The Third Mechanism

Do You Know What It Does?

We wish someone had told us sooner. May Christ use this tract to bring the truth to light, and thus set people free.

Why have so many people not heard of the third mechanism, when nearly one in three women of childbearing age in the UK are on a hormonal contraceptive or a coil?¹

Most Christians believe what Scriptural teaches and science confirms, that a human life begins at conception, when sperm and egg meet to form a distinct human embryo. Keith Moore's embryology textbook, used to train doctors worldwide, states plainly: "Human development begins at fertilization." ², ⁶

Yet in legal settings, the meaning of conception has been quietly redefined to implantation, which is a whole week later, when the conceived child settles into his or her mother's womb to continue their development. [3, 7, 8] In 1861, the 'Offences Against the Person Act' held that "procuring a miscarriage" was a crime, but never defined what that meant. ⁴ Then in a 2002 case concerning contraceptives, a judge ruled there is "no established pregnancy prior to implantation."⁵ And with this, a week of human life fell outside the word "pregnancy," and so outside the definition of "abortion." Now, any contraceptives that can kill children within this first week can be produced, acquired and distributed without even needing to mention any abortive mechanisms they may have. ⁹

The Third Mechanism

Hidden in that first week, hormonal contraceptives carry a mechanism you were never warned about. The pill, the coil, the implant, the injection, the patch and the ring, i.e. hormonal & IUD contraception, work in three ways: ¹⁰, ¹¹

1. They stop the egg being released.
2. They thicken the mucus to block the sperm.
3. And if both of those fail and a child is conceived, the third mechanism thins the lining of the womb stopping implantation, so that a living human embryo cannot take hold, and is killed. ¹⁰, ¹¹, ¹²

The NHS says the coil "may work by stopping a fertilised egg implanting", then says in the same breath it "doesn't cause an abortion." ⁹ Both cannot be true.

Weigh this one carefully. The copper coil can be fitted 5 days after sex as emergency contraception, to "prevent pregnancy." Yet a child can be conceived within hours. Its defenders say the copper prevents fertilisation even then. But hear what neutral researchers admit in their own words, that how it works in those days is not fully understood, ¹⁴ and that an abortifacient effect cannot be ruled out. ¹⁵, ¹⁶ Recent public information on these contraceptives list the third mechanism openly. ¹⁷

The pill carries the same admission in its own licensing documents, that it may render the womb "less receptive to implantation." ¹⁰ Where a child's life may hang on an uncertainty, the uncertainty itself should stop us.

Conceived In His Image

Why protect the unborn child from conception? Not because he is wanted, or viable, or has reached some line we have drawn. But because the conceived child is a human, made in God's image.

Whoever sheds human blood, by humans his blood will be shed, for God made humans in his image.

Genesis 9:6 CSB

God has set His guard on humans, not because of any quality or virtue of ours but because by our very nature we are made in the image of God. History has seen the devastating effects of when those in authority have ruled that a group or an individual were not equal or considered worth protecting in the eyes of the law due to their characteristics, in order to obscure & disregard their shared humanity. ¹³

Not only has God set His guard on all human life, but in Christ, God Himself became a conceived human embryo. The eternal Son of God entered the world as a conceived embryo in Mary's womb (Luke 1:35), not sharing our nature at a safer distance, but taking it up at its first moment, "...He was conceived..." (Luke 2:21). Anyone who thinks the earliest stage of human life is too small, too undeveloped, or too easily overlooked to protect, should bear in mind that it was at this very stage Christ took on our humanity. Moreover, this conception was not safe, humanly planned, or convenient. It endangered Mary's life, brought scandal on her family, and led to exile as refugees before the child could speak. Yet the inconvenience of the situation did not change the value of the child within her. Circumstance cannot diminish the worth and protection God has set on any human life.

The Law of the Parapet

Some respond when hearing about the abortifacient mechanisms in these contraceptives with, "But we take risks with life every day. Why is this any different?" Scripture itself answers this question.

When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, so that you don't bring the guilt of blood on your house, if anyone falls from it

Deuteronomy 22:8 ESV

The law doesn't forbid the house or the roof. It commands one thing: where a fall is possible and would be fatal, build a guard rail; and if you won't, and someone dies, the blood is on your house, not because you pushed him, but because you saw the danger and wouldn't guard against it. When we drive, the whole of driving is a parapet built around the risk: limits, licences, seatbelts, brakes, airbags, and a driver at the wheel who can stop and is responsible for the situation. These contraceptives, however, have no-one at the wheel, no visibility, or accountability. No safety bag for the conceived children, no way for them to cry out for help and if the third mechanism takes their life no one will ever know they died. There is no parapet for them. A small chance of a fatal fall was never, in God's sight, a licence to leave the edge open.

If you've used these things, repent and turn to Jesus Christ for forgiveness. Remove and stop using them. The blood of Christ cleanses us from every sin (1 John 1:7). There is no condemnation for those who are in Him (Romans 8:1). Paul himself had acted against the innocent, and found mercy, because he acted in ignorance. If you didn't know, then you didn't know. Do not sink under it. Bring it to the Christ who gives grace and truth, and walk in the light you now have.

You Now Know

So dear brother or sister, act as you'd want someone to act for you, if it were your own life hidden in that first week.

Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.

Proverbs 24:11–12 ESV

Where the leaflet points you

• Contraception Letter
• Natural Family Planning (external site)

Listing is not endorsement. The printed leaflet reaches these by QR code; on this page they are ordinary links.

Printing and folding

The download is two A4 landscape pages: the outside of the leaflet first, the inside second. Print it double-sided, flipping on theshort edge, then fold the sheet into three. The front cover ends up on the right-hand third of the outside page.

References

1. Cea-Soriano L. et al., "Use of prescription contraceptive methods in the UK general population," BJOG 2014.
2. Keith L. Moore & T.V.N. Persaud, The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology, 7th ed. pp.2, 16
3. Bent Boving, "Implantation Mechanisms," ed. C.G. Hartman (New York: Pergamon Press, 1963), p.386.
4. Offences Against the Person Act 1861 (c. 100), ss. 58–59.
5. R (Smeaton) v Secretary of State for Health [2002] EWHC 610
6. Jacobs Poll, survey of 5,577 biologists (Univ. of Chicago, SSRN 2018; cited in Dobbs amicus brief).
7. ACOG Committee on Terminology Bulletin, 1965: "Conception is the implantation of a fertilized ovum."
8. ACOG Terminology Bulletin, 1972: "Conception is the implantation of the blastocyst. It is not synonymous with fertilization."
9. NHS, IUD contraception guidance, nhs.uk
10. Microgynon 30 tablets, Summary of Product Characteristics (emc)
11. Mirena 20 micrograms/24 hours intrauterine delivery system, Summary of Product Characteristics, emc
12. FSRH, Clinical Guideline: Emergency Contraception (March 2017, amended July 2023)
13. Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), Nuremberg Laws (1935) & pro-slavery legal argument in the American South.
14. "Emerging options for emergency contraception," clinical review (OB/GYN journal, via Gale/OneFile)
15. McKay, R. & Gilbert, L., "Use of IUDs for emergency contraception: current perspectives," Open Access Journal of Contraception (2014)
16. IUD mechanism description, US Patent and Trademark Office
17. tuasaude.com, "Copper IUD: Indications, Procedure & Side Effects"