Divorce and the Pill

Here's an interesting take on the Pill from a surprising source.  Scientific American seems to be claiming that the Pill leads to higher divorce rates.  Here's the two ways that happens, according to this article:

1) The Pill leads women to be attracted to men with major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes that are more similar, rather than less similar to their own.  Couples with similar MHC genes report less sexual satisfaction.  Less sexual satisfaction could contribute to divorce.

2) The Pill leads women to be attracted to men with major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes that are more similar, rather than less similar to their own. When a couple decides to have a baby, the woman goes off the Pill and finds herself less attracted to her husband, while simultaneously more attracted to other men.  This change in attraction could lead to divorce.

Let me put in a few disclaimers and explanatory notes here:

*Just because widespread use of the Pill might lead to a higher divorce rate, it does not necessarily follow that an individual woman should not use the Pill for contraceptive purposes.

*I think that (i.e. women should not use the Pill for contraceptive purposes) for other reasons.

*If there is a correlation between use of the Pill and divorce, it should be enough for most women to think twice about the decision to use hormonal contraception.  I don't want to be less attracted to my husband at the exact moment we want to have children.

*The changes in attraction from the use of hormonal contraception might be a social scientific explanation of divorce rates, but they are not an excuse for any individual divorce.  It might be harder to make a marriage work in these circumstances, but (barring abusive situations) divorce should simply not be an option.

The thing that interests me most about this article is that it comes from a source without a Christian bias. The point isn't to convince women not to use hormonal contraceptives, but to draw attention to an interesting scientific fact.  And whatever we disagree on, I think most people of good will agree that women should have all the facts before making decisions about the drugs we use.

Breaking News: Syria

Breaking News: Majority of Americans Approve of Sending Congress to Syria.  Thanks to The Onion for covering this story.

It amused me so much I had to share, though there is nothing amusing about the situation in Syria.  I've been following it via NPR.  At the time of the chemical weapons attack, they talked with a doctor at a hospital in Syria, who described the thousands of patients coming in.  I was so horrified I nearly changed stations, but I don't want to be that person who turns a blind eye to the sufferings of others.

Over the next two days, I heard Kerry's and Obama's comments from NPR and tried to form an opinion on what we as the US should do.  I reached the impasse that I always do when pondering foreign policy.  On the one hand, I hate war and know the US does not have a good history of intervening in other nations' civil wars.  On the other hand, listen to descriptions of the people hit by the sarin gas.  By our common humanity, each person holds a certain responsibility for every other person on the planet.  And if we don't do anything, who will?

NPR reassured me that these feelings are normal and gendered.  More men than women support US military action in Syria -- not because women are more likely to oppose it, but because they are more likely to be undecided.