It has been 10 years since I first decided the IUD was the best possible form of birth control. The Pill, in my mind, was just another medication and all medications have side-effects. Hence, for me, the Pill was out.
When I made my decision, I was assured by statistics and the medical profession that the IUD would work. When I asked how, I was told “by not allowing the egg to implant…”
The Thing didn’t work, and I wasn’t told the whole truth.
I chose the abortion because I was 19, with a grade nine education, illegally working in another country and my traveling partner didn’t want a child. I didn’t understand the Thing’s function or operation. I was told with or without, it could end the pregnancy; it was a gamble with my health, and nothing was said about a child’s life.
I wanted the Thing out but I was given the impression that the clinic did not care to risk “a miscarriage.” Thus, I had an abortion. Now, I realize I put a “contract” on someone else’s life for a cheap $250.
At the time, I never thought, or refused to think, of the fetus as another human being. Since pre-adolescence I have known the dedication it takes to raise, care and love a baby. I also know it is no fun and games. For me, the child threatened an immediate end to traveling and becoming a responsible adult.
To this day I am still not a mother. Not because I’m irresponsible, on the contrary. But now I feel guilty because I killed my baby.
I started to realize what I had done when I met Trish Polhill. Trish is a nurse, a mother of one (because of a fertility drug) and lucky to be alive.
In November 1975, Trish had a Copper-T IUD inserted. Like myself, she chose the Thing over the Pill. In the first year of use, she became pregnant twice. Her doctor had told her the reasons for her delayed periods were, first, the Thing was settling and, secondly, she had an ovarian cyst. Six months later, Trish was hospitalized for a 12-14 week spontaneous abortion and blood poisoning. Two months earlier, her doctor had assured her the child would be fine with the Thing sharing the uterus.
Trish told me other women’s stories: a friend now infertile because of a Pelvic Inflammatory Disease; a colleague who lost the Thing for 11 years (found between the bowel and the uterus); and many stories similar to mine.
Trish recognized each case to be a failure of the IUD’s function. It became clear to her that the IUD is nothing but an aborter, regardless of what it is composed of. “It’s a mechanical aborter, even if they put peanut butter on it,” she declares.
In June of this year, Trish Polhill founded the Birth Control Victims Association (BCVA). Trish and her colleagues are directing an independent study of the IUD and she is asking all women in Canada to help. Anyone who has had, or is presently having, problems with the IUD are asked to write in with details of their stories, complete anonymity is guaranteed. BCVA also offers emotional support, information on the IUD and will also act as a liaison to the medical profession.
IUDs are not a new invention. The Ancient Egyptians put stones inside the uterus of camels. I shudder to think of the suffering those animals experienced. The stones were obviously not sterilized, the hands inserting them filthy, and being pregnant and carrying heavy loads over great distances must have killed many of the animals. I wonder how many female slaves also died because their masters decided they shouldn’t bear children.
BCVA is first directing its energy to discovering how many women have suffered from the IUD. Once the answer is found, the public will have to be educated.
I’m angered to know that women are still being prescribed a Thing that doesn’t work, and never will.
In 1974, Dr. Thomas Hilgers stated “that these IUDs do not interfere significantly with the menstrual cycle, ovulation or sperm migration, appears well settled.” He went on to say that the IUD’s function is to disrupt the implanted egg by causing the implanting chemical, gonadotropin, not to appear significantly (or by scraping the blastocyst off the wall of the uterus and/or bludgeoning the fetus to death). In other words, the IUD does not act to prevent conception, as many women are told, its action is to prevent the fertilized egg from implanting in the womb, thus acting as an abortifacients.
I, with BCVA, want to gather all incidents of injury to women from the IUD. When the results of this study are completed and the public is educated, then perhaps, we, as responsible adults, will begin to teach our children all the aspects of our sexuality.
The Birth Control Victims Association can be reached at Unit 15, 7 Four Winds Drive, Downsview, Ontario M3J 1K7. (415) 661-6935.
