted and an amazing anytime-I-want-it sex life, too.

My husband and I have been together for 22 years. I used the pill for about 10 years and then when I wanted to get off the hormones, I switched to a diaphragm.

In all that time, I've only been pregnant 3 times, in spite of an active sex life. And I *never* got pregnant while on the pill.

The first pregnancy happened the first time we forgot the diaphragm. Miscarried at about 8 weeks. It fell out while I was on the toilet and it looked like a 1/2 inch diameter jelly fish. I wasn't sure at first what it was, and then when I realized, I didn't know whether to scoop it out and take it to the doctor, scoop it out and bury it, or flush it. I was alone at work at the time, upset, inexperienced and confused over what to do. I flushed it.

The second pregnancy was planned. After recovering from the grief over losing the first pregnancy, we decided to go for it 3 months after the miscarriage. I have a smart, beautiful daughter now.

The third pregnancy happened the second time we forgot the diaphragm. It was a tubal pregnancy which, of course, meant that the tube had to be removed. By then, I was 38 and since I had a biological daughter as well as 4 step-sons, we didn't want anymore children. On the way to the operating room we told the doctor to go ahead and take both tubes. Viola! No more birth control worries.

Seeing as how I got pregnant the only two times we forgot the diaphragm and got pregnant in the first month of trying on purpose (Fertile Myrtle here!), I am certain that without effective birth control, I'd have a dozen kids that I couldn't take care of by now.

My life is as full of children as I want it and I thank the science that brought us birth control for it.

Doofus at 1:23PM on Aug 10th 2008

62.
Oh, and another thing....

If you catholics think that god wants you to be "open to life" and that sex should not only be "unitive," but "procreative," too, then why the hell are you doing *anything* to manipulate whether you get pregnant or not?

That's not exactly leaving it up to god, now is it?

Doofus at 1:24PM on Aug 10th 2008

63. What a bunch of mindless chatter! Our society should reward responsible people by letting them keep the money they've earned so that they can raise responsible children of their own.
But instead we raise one safety net after another for stupuid people who entrust their lives to magic pills and paid advertisements from drug companies.
The latest stupidity is the HPV vaccination which prevents 4 of maybe 200 strains of HPV. 70% prevention shouldn't be good enough for anyone's daughter, so go buy her a battery operated boyfriend!
I'll bet 90% of kids could be sold on abstainence if shown some of the grotesque pictures of what happens to your wewee or woowo when one fails to keep their clothes on.

Mike at 3:35PM on Aug 10th 2008

64. I am a woman in her early 20s who chooses to use birth control simply because I cannot afford to raise a family at this point in my life. My partner and I will make good parents someday, but we also want to be responsible parents. It's hard enough to put gas in my car while waitressing and attending college full-time; trying to raise a child would be impossible.

It saddens me to see all of the teenage girls in my hometown raising families on welfare. Our economy, especially here in Ohio where we have lost so many manufacturing jobs, is very weak right now. Too many tax dollars go to these children raising children because their high school sex education class did not teach them how to engage in safe sex.

Angela at 12:26AM on Aug 11th 2008

65. I am in no way conservative, and do support the right to choose and encourage sexually active young people to use birth control and condoms correctly. I, personally, need birth control to regulate my PCOS.
I, however, do not support Seasonale or any other birth control that suppresses women's natural cycle or deems it unimportant.
Menstruation is and has always been a sacred part of life!
Yes, it can be painful and inconvienient (I know, I have PCOS), but modern day Western society has made this part of being a woman gross and shameful when it should be celebrated.
This isn't some theoretical granola-feminist-using-menstrual-blood-for-art crap that I'm trying to push; this is part of life and it should not be cast away. We need to celebrate that which makes us female and male!

Lillia at 5:36AM on Aug 11th 2008

66. Mike: I'll bet 90% of kids could be sold on abstainence if shown some of the grotesque pictures of what happens to your wewee or woowo when one fails to keep their clothes on.

PV: Of course, but they won't do it. The liberals have public education by the balls and need to promote lots of reckless---even dangerous---sexual activity if they are to keep the sexual revolution alive.

Nature is not kind to sexual libertines, and so the cost of total unrestrained sexual freedom is STDs of all kinds and abandoned children. But we must not let anyone know this truth, for it might shift public policy. The sex obsessives of our culture are diseased in both body and mind. When will they ever learn?

PV at 11:41AM on Aug 11th 2008

67. Nina,

I agree with your comments regarding NFP. It works. All of my friends use it. My friend, a PA teaches it. No, I don't believe in contraception. I have already stated many times that sex is both unitive and procreative. I believe that couples should be open to life. This does not mean that you have to give birth to 15 children, although couples that do have large families should not be ridiculed; it means that you need to lovingly accept children whenever you have sex. I am not going to get into a debate about women's bodies and control. I don’t believe that absolute control over my life is necessary for freedom. As a Catholic, I believe that my body, first and foremost belongs to God. Jesus purchased it at a great price; his sacrificial death on the cross. It is sacred; not to be abused and misused, but honored and kept undefiled. It is a difficult lesson, especially if one adheres to the standards of this world. I reject this world and its view of right and wrong, good and evil. It has nothing to offer me that can compare to the promises of Christ. I defend Catholic teaching on topics like contraception, abortion, homosexuality, marriage, etc. because I care about souls. As a Christian, I am called to share the gospel. What people do with the knowledge I share is their decision. I fight for what I believe because as an American I have the right to construct society through activism and voting. I think it is ironic that millions of women so readily inject a chemical designed to alter the hormonal makeup of their bodies. A long term study is a lifetime, not 40 or 50 years. I hope that when the first generation of women begins to enter the final stage of life that the long term consequences will be worth the absence of children

janesophie1 at 2:50PM on Aug 11th 2008

68. "As a Christian, I am called to share the gospel. "
Jane,

Jane,

I agree. So why aren't you ever sharing the Gospel? Your hardcore views on the subjects you touched on, aren't in the Bible.

"I fight for what I believe because as an American I have the right to construct society through activism and voting."

Thanks a lot for the past 8 years.

Botts at 3:42PM on Aug 11th 2008

69. Botts,

You are far from the gospel. You deny basic Christian teachings. You have the audacity to question the Early Church Fathers and Ecumenical Councils. Holy men like St. Jerome, St. Polycarp, and St. Athanasius who elucidated the Christian faith you call heretics. You pick and choose from scripture. If it conflicts with Botts' world view then he rejects it and fixates on love to the exclusion of truth. You remind me of the parable about the sower, "Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil and when the sun came up it was scorched and the thistles sprang up and choked it, and it produced nothing"(Matthew 13:5-9). You need to choose the world or the kingdom of God. One can not serve two masters!

janesophie1 at 4:55PM on Aug 11th 2008

70. If God really wanted all women to have all the children that they conceive, the world would not have poverty, crime or hate. And the globe itself would be A LOT BIGGER, or we ourselves would be A LOT SMALLER. But there is poverty, crime and hate. I personally believe that God gave us free will and a brain for a reason. After all, what fun is it to watch us all live our pitiful little lives if He already knows what happens? Reruns are boring. I am not going to limit God. Are you?

Annabelle at 7:34PM on Aug 11th 2008

71. "You need to choose the world or the kingdom of God. One can not serve two masters!"

Jane,

So why did you choose the World? You certainly didn't choose Scripture. You've admitted this.

There is only one Holy writing. It's called the Bible. Not your meetings. Yes, the Catholics have history, but that doesn't mean an ounce of anything. It means that they have history.

You criticize my views. I have one view, and a view you can't seem to follow. Follow the first two commandments as Jesus advised. Once that is accomplished, the whole law is understood in it's entirety and the Holy Spirit makes Himself known to you.

Can you repeat those Commandments on here that Jesus talks of in Matthew? Why don't you write them down? Then recite where He explains that all of Scripture is inspired and based off of those two commandments.

You say that I only focus on Love? Is that a bad thing Jane? Do I listen to you and your "Father's", or do I listen to the Savior and Holy Spirit?

You won't be able to answer these questions without reciting dogma. But that's okay. I know where your head is at. It certainly isn't at the God Scripture speaks of. It's at a "god" your denomination speaks of. Not good at all.

Botts at 8:16PM on Aug 11th 2008

72. This attitude that birth control is somehow bad is insane. The LAST thing this planet needs is more people. If we don't control our population growth, we are headed for a crash.

I'm sorry, but I don't understand having this endless debate over what some deity "wants" women to do. Open your eyes and look at the facts!

Tatiana at 4:31AM on Aug 12th 2008

73. Tatiana,

Overpopulation is a myth. It is a myth created by those opposed to life. It is a myth created by those without God. There are enough resources to feed, house, and clothe every person on this planet 100 times over. The problem is over consumption by the few at the expense of the many, (www.pop.org/ Population Research Institute Homepage). If you want to know the truth about contraception read the encyclical Humanae Vitae.

janesophie1 at 9:13AM on Aug 12th 2008

74.
jane, have you no shame? The link you provide is a front for pro life groups. Obviously it is more important for you to use manufactured information to buttress your argument. Why didn't you just cite the bible for your numbers?

JefFlyingV at 8:44PM on Aug 12th 2008

75. She's either a slut or a prude. Anything else just fails to capture our attention.

Somber at 3:06PM on Aug 8th 2008

xxx

Wouldn't it be neat if someone else's sex life just plain failed to capture our attention, period?

Clif Kuplen at 9:57PM on Aug 12th 2008