Image via Shutterstock.com
A new study published in the journal, Evolution Psychological Science found that hormonal contraceptives make women prone to choose mates with an immune system to their own. This study found that children born to these couples are more sickly, more susceptible to common illnesses, and require more trips to the doctor do children of women who were not on the pill when they chose a mate.
According to one of the authors of the study,
One cue for mate suitability is odor, which signals compatibility between potential mates’ immune systems. Specifically, odor indicates the extent of overlapping between potential mates’ immune systems, such that more attractive odor signals less overlap between mates’ immune systems. The larger the dissimilarity between mates’ immune systems, the more threats the immune system can combat…..
Unfortunately, contraceptive pill use interferes with mate selection and reverses the natural preference for mates with dissimilar immune system, such that women prefer the odor of partners with similar immune system over that of partners with dissimilar immune system while on contraceptive pills2. This shift in preferences corresponds to the one occurring across the menstrual cycle. In particular, naturally cycling women experience male preference shift throughout their menstrual cycle that helps them obtain resources relevant to their current fertility status (fertile versus infertile).
…Results have revealed that children to mothers who were on the pill are more infection-prone, require more medical care, suffer from a higher frequency of common sicknesses, and are perceived as generally less healthy than children whose parents met on non-pill circumstances. These findings indicate that a key factor in securing children’s future might be traced to a choice people made years before their children were born: the decision to use a contraceptive pill.
The aftermath of these numbers is gloomy: The immune system of current-generation children might be more fragile than that of our ancestors, leaving the current and future generations more susceptible to pathogens and more dependent on medical care as its effective line of defense.
Previously on this blog, I have shared the mounting research demonstrating that the Pill leads to a host of medical and behavioral complications, that the Pill use leads to an exponentially higher rate of depression for women in general and teen girls in particular, and that the Pill is bad for the environment. Now we find that the Pill is poisoning future generations of children, making them more susceptible to disease, increasing the need for more antibiotic use, which leads to the evolution of more antibiotic resistant superbugs. The Pill is, literally, killing us.
How much longer will people continue to perpetuate the myth that Hormonal Contraceptives are a safe, healthy means of promoting “reproductive freedom.” True freedom comes from knowledge. Natural Family Planning gives women the knowledge they need about their bodies to exercise TRULY healthy, safe, ethical choices about family planning. NFP is not without its challenges, but at least it isn’t poisoning you, the environment, and your future children’s health. In fact NFP promotes good health practices by giving women better knowledge about how their bodies work and when they are not working properly. NFP promotes healthy mate selection by letting women know in advance if a man is too immature or selfish to be a good mate. It strengthens relationships by making couples do the hard work true intimacy requires. It is good for the environment because it is completely natural. And it does not jeopardize your future children’s health in any way.
The truth will set you free. The sooner the world acknowledges the truth of Catholic teaching that rejects artificial means of contraception in favor of Natural Family Planning and Fertility Awareness Methods, the sooner we will all be free to live healthier, happier lives. To discover how you can experience the joy and freedom that comes from living the Catholic vision of love, check out Holy Sex! The Catholic Guide to Toe-Curling, Mind-blowing, Infallible Loving.
(Note: the original article neglected proper citations. That has been corrected. I regret the error and thank my conscientious readers for bringing it to my attention.)