Jill Duggar: Using Condoms Isn’t Evil! It’s Kinda Fun!!

Jill has already split from her family and the orthodoxy of her parents in many ways.

It is no secret that she uses birth control. Now, she is explaining how she came to see that there's nothing wrong with it.

"Growing up, it was ingrained in me ...," Jill Duggar begins in her interview with People.

She continues: "... that if you don't have as many kids as you're able to, that there's something wrong with that."

Despite the messages of reproduction at all costs that were hammered into her by her parents and their cult, Jill has grown to see things differently.

Jill Duggar and a Cracker

"But there was a shift in me," Jill explains.

She says that she came to a place "where I felt like it wasn't wrong if you decide as a couple that it's best for you to wait." 

Jill and Derick are the parents of two children: Israel David, who is 5, and Samuel Scott, who is 3.

Jill Duggar and Husband Together

Jill gave birth to Israel via C-section. At that time, the doctor advised that she wait at least 18 months before becoming pregnant again.

"Children are a blessing," Jill affirms.

"But," she acknowledges, "that doesn't mean that at all costs you should have as many kids as possible."

Derick Dillard and Jill Duggar: A Photo

"I think you need to do what's healthiest," Jill states.

"And," she continues, she realized that one needs to do what is "best for your family."

In her case, that means birth control.

Jill Duggar and Her Derick

Birth control can take multiple forms, some more sophisticated than others.

Jill says that she and Derick use "non-hormonal birth control," such as barrier methods.

That means tools like condoms and diaphrams. These tools are not foolproof, of course.

Jill Duggar Drinks Coffee

"I don't expect everyone to understand why we're making the decisions that we are," Jill states.

"So," she reasons, "it's alright if they don't agree with me."

She is mostly referring to her extended family and to fellow members of their cult.

Jill Duggar and Husband in Masks

In the world of the Duggars, you don't kiss, hug, or hold hands with a member of another gender before marriage.

Women are also forbidden from wearing "revealing" clothes -- in their twisted world, this means simply showing shoulders or knees.

In fact, Jill and her sisters were tasked with "warning" their brothers to look down at their feet if any woman wearing non-dumpy clothes came by.

Jill Duggar and Derek on Anniversary

Additionally, the Duggars are not supposed to consume non-religious media, they are not allowed to dance, and they are forbidden from drinking alcohol.

Jill no longer lives by many of these strict rules.

Similarly, she is also breaking the rules by using birth control.

Jill and Her Derick

Now, by any measure of the rest of America, Jill is still a very traditional, conservative woman.

She is a devout Christian who takes a conservative approach to social issues, including gender roles and the role that Christianity should have in the world.

After all, her husband is known for his abhorrent transphobic Twitter attacks against Jazz Jennings. 

Jill Duggar Dillard and Derick Dillard

But by the standards of her family, her choosing to live a life more in keeping with that of a normal, free person is a deviation.

That she has enrolled her children in public school, where they can be exposed to peers from different backgrounds, means that these changes can be passed on.

It is heartbreaking that our society allows children to be raised by people like Jim Bob and Michelle. Jill and her many siblings deserved better than what we allowed to happen to them.