What resources are there for a doctor who wishes to honor Christ?

I commend you for your devotion to Christ and your desire to faithfully represent Him both in your personal life and in your medical practice.

Why doesn’t Focus on the Family take a definitive stand against the birth control pill?

I am a family physician and professor at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Oregon. I am also one of the physicians on the Physicians Resource Council (PRC) at Focus on the Family. I do not prescribe oral contraceptive pills (OCPs) or birth control pills (BCPs) for the purpose of preventing pregnancy.

At the PRC we discussed the potential abortifacient properties of OCPs/BCPs for more than three years. We examined all of the literature available and the bottom line is that we could not develop a clear consensus. One or two physicians felt that these pills never cause an abortion in any woman at any time, some felt that they did rarely (if ever), some felt that they clearly could and would in at least some women in some cycles. For those of us in this latter group, the frequency with which this occurs is clearly going to vary depending on the amount, potency and mix of hormones.

Why does Focus on the Family take a stand against emergency contraception (EC) but not the birth control pill (BCP)?

There is (at least in my mind and many others) an inconsistency in our position statement. I believe that there is considerable evidence that so-called birth control pills (BCPs) do have a significant post-ovulatory (abortifacient) effect. For example, women generally have lighter periods on the pill. The lining of the womb can thin to less than 7mm (the minimum that infertility doctors believe is optimal for successful implantation). In fact, as you know, BCPs can be used to treat dysfunctional uterine bleeding by causing a hypertrophic endometrium to become thinner over several cycles.