The Pill, The IUD - The Woman, The Babies.

Dr. Robinson, explains the way the Pill and the IUD work, some of the side effects a woman can have and the abortifacient capabilities of these form of birth control. 

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Lydia:   0:02
We are here  again In  this culture of LIFE ministries. Welcome back, Dr Robinson. How are you?

Dr. Robinson:   0:11
I'm doing well,  thank you!

Lydia:   0:13
I enjoyed so much  the last chat that we had. It is  so beautiful to know the services that the clinic offers and  the mission of this clinic not to provide contraceptives.

Dr. Robinson:   0:25
 That is very true. And, you know, I think it goes back to the fact that contraception, yes, there's medicines and there's acts of contraception. But it's really a a way of thinking, and it's  a lifestyle, I think. And its something that many have thought about and prayed about, including leaders of the church and medical professionals, and have come to the conclusion that it is opposed to the life of faith.

Lydia:   0:59
How can we understand that? Because what is something that is opposing our fate?

Dr. Robinson:   1:05
You know,  and looking back in my early medical education, I didn't understand as much as I did now about faith. If all of our faith,  we are on a faith journey here, in fact, faith is not something we can conjure up on our own. The church teaches us that faith is a gift that we have, and this can grow if we allow and put the right soil and conditions in our hearts and in our lives. One of the issues that hurts our  faith sometimes is our, uh  yearning to do things on our own and to obey ourselves vs God. And in those cases, we lose our faith or our  faith does not become strong. And and there's this idea that we can't be stable. There's not such things a steady faith in the sense that it's never growing or becoming less. It will get we could get colder or it will get stronger and harder and with contraception, the reasoning behind the idea of contraception is is I want something and therefore I'm going to make sure I don't have a baby. And I don't conceive because I want freedom to do what I want to do, whatever that is.

Lydia:   2:43
And, why is it important  that we understand also the affects that, especially hormonal contraception has in the body of a woman,  because what started  it all was a pill, isn't it?

Dr. Robinson:  2:59
Yes, I think it was in the 19 sixties is that correct?  that the the first pill became available and really what it is:  It's a large dose of hormones. Either a combination of estrogen and progesterone are progesterone; t's a  synthetic, hormonal steroids. Its original intent is to prevent ovulation so that the woman does not have an opened viable egg to get to have a sperm and and become a baby. They later found that there are  other effects that came with the pill. The more that scientists started looking at the cervix, they realized that the cervix was more of an an indicator to the fertility of a woman with its mucus. And, of course, if you by changing the hormonal concentrations in a woman's body, you change the mucus. And if you're on an overdose of hormones, which the Pill is, a lot of times the mucus is gonna be thick and not allow sperm to go in. And then they found that there are women that,  -that does not happen with, and there are women that ovulate with the contraceptives. And they found that the third thing, that main thing that happens in the woman's body, that contraceptives were work is kind of like the third backup plan. So to speak is though the lining of the womb, where the baby is supposed to implant, that gives it all of its rich nutrients so it can grow, remains thin. So it does not,  or prevents the the baby, the young baby from implanting. And in that case, the technical term would be an abortion. So a contraceptive can be an abortifacient.  And there are many folks who later on after learning that fact; In fact, doctors who would say I'm pro contraceptive but not with the pill because I found out it causes an abortion. So many that would say, I'm not, you know, I'm OK with contraceptives. that's just a lifestyle, the type of choice that couples can make or women can make. Um, OK, but I'm not okay with abortion. So once they learn that, they said that we never really can know, so that that's a little bit about the Pill.

Lydia:   5:45
Because of the strength of hormones, the synthetic hormones that a woman is ingesting  or using in her body, for example, is trying to stop population from happening and also thinning the lining of the uterus.

Dr. Robinson: Yes,

Lydia:  So, occasionally, maybe a woman wonder won't know when, right?  when she will ovulate and sperm will make it in the fallopian tubes -and conceived!

Dr. Robinson:
Yes! God's plan of creation from for fertility is just amazing and even the best, most effective contraceptive that a man could make. There's always a chance, and there's always some woman out there that has become pregnant from using that.

Lydia:   6:33
And  would  never know! It's just that the baby won't survive because the lining of the uterus is kept hostile thin right?!

Dr. Robinson:
Exactly!

Lydia:
It won't have nutrients to support LIFE!
So the side effects that a woman can have consuming this enormous amounts of hormones, or lower amounts of hormones, because they have different kinds of pills on the market; but still they can affect the health of the woman in other ways isn't it? not only her fertility.

Dr Robinson:   7:02
Yes, there are medical side effects, you know, any time there's a large amount of hormone or excessive hormones, you can get blood clots so, deep venous thrombosis  that can happen in the legs or other parts of the body, or you can have strokes. I have taken care of a young woman who was on a contraceptive and just happened chance. She had a stroke, and she could only communicate by blinking her eyes. And she was in her thirties and confined to a bed in a nursing home. Not intended, of course. And the doctor who prescribed it was not treating a medical disease. It was a social issue of her wanting to do what she wanted to with her own body. And it just happened to happen that way, that hormones can also potentiality cancer. It's rare and all these things you don't happen to all women who take it. But the risk is there,  liver cancer. There's certain liver tumors that can form. And one of my colleagues, he had the the misfortune, prescribing a contraceptive just in a normal daily practice of a woman who later had a cancerous tumor and had to fight that. So  you have all sorts of different side effects. You have emotional side effects, too. In fact, there's some research out there showing that, just by taking the pill, or thinking you're taking the pill. It can cause all sorts of the side effects, such as depression and headaches and fatigue. In fact, those that were taking the placebo in some studies felt the same way.

Lydia:   9:02
 Wow! You know? I talk too a lot of women that have been on the pill. They have told me: Yes! since I started on the pill, on the shoot -depo provera or, another kind of hormonal contraceptive, things changed in my body. So women know! but many also say -No I don't have any side effects -I'm fine. Everything is perfect!  Is it possible that may be right now,  a woman that is on the pill or on some kind of hormonal contraception,  does not have side effects but; is there a potential damage or change in the body?  can something else happen?

Dr. Robinson:  9:43
You know, one of the things they found with studies of the cervix is that these hormones tend to age the cervix. And so women there It's known in the medical community now that many women that have been on the on contraceptives for years, sort of waiting till the right time to get pregnant and not wanting to get rid of  the potential for a good career, or not feeling ready for their families, finally get off of it. And then they have infertility issues because the cervix is not working the way it did when it was younger.

Lydia:  10:23
It has aged by the effect of the the hormones, and then combining the age when they're ready, usually after their thirties,  natural fertility even without use of contraceptives diminishes after 35, is'n it?

Dr. Robinson:
-Yes

Lydia:
If they're looking  to have a baby later while using contraceptives is not preserving  the fertility, it's usually damaged!

Dr. Robinson:   10:44
 Yes, and in the spiritual realm,  I also like to bring it up that your marriage  and your relationship with God also is affected. And that's what's something, that's why our faith is so important. If you look at the trends, they're  completely the opposite of what people had desired by making the contraceptives. They had predicted that women would become more free, that families would become more engaged with one another, you'll have healthy families, and the opposite has happened. The divorce rate went almost along the line the curve of the availability of contraceptives went up. And you have sexual promiscuity. You even have increasing abortion rates, which they said it's reasonable to believe that if you have contraception, you wouldn't have abortion but that's not  taken, that's  not happened.

Lydia:   11:55
The opposite has happened, it's been keeping the woman kind of oppressed in a way and fearful I think of the natural way the body works.

Dr. Robinson:   12:06
Yes,  there's more, Uh, you know, mood disorders that seems and difficulties with marriage that has become the focused of a lot of churches trying to help the families because there's a crisis in the family nowadays.  There's fewer and fewer people wanting to get married. And it's just one of those, ah, one of those things that it seems to defy reason. Of course, there's always explanations. But in the end, it was what Pope Paul the VI had predicted when he put out his  Humanae Vitae , which I think is over 50 years ago.

Lydia: 1968

Dr. Robinson:
So we, now are in the midst of this crisis, and here, at  Cultural Life Ministries,  we are hoping to serve Our Lord is a beacon. As a way of saying: this is not the way this is not the appropriate way; this is not the healthy way to approach the family and to approach this desire to keep, to have a good family, to have a good marriage to to have a good relationship if you're not married with someone of the opposite sex.

Lydia:   13:30
 And so, I would  like for you to talk to us about the IUD. (Intra Uterine Device)

Dr. Robinson:   13:37
The IUD is usually a metallic object, looks like a "T" usually the letter capital letter T, that is inserted into the womb, and its main purpose is to prevent implantation of that newly formed baby. They told us in medical school that the story was they had put rocks in the womb of camels if they didn't want the camel to become pregnant because if the camel was pregnant, you couldn't take the camel on long journeys and somehow they figured it out that you know that this heavy, an object in the womb would do that. Now,  there's some that are lined with hormones to try to help that as well, because even the IUD is - you could be pregnant. There's pregnancies where the IUD was part of the baby's head, just kind of moulded in. And in fact, there was one story where baby came out holding the I UD. The IUDS,  depending on your definitions, I look at it as an abortifacient. It causes abortions. It doesn't usually prevent conception. The conceptions already occurred -its aborting the baby.

Lydia:   15:04
And you know, when I ask women or, women  have told me:  well, the IUD, the reason for the IUD, the function is to prevent the male cells from reaching out the egg. That is what they know or they have been told.

Dr. Robinson:   15:22
Well, that's not what is understood in the medical literature, the way it works.

Lydia:   15:29
Because I think what we need to  understand is that ovulation happens,  the egg is released into the fallopian tube  and conception happened in these short period of time -the egg is advancing is going to be fertilized and --it takes a few days to implant on the womb. If the IUD is there is not going to be able to, isn' it?  Some of them make it like this babies that the pregnancy continues.  So how many more times for these babies that are born, even with the IUD?  How many more babies have been lost? Is there an estimation? How many babies?  A woman that is just using the IUD, let's say for five years!  I just... I just tremble with sadness and concern! How many lives maybe are lost and these woman never knew!

Dr. Robinson:   16:19
Yes! and it's maybe a good idea we don't know how many lives, the sadness that it is one of those things that we may know when we get to heaven and see God's heart for that. You know, I loved I think it was, Mother Teresa said. You know, having too many babies in the world is like saying they're too many flowers and it's our perspective is needs to radically change, I think on the whole, in our culture, we need to view life is something that it to be celebrated always and everywhere, and we need to give thanks.

Lydia:   17:00
 And I think, you know, usually,  we as a  community, we go to the doctor and sometimes we don't question anything, especially with regards of contraceptives. It is like, OK, I can use these I can use that and that is it. I mean, there is a packet of information that comes with all of the medications that we take and also we contraceptives. But sometimes we don't read it.  If you read carefully there, it's going to tell you what may happen to you.

Dr. Robinson:  17:29
That is right, that is very true. And if you meet people that have had these effects it I think it makes it, it becomes more real to people.

Lydia:  17:39
You know, recently this last couple of weeks, some of my clients with natural family planning, they have call me and actually I have seen a couple of them because women's start having issues with excessive bleeding or regularities in the menstrual cycles, and the doctors have prescribed, as a medication for this women, the IUD. So the ladies that have been my clients in the past, I mean the have learned, they know what he's a function off menstrual cycle. What is what happens and everything. So the come and consult with us. Why is that the doctor wants to give me this to stop excessive bleeding? Because the IUD  is also gonna be, the side  effects off either the progestin or the components of the IUD will have an effect on the on the landing of the uterus. And the lining of the uterus is just gonna be thin out, no?  Why do doctors prescribe the IUD for this women that are having, for example, excessive bleeding  within the menstrual cycles?  What will be a reason that the doctors will prescribe it to help with the bleeding? Irregular bleeding,  heavy bleeding for certain days during the month?

Dr. Robinson:  19:04
You know, I'm not able to read their hearts and their minds on that. And that's  not  an area that I have of specialty that I have in terms of prescribing it. That's not what I do, I have taken them out . There are some that have coatings on them and hormones that would start to, if there is  an excess of of a certain hormone like estrogen, it may counterbalance that or, may just strip the woman to the woman's  cycle off completely:  this balance changing  in progesterone and estrogen, which is normal, just gets overridden by this IUD with the chemicals are with the hormones that are implanted on it. Um, obviously, I don't think that's the best way to put to treat something the better would be to find out what is causing the abnormal menses and to appropriately treat that.

Lydia:   20:17
And then, things will be regulated, without the need of devices in the womb -The sacred place of LIFE!

Dr. Robinson:   20:24
Yes! one of the difficulties when we take something that is evil and say that it is good, it perverts ah, more than what we think. It changes things to where we  become blind.  And I think in the area of gynecology, especially in the US, we become blind a lot in the way we're treating gynecological disease. We're we're thinking, we think the contraceptives are so good we give it for for almost anything that we don't know the answer to, which is not the way. And I think we're behind in learning in the field of gynecology and learning how to treat gynecological disorders of the  menstrual cycle and diseases.

Lydia:   21:11
So true, you know?  just yesterday I was talking to a mother.  At age 12, her daughter was prescribed a pill.  Without any medical investigations to see why she is having Irregularities! 12 years old, she's prescribed the pill!  and the mom says -no, I didn't want to give it to her.  However, was I was talking to her about is  like:  your daughter needs a diagnosis, she has to be treated for something that is obviously happening that is affecting her cycles. So, my advise to her was to come to a clinic like here, where there is a pro-LIFE approach and medical investigations can be done or,  to go with her own doctor and be assertive and tell them -I need a diagnosis for my daughter!

Dr. Robinson:   21:55
 Absolutely!  That's in every other part of medicine that's what you would do. It would be malpractice even to do the other and just prescribe some sort of treatment to brush over it. Or put a Band Aid on it to to make it look like it's not there anymore.

Lydia:   22:14
Just because It's a doctor prescribing this is like it's fine; but  many know that -no, no. We need to be assertive and try to find a diagnosis.
Even when they say the IU D, -that's  fine!  It's said, you used it, it is  removed and you'll get pregnant. Well, I'am going to tell you what:  I see, since we also help couples conceive when  they can't) I  have seen so many ladies that they have been using the IUD for years. And I see the ones,  of course I ones that  come to see me, is because they can't get pregnant! So through this regulation method, they're charting, and we can see that they're having the signs of fertility and ovulation. But, there is scant bleeding during the period.

Dr. Robinson:
Interesting!

Lydia:
And they're not getting pregnant. So I have never read a study about, you know, really, the side effects long term about after the woman is using an IUD and really to the relation to infertility.  But what the cart is telling me is that estrogen levels (Im remembering a couples of cases) according to the Billings Ovulation Method®), it shows normal  output of the estrogen; because we have the signs off estrogen in the body; a normal luteal phase but scant bleeding! And  that is suggesting to me that  the lining of the uterus was damaged. If ovulation is happening it had the mucus that  is essential for fertility to help the male cells "to swim up" and fertilize... The baby won't have where to implant!

Dr. Robinson:   23:55
 It makes sense!

Lydia:   23:56
The rich environment that is the womb in preparation for implantation is obviously not there!

Dr. Robinson:   24:06
 Wow, well, there's just so much more that we probably do not know about these chemicals and these things that we're putting into our body.

Lydia:   24:17
 And of course, this is something that, personally, of course is something that I think is suggesting. Im not saying that this is what is  happening, you know? Some times women come and they say: I remember particularly this lady, and I say to her, do you know how the IUD works?  she says, I don't want you to know me!!! I think I know what I have done!

Dr. Robinson:   24:42
Huh, yes, it's It's better off not to go there. And I think that's some sound advice that a lot of times we don't want to take , from God from our parents from those who love us the most.

Lydia:   25:00
 So, you know, I think the way a woman can be empowered is by knowing her body; knowing the signs of fertility; the gift of fertility that is there, and in the future , if there is in their future to become mothers one day;  not every woman is gonna be having a family getting married, having a family, having babies. I think it's the way of caring for the gift of womanhood, staying away from contraception!

Dr. Robinson:   25:34
Yes, exactly! We have to understand our identity and and who God made us to be. And when we find that and we we truly bask in that, and we we start to live that under obedience of His calling, we find our freedom there.  And it's an amazing freedom.
You know, many women, in the older days you would see many more nuns. Maybe around then that there are now, but they were also mothers. They may not have had physical offspring but they were spiritual mothers. And that's one of the gifts that any woman can have, regardless of whether she has fertility or not.

Lydia:  26:22
We have that is still in us!  I remember when I was in college and we are in campus, my husband and I, and the health center that's  always in campuses  trowing  out contraceptives to everybody. So I remember this wonderful person, a nurse,  very well intended to her intentions to us;  it's like:  you're so young here you go! this is all the packages of contraceptives.  They gave us so many, I was like really?  How do you used this? - Okay, like this, like this, like this! But my husband and I would be like: wow! isn't it the natural occurrence, just to you are married, you want to have babies! 

Dr. Robinson:
Yes!

Lydia:
What are you want to do! you are in school?  Very well intended  people, you know. But I  remember that,  I was remembering the today that I tried it for three days. I was so ill!  I called her and she says no Take it, take it! Your body is going to get used to it!
But you know? my husband and I, we knew inside of us. Especially me. We didn't have an idea that what is call Natural family Planning existed,  we never knew. But something inside of me was telling me, there has to be something, there has to be something!
In a person that lives in, you know, there's a big trend right now;  women that , they do everything health, they exercise, they eat organic food. But many of them are tossing hormones in the bodies. The delicate hormonal balance that the woman has, or her fertility will be disrupted and  damaged in a way that...  I mean, I just couldn't imagine then and not even now, much less,  that I was going to be taking  all this powerful hormones putting in my body that were literally making me sick!
And they say, well, hormonal contraceptives have changed. There's brands  and there's different levels over hormones so they will accommodate  to your body! But  still is changing it! Is  fighting within  nature, within us! Why to settle for that!

Dr. Robinson:   28:34
Yes exactly!  The trends are not necessarily reversing because the hormones are getting better or more palliative. I think, if anything, if we were to change the trends to healthier families, stronger marriages and more of a freedom and less depression, more joy in what we do, it will be going back to the way our Lord intended for us to live. And that is with embracing conception it with His appropriate and God given plan.

Lydia:   29:14
 Thank you so much for your words Dr. Robinson!
And I just want to invite everybody to find out, where you can learn  that you can really discovered or, re-discover a wonderful gift on womanhood that  is within us!

Dr. Robinson:
Yes.

Lydia:
Thank you so much, Dr. Robinson!

Dr. Rlobinson:   29:33
It's been a pleasure. Enjoy it.