Question from a reader:
I used to agree with your ministry’s stance on hormonal contraception. However, I am a rape survivor, and after I was raped, I was offered emergency contraception. This experience changed me and made me pro-contraception. What are your thoughts?
Answer from Eternal Perspective Ministries:
We want to start by saying we are so sorry you have faced this great injustice that was perpetrated against you. Our hearts go out to you, and we pray that the Lord will comfort you and that you would experience His love and healing in your life. His love for you will have the last word in your life, because His love endures forever: “But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD’s love is with those who fear him” (Psalm 103:17).
In his article on recovering from rape, David Powlison writes,
Jesus meets you right in the middle of this awful experience. …Jesus is your strength in weakness. He makes you whole. He helps you. He hears your cry. He is yours, and you are his. Your assault has created great weakness in your life. But as you turn to Jesus, you will find that he comes to you and strengthens you.
It’s okay to struggle. It’s okay to be weak. Just make sure you are turning in Jesus’ direction. What will you find as you turn to Jesus? You will find that he is your friend, the lover of your soul, your guide, your keeper. And what does he do? He saves, helps, keeps, and loves. He is with you to the end. He is yours and you are his. These are the truths about Jesus that invite a victim—that invite you—to come in his direction.
See his whole article here.
On the subject you wrote about: Randy and our ministry oppose emergency contraception because of the potential loss of a human life, no matter how small, and no matter how that person was brought into existence. We believe every life is sacred, and that science simply backs up the assumption of Scripture: that every human life starts at the very beginning, i.e. conception. (Sometimes doctors define the beginning of life as implantation, when a newly conceived person implants into the uterine wall; but this allows them to say that since emergency contraception can potentially prevent implantation, there is no abortifacient effect. But as those who believe life begins at conception, we would say preventing a newly conceived child from implanting in the uterus, if indeed a child has been conceived, would be a very early form of abortion. There is some debate about this potential effect for different emergency contraception medications, but since it appears there is at least a risk of an abortifacient effect, that is where we land. See this article for more explanation.)
Writing about very hard situations, where rape is involved and a child is conceived, Randy writes, “Compassion for the mother is extremely important, but is never served through destroying the innocent. One person must not be killed under the guise of compassion for another. An alternative must be sought that is compassionate to both mother and child.”
Please hear us that we have nothing but compassion for you and the suffering that you have faced. We do not condemn you; God loves you and is for you.
But because we believe in the importance of love and truth together, we will keep speaking the truth in love about the potential abortifacient effects of contraceptives. We believe that the truth is what sets people free (John 8:32), and it is what will bring freedom in your life, too.
May the love of Jesus and the knowledge that His ears are open to your every cry (Psalm 34:15) bring you deep peace and comfort.
