Make a Difference

Women don't get pregnant

August 2022

Written by

Stuart Carver

Myths have always been a part of the human experience. Here are a few examples: bats are blind, elephants are afraid of mice, and mustard seeds are the smallest seeds.

Do you still believe any of these myths? Google them later. Right now, we are actually going to look at something far more important: the consequences of myths.

Myths have consequences. Consider the myth that lightning never strikes the same place twice. That’s a very dangerous myth that can actually lead to death.

Or, consider the myth that, “Women get pregnant.” Yes, women do experience pregnancy in a very unique way, but they don’t just get that way. So, what are the consequences of the myth that women get pregnant?  

The greatest consequences of this myth may be the affect that it has on how we think about pre-born life and how we make decisions about family.

The consequences of the myth that women get pregnant can be very subtle, almost like a serpent in the Garden. The consequences may not be immediately obvious and can include things like:

  • Viewing pregnancy as something that women experience alone
  • Thinking about pregnancy as some unplanned or unfortunate crisis that has happened to a woman that she must either fix or bear
  • Reducing a miraculous gift from God to something on the order of getting a cold or a traffic ticket.

The myth that women get pregnant is having particularly deadly influence over men. The myth does nothing to strongly reinforce the fact that men are also becoming parents and are also expecting children. The consequences can be devastating. For some men, this myth is even used to blame women for (quote) “getting pregnant,” when that is not what happened at all.

As a man, speaking of men, I say we desperately need a revival of Biblical manhood, husbandry and fatherhood. So many places where men should be, there are none. In so many ways that men should be serving, they are not (Ezekiel 22:30). Far too often, when men should be close and connected to the lives of their pre-born children and families, they are distant and disconnected. Many of our most troubling issues today are directly attributable to this distance and the hearts of fathers that are not turned toward their children (Malachi 4:6).

“Women get pregnant” is an example of a subtle myth that, when used enough, can have devastating consequences that may not be immediately obvious. For God’s chosen instruments who are preserving pre-born life, I offer an alternative to consider when you get an opportunity to explain what conception really means.

Women do not get pregnant. There’s far more to it than that. Men and women conceive children, and children are literally gifts from God. At conception, an unbreakable union between one unique man, one unique woman and their unique children is created. From the moment of the conception of their children, men and women become something they have never been before―parents of those children. These fathers and mothers will always be fathers and mothers, regardless of the decisions they may make about life and family.

Women aren’t just getting pregnant. Let’s tell the whole story and anticipate what the consequences of the truth might be.

Related article: Birth of a Family: 12-week program inspires positive change among Michigan families

Photo credit: Jonathan Borba on Unsplash.com