Washington, D.C. (14 August 2008) –The birth control pill, a chemical abortifacient, disturbs the natural selection process by which a woman identifies her perfect match, a study from the University of Liverpool shows.
"This is significant data," said Marie Hahnenberg, director of American Life League's The Pill Kills project. "We've known for a long time birth control ruins marriages and leaves families emotionally devastated; now we know there's apparently a biological reason for it. Birth control is duping women into falling for the wrong men."
The study, released August 13, found that birth control disturbs one of the primary ways women find compatible mates: odor attraction. Women are naturally attracted to men with dissimilar, complementary genes that are identified through their scent. This selection process ensures that the couple's children will have genes that make the children genetically stronger than their parents.
The pill reverses this process and makes women attracted to men with genes similar to their own. When women go off the pill, their attraction to their partner is often decreased. They realize they've picked the wrong man. "And we wonder why the divorce rate is so high?" Hahnenberg observed.
Researchers say the pill could have far-reaching effects not only on a woman's fertility rates, but also on any children she may have with an incompatible man. Future generations' immune systems could be compromised by mismatched parents.
One hundred women in the study were asked to smell shredded, unwashed T-shirts worn by 100 men two nights in a row. The women were asked to smell the same shirts after they started taking hormonal contraceptives. The women's response changed from attraction to dissimilar genes to attraction to similar genes.
"Not only could … similarity in couples lead to infertility problems but it could ultimately lead to the breakdown of relationships when women stop using the contraceptive pill, as odor perception plays a significant role in maintaining attraction to partners," Dr. Craig Roberts, lead researcher in the study, said.
American Life League was cofounded in 1979 by Judie Brown. It is the largest grassroots Catholic pro-life organization in the United States and is committed to the protection of all innocent human beings from the moment of creation to death. For more information or media inquiries, please contact Katie Walker at 540.659.4942.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
- Proceedings of the Royal Society B: MHC-correlated odour preferences in humans and the use of oral contraceptives (13 August 208)
- Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Pill may make women zig instead of zag (14 August 2008)
- Wired: New Study on Pill Reveals Same Old Partner Preference (13 August 2008)
- Discover Magazine: Does the Pill Keep You from Finding a Good Mate? (13 August 2008)
