Trigger Warning: This story contains mention of miscarriage.
Jessa Duggar Seewald revealed in a new YouTube video that she and her husband Ben Seewald recently lost a child to miscarriage.
The former Counting On star posted a video on Friday announcing that she was pregnant with Baby No. 5. However, in the last few seconds of the video, Jessa hinted that something had gone wrong in the pregnancy (posting a sonogram with “No FHR” –which typically stands for “Fetal Heart Rate”– on it.)
Jessa posted the second part of the video soon after, revealing that she had miscarried the baby a few days before Christmas 2022, and that she had to undergo a D&C procedure at the local hospital.
“I was able to thank God in that moment for giving us this life, even though we would never be able to hold this baby in our arms,” Jessa said in the video.
She added that her doctor wanted her to get checked out for some blood-clotting disorders, which Jessa said run in her family.
(You can watch the video about the pregnancy loss below.)
In the first video Jessa posted on Friday, Jessa revealed her (surprising) current take on birth control. Jessa revealed for the first time that she and Ben are no longer against birth control. (This stance had nothing to do with the miscarriage, as Jessa revealed this while she was still pregnant.)
As 19 Kids & Counting fans know, Jessa– like many members of the Duggar family— has always stated that she and Ben want to have “as many kids as the Lord allows them to have” and had seemingly followed Jessa’s parents– Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar— by not using birth control. Jessa’s sisters Jill Dillard and Jinger Vuolo have opened up in recent years about using birth control, but Jessa has never spoken publicly about it.
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“We are not against birth control,” Jessa stated in her video. “Obviously, ‘birth control’ is a very broad term. So, while we are not against preventing a pregnancy or spacing kids or whatever, for sure there are categories [of birth control methods] that would be morally wrong for the Christian because they would take the life of a baby that’s already been conceived.”
“‘Birth control as in preventing fertilization’ is not unbiblical,” Jessa wrote as a caption on the video.
“For example, methods of [birth control] that could inadvertently allow fertilization to occur and then prohibit implantation,” she wrote as another caption.
“But with that caveat, Biblically speaking, there’s no category for birth control being wrong,” Jessa said. “Obviously we know the truth that children are a blessing from the Lord, but, like with any blessing, it’s fine to manage that. We don’t have a specific number of kids that we’re shooting for or anything like that. I think we just take it one kid at a time and see.
“Sometimes your hands feel full and you want to take a break for a few years and that’s how it is, or sometimes you may reach a point where you feel like you’re done having babies and you’re going to focus on raising the babies that the Lord has given you and that’s kind of our perspective on that. The past few months I’ve been having a lot of baby fever!”
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“But ultimately, we know that God is the giver of life, and the one who opens and closes the womb, so we may have our perfect plan for perfect spacing [between kids] but it doesn’t always work out like that.”
You can watch the first video– which contains the pregnancy announcement and the birth control talk— below.
RELATED STORY: Jinger Vuolo Talks About How the Duggars Feel About Her New Beliefs; Looks Back On Her Family’s “Crazy” Modesty & Courtship Rules
(Photos: YouTube, Instagram)
21 Responses
An abortion is a medical procedure. It doesn’t matter if there is a heartbeat or not, it’s an abortion. I’m glad she had access to one when she needed it.
She had an abortion. What her and the like rail against. A D&C is an abortion. These people should keep their religion out of laws and healthcare, but instead they do whatever serves them. We should all be ignoring these people.
Tell us you’re ignorant without saying you’re ignorant. Yes, a D&C can be a form of abortion but it’s also the way to clean the uterus of tissue left after a miscarriage to prevent infection, sepsis and possible death. I suppose you’d want to force a a 10 year old to carry a child that’s the result of a rape, or force a woman to carry a fetus to “full term” if it has died in utero. You and your like are disgusting.
Ben give this girl as many babies you can!
This is why I do t like pregnancy speculation. This whole time, people have been saying she’s pregnant when in reality, she was trying to heal. It’s so gross to even think about. Like, imagine seeing news articles trying to convince everyone that you’re having another kid but you just had a D&C. I feel so bad for her
Well, at least they now have a less ignorant opinion about BC and understand that it’s ok to say “I have enough kids to raise” instead of having dozens that you can’t take care of like her parents did
JB & M have said they were not originally against birth control and even used BC (the pill) prior to Josh, then again after he was born. When M miscarried Baby #2 (“Caleb”), she and JB believed the pregnancy loss was due to her being on the pill, so they took that as a sign from God that BC is wrong and to allow as many children as she could have. Around that time and maybe even because of their new stance against birth control (don’t remember for sure), they got involved in IBLP, believed BC was against God’s will, and taught their kids the same. She was actually pregnant 19 times — 17 pregnancies resulted in 19 live births (two sets of twins), + 2 miscarriages (“Caleb” and Jubilee).
Yet despite Michelle’s views on BC being related to Miscarriages, that doesn’t explain how/ why Jill, Jessa, Jinger, and Joy have all had miscarriages. Maybe some of the daughters in law too.
The statement that IUD’s main birth control method is preventing fertilized eggs from implanting is not true. This is a potential with all birth control types. The main way that IUDs work is to prevent sperm from entering the cervix and preventing ovulation so that there is no eggs present.
https://reproductiverights.org/iuds-are-like-abortion-wait-what/
Only hormonal IUDs can prevent ovulation (but also, may not, it is not 100%, never has been). Non-hormonal types will not prevent ovulation at all, which is part of why some prefer them. Neither type can prevent sperm from reaching an egg that has been released, though, regardless.
Your reply is 100% true. Items on the internet are not always factual (duh). It’s always wise to think if what one is reading makes sense & even if it does, do further research before posting oneself.
While miscarriage is always sad and painful, she’s lucky to live in a state which still allows post-miscarriage care such as a D&C. Many states do not and more are limiting these services all the time.
Right? The political stance they have would have prevented this care
No states are preventing D&Cs for miscarriage care. People who want to limit or ban abortion want to stop the killing of a living child in the womb. If the child has already passed away, no one is fighting to keep the mother from receiving medical treatment for that.
You are incorrect. There is no state that prohibits such care.
Good for them! They already knew Jessa had the blood disorder from when her home birth with her 1st turned into an emergency trip to the hospital via ambulance. She’s also had a couple other problems. It’s good to hear they’re at least open to giving her body the break it obviously needs. Her parents were such hypocrites when it came to their kids and birth control. They preached that it was against God’s will yet they were using the pill after Josh was born. Either they started using birth control after the last miscarriage in 2011 or they simply stopped breeding.
Michelle was 43 or 44 when she lost Jubilee and has been pregnant 19 times. I think her body couldn’t have more babies, without BC.
She was pregnant 21 times with 19 live births and 2 miscarriages. Her 2nd and also her final pregnancies did not go full term, but that wasn’t my point. My point was that they drummed it into their kids heads that BC went against God while they themselves used it at least twice. Practice what you preach so loudly or stop preaching.
I’m not a duggar supporter by any means but my understanding is that Michelle used the pill and had a miscarriage while on it. She interpreted this to mean the pill was the cause of her miscarriage and that is why they then went on the as many as god gives us train. I think she didn’t get pregnant after 2011 because she couldn’t. It’s difficult to get pregnant naturally the more you age and she was what mid forties then?
There were two sets of fraternal twins.
I hate that I know this, but it’s John David/Jana and Jedidiah/Jeremiah.
You’re 100% correct! I forgot about the twins!!