Does Birth Control Help the Poor?

Does Birth Control Help the Poor?

Inevitably when a discussion comes up about birth control and the evil roots behind it, women will bring up generations in times past when birth control didn’t exist, where poverty was extreme, and families were large. “Isn’t birth control a great invention to help prevent this happening?”

Here are some responses from women in the chat room.

“All that is necessary to allow women to space children (such as for health purposes) is some basic knowledge of how their bodies work. That much is a good thing. We don’t need birth control to keep women from having a baby every single year so that she doesn’t destroy her health. Most women are not that fertile anyway. And if they are, a little knowledge can help them be good stewards of their bodies.

“What we don’t need is the swing to the opposite extreme that we have now where children are viewed as burdens rather than blessings and most people have only one or two and the ‘normal’ state is to try to prevent sex from producing children.”

“I would point out that the Israelites kept having babies when they were slaves in Egypt and when they were in captivity in Babylon. In fact, God told them to have children. Being ‘poor’ isn’t a standard for using birth control.”

“Number one: The negative health effects of birth control are proven, and we are commanded to take good care of our bodies; the temple of God. Number two: These women do not truly understand the purpose of having children. We have children and raise them up in the fear of the Lord so that they can do God’s work in the world and build up His Kingdom. Therefore, the more children you have, the bigger God’s army. And in this immoral society, we need more Godly people, not less.

“Number three: Since God is in charge of opening and closing wombs, a woman should leave it up to Him to decide when she’s done having kids, not the opinions of man. Submit to God. Number four: Don’t they like to say, ‘My body my choice?’ but yet they like to tell other women when to stop having babies. Well, her womb is HER choice and it’s none of their business. I think that it’s so offensive and inappropriate to tell a woman that she’s had enough babies but again, it’s that controlling spirit. They want to control other adults: control everybody else but themselves.”

Children don’t make people poor. They make us rich in what truly matters – family and relationships. Large families of old lived in small homes and as long as their basic needs were met and they had a loving mother and father, there was joy in the home.  Now, many people live in large homes with small families, mothers are away at work all day, divorce rates are way too high, children are being raised by strangers, and there’s not much joy in the home. Our priorities have changed with birth control. People treasure their stuff more than they do children. It’s not easy to bear and raise children, but they are blessings from God and happy is the man who has a quiver full. Who can argue with God?

Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.
Psalm 127:5

26 thoughts on “Does Birth Control Help the Poor?

  1. The whole too poor argument is crazy. Husbands need to step up and provide, the family needs to be frugal, the wife has to know how to work with less if need be. Its totally possible to live off one income. I think too many people want too much material stuff these days. America is a land of opportunity, even our poor is not considered poor when talking about other countries. Kids are a blessing and the Lord provides. Birth control is terrible and for the weak in faith.

  2. So there has been widely available birth control for several generations now, yet we still have poor people. So they need to tell me again how birth control was going to help them.

  3. My soul rejoices in your articles, Lori. The Word of God is taught here with boldness and love. I thank you for your service to the King; that you obey Him, that you withstand so much slander just so us younger women can know what our true, fufilling purpose in this life is. Thank you for standing strong, and using your platform to say “Thus saith the LORD”. Please, don’t be discouraged! God is using you mightily and your faithfulness to Him, your husband, and this blog has been a true blessing in my life, and I’m sure others as well. I pray blessings over you and your children, and your grandchildren, that you guys would keep up the good work! Please, keep me in your prayers, always.

  4. Yes children are a blessing. I can’t imagine life without even one of my four beautiful children, and if the Lord were to bless us with another one, we would rejoice, even though we are struggling financially and live below the (official) poverty line. I can’t imagine how we would even begin to afford another child, but we would manage, and yes, the Lord would provide. He always has.

    You have to remember that not everyone lives in America. Where I live, we have a housing crisis throughout the whole country. We have homeless people living in motels (at the taxpayers expense), cars, shelters…. Those who do have houses, are paying the equivalent of an entire average-sized salary for rent/mortgage. So here, it is virtually impossible to live on one income, even with the very generous government subsidies. Electricity, petrol and food prices are all crazy expensive.

    Also remember that for many, it’s not as simple as the “husband stepping up to provide”. Health reasons may render that impossible. And it’s all very well saying families need to be frugal, but what about those who are already as frugal as it’s possible to be and still don’t have enough to live on? That is very common, here. Poverty is the number one reason for domestic violence where I live, and we have the highest rate of domestic violence in the developed world. Even among Christians, sadly.

    It is not as black and white as what some people think. There are definite shades of grey. But I do agree with the woman in the chatroom who said about the judgement when women choose to have many children. I’ve experienced that myself, when I was pregnant with #4. Our family size is between us and the Lord. It’s nothing to do with anyone else. People are way too judgmental.

  5. Honest question Lori,
    What are your thoughts on IVF for couples struggling to get pregnant? I understand that god opens and closes the womb, but are medical interventions acceptable in this situation?

  6. These poor people didn’t have birth control, M. At least not effective and accessible birth control. The ancient Egyptians used crocodile dung and honey as a diaphragm-like birth control method, just because it was used as a contraceptive doesn’t mean it was effective. Duh.

  7. “Number three: Since God is in charge of opening and closing wombs, a woman should leave it up to Him to decide – Submit to God.” This says it all.

    Birth control is a sin and leads women into an ever deeper web of sin, promiscuity, fornication, divorce and often abortion.

    It also leads men to regard sex as a recreational activity free of responsibility and increasingly to run away from the responsibility of parenthood when it does ‘fail’.

  8. I’m not using birth control. Not necessarily because I want to have tons of children, but because I don’t like what the hormones do to my body. I get tired of doctors looking at me like I have 10 eyes. Or they’ll say, well I’m sure we’ll see you soon, like my getting pregnant is inevitable. I just want to scream “I know what I’m doing!”

  9. It’s a tough situation, Janice. I don’t like the idea of embryos being frozen and then what if the couple doesn’t want to use them all?

  10. Some medical interventions, to help the natural process are perfectly acceptable. But IVF is immoral firstly because the act of conception is not in itself as God designed it (and is in itself sinful for the man) and secondly because of the fact that embryos once created must be respected and protected in the same way as any other child – and they are not.

  11. I totally believe kids come with marriage. If you can’t “afford” them I would advise couples to not marry. By choosing to marry you are choosing to trust God with your womb, choosing to provide for kids, choosing to live out your biblical roles, etc. Marriage is the 2nd biggest commitment other than taking Jesus as your savior. I agree there are exceptions but we can’t live thinking about rare exceptions. Just trust God and try to live as biblical as possible :).

  12. Mel, I beg to differ. Free or cheap contraception has been available for years. A pack of condoms are really cheap if you can’t get free ones.

  13. What about women who use birth control to help regulate hormonal imbalances? My wife takes Loestrin, and without it she has unbearable cramps and pain. This is very common for a lot of women.

  14. I agree, Susanne. It’s pretty impossible to be against abortion, but in favour of IVF. In most cases, IVF has left-over embryos that are eventually destroyed. If we believe that life begins at conception, then IVF, like abortion, is destroying lives, not just a bunch of cells.

  15. Seth Horn – I can definitely empathise with your wife! Cramps and pain was the reason I went on birth control pills in my teens – I was not sexually active, but took the pill to regulate my hormones. It’s the first thing doctors prescribe, and I got mine from the nurse at school without my parents consent or knowledge. Scary to think about now!! But look into what these artificial hormones actually do to our bodies – it’s pretty nasty stuff. Even scarier, in the fine print of the pill I was on, it says that if accidentally taken in the early stages of pregnancy (before we know we’re pregnant) it can feminize the (male) foetus! It definitely is not good for our bodies, and even worse for our babies if we inadvertently take it while pregnant.
    I found great success with Evening Primrose Oil capsules. Fish oil also helps me, and there are a number of other natural supplements available.

  16. There are natural ways to get rid of cramps. Cut out sugar, gluten, and go on a high healthy fat diet. PMS and cramps disappear! A lot of the junk and chemicals that are in processed foods today affect our hormones and cycles. Do your research! Doctors literally just want to prescribe a birth control pill because they probably aren’t even trained in nutrition anyway.

  17. I take Loestrin for endometriosis. I am likely infertile and I’ve had this condition since I was 15. Without birth control I end up needing surgery every so many years to correct problems like ovarian cysts that have grown too large or ovarian torsion (from cysts that are too large). With birth control I can live a relatively normal life as it delays the growth of cysts and endometriomas. There doesn’t seem to be a natural alternative to birth control for endo or PCOS.

  18. I think it is safe to say that in a perfect world (before the fall) infertility would not be an issue! Because we live in a sinful society our bodies and not always working the way we were original designed. I think, with prayerful intention, we should rejoice in the ways that God has blessed us with the knowledge to start families when our bodies can’t on their own. Not only with IVF but with other paths as well. IVF isn’t right for every family, but there are many additional resources if God is call you a different direction .. I.E adoption, hormone treatments and more. Additionally empbryo adoption is a great option once you have conceived your family and would consider blessing another

  19. HI,

    No fair, I know how to do money, I would never let a man handle the finances. Hubby brings in the paycheck. He wants nothing to do with bill, he says that office work= womens work. true, you can live off of one income. Depends on how big that income is for how you live. Where we live, hubby says its the poorest county in the state, and the among poorest area in US. We paid cash for our first house, I paid my truck off before marriage. sold hubbys second car to pay of second car. no debt. Sold first house in morning, to use that money to buy a nice fixed up house for the baby to live in the same night. always owe about 1,500.00 yearly to the increase of taxes, & fuel. pay it off at income tax time. We could not afford to have a mortgage, car payment, rent. thats why i worked so many hours before getting married to pay cash for a house. I just paid our taxes for the year, they went up 200 dollars, my hubby didnt get a raise, blessed we still have a job. some much firing. So if you pay cash up front for them, you get a discount. So I alote every pay, but I didnt know about the 200 dollars, so I have to use other bill money to get this cheaper, and put other bills on credit cards for now, until prices come down, or hubby is blessed with better paying job. We get WIC for baby, I map our meals around this, buy generic, bulk, use left overs, baby wears real under for potty training. go trough cloths of cloths daily. Love the hand me down cloths from people.

    I only got to have one baby, VERY GRATEFUL FOR HER. not everybody can have more.

    The stuff I grew up doing without, living here in the US, we would have been taken from our parents, and put in foster care. Children have been taken away for less reasons. I did a post earlier regarding the conditions I grew up in. I dont know when it will post, I believe I put it under the new manipulating men. Im not used to spending so much time on line. Ive never posted anywhere before. I hope Im doing it right. Other country we would have the RICH people, but here we would have been in trouble.

    Thanks
    God Bless

  20. Hi,

    Im not sure what IVF is? Is it to help with people who cant get pregnant? I was blessed to be able to have 1 child. But if I wouldnt have been able to have her, I myself wouldnt have done any thing for it. I would have adopted or remained childless. Too much invasion for me.. Buts me.

    So can you help me out and explain what is sinful for the man? Sorry raised very sheltered life here.

    Thanks
    God Bless

  21. What if there are godly couples who truly don’t desire children and would like to dedicate their time, energy, effort, money ect… elsewhere for the glory of God?

  22. God commands young women to marry, bear children, and guide the home (1 Tim. 5:14). This is His will for women. He didn’t create birth control. He created women to have children. One of the reasons given for marriage is to produce godly offspring.

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