Albert Mohler is president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.

Many of the arguments Christian and pro-family groups use against Plan B sound like some of the same arguments used against the Pill. What kinds of consequences do you expect the Plan B drug will have in terms of sexual behavior and sexual ethics? Is this another "Pill" waiting to happen in terms of its likely effect on sexual behavior?

Well I think we already have anecdotal information, even in the form of a recent New York Times story, suggesting that many persons will see Plan B as another way of facilitating extramarital sex—that it just, once again, removes sex from its context in marriage with the horizon of child-bearing all the way back to nothing more than a casual encounter, which can be made "safe" from risk of pregnancy by the taking of a pill, even after the act. So there is a real moral issue here. By any estimation, the Pill, in all of its forms, has led to a radical transformation of America's moral landscape. It has facilitated extramarital and premarital sex on a scale unprecedented in human history. And thus we should only expect, realistically, that any enlargement of the options related to the Pill, will lead to a further loosening of the tie between intercourse and child-bearing—procreation.

The other issue that links this together is the possible abortifacient affect when it comes to the Pill itself but especially to Plan B. It is difficult to imagine Plan B works as anything other than an abortifacient, in general terms, preventing the successful implantation of the fertilized egg in the uterine wall, so that being the case, there is a common concern as related not to just the question of birth control ...

 You have reached the end of this Article Preview

To continue reading, subscribe now. Subscribers have full digital access.

Log inSubscribe

Already a CT subscriber? Log in for full digital access.