Jill Duggar on using birth control: ‘You need to do what’s healthiest and best for your family’

Jill Duggar Dillard is getting candid about using birth control and family planning.

As the fourth of 19 children to parents Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, Jill was raised with religious beliefs that didn’t allow for the use of birth control at all.

“Growing up, it was ingrained in me that if you don’t have as many kids as you’re able to, that there’s something wrong with that,” Jill told People. “But there was a shift in me where I felt like it wasn’t wrong if you decide as a couple that it’s best for you to wait.”

Jill married her husband, Derick Dillard, in 2014. They share two sons, Israel David, 5, and Samuel Scott, 3. After the birth of Israel, doctors recommended that Jill wait 18 months before getting pregnant again.

“I think you need to do what’s healthiest and best for your family,” says the former TLC star. “Children are a blessing, but that doesn’t mean that at all costs you should have as many kids as possible.”

Jill and Derick recently addressed their decision to use birth control on their Dillard Family blog.

Jill explained that they use non-hormonal birth control, in part because the couple considers themselves “natural-minded” and they are concerned about possible side-effects of hormonal birth control.

″Eventually we want to have more kids and stuff—Lord willing—so we don’t want to mess too much with all of that and potentially cause problems,″ Jill explained.

″We’ll probably stop using birth control whenever we want to get pregnant,” added Derick.

According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, hormonal birth control methods, like the pill, are safe for most women. We appreciate how Jill is speaking out about building and raising her family—on her own terms.