GREAT SEXPECTATIONS: I’m getting married but have no idea about contraception - are some better for Christians?

In our fortnightly column ‘Great Sexpectations’ the Woman Alive panel answer your questions on sex, faith and intimacy. Drop us a confidential email on womanalive@premier.org.uk and ask us anything. Here, we tackle; choosing contraception methods as a Christian.

Dear Reader,

Thank you so much for asking this question, and congratulations on your engagement! I thought I knew the answer, (all contraception is fine, unless you are a Catholic and then you can’t use any…) until I did some research, and what I found was really interesting! For example, what I did not realise is that some forms of contraception, the intrauterine device (IUD) and occasionally the pill, can be abortive. That means they destroy the fertilized egg, instead of simply stopping the sperm getting to the egg.

The IUD works by thickening cervical mucus to make it hard for sperm to enter the cervix, or by preventing the fertilized egg from attaching to the wall of the uterus. Abortion is a different matter to discuss, but as a Christian, if I was using an IUD or the pill, I would want to choose non-abortive varieties.