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Chapter 4. Contraception

Contraception is not new. While we may think of contraception as a recent medical development, records as far back as 1900 B.C., for example, show the practice of contraception in the Mediterranean world.[10] It is not surprising that we commonly find references to contraceptive medicines, devices, and techniques in civilizations over the centuries and over the globe. It is very human to desire the pleasures of sexual intimacy while being concerned about the difficulties associated with parenthood. Pregnancy and the birth of a new human life both require personal change, whether or not the pregnancy is initially desired, and it is also very human to resist change! But in order to evaluate the morality of contraception, it is necessary to step back and see what it is, how it has been viewed by different cultures and at different time periods, and how it fits in our Catholic understanding of human sexuality.

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What is contraception?

The term contraception can be simply translated: contraception = against conception. Conception occurs when a man's sperm unites with a woman's egg, creating a living being unlike any other ever created. Contraception is any device which is designed to prevent the conception of a new life. Modern technology has developed a large number of chemicals, devices, and surgeries for the specific purpose of making the conjugal act between a man and a woman less likely to result in conception. The phrase "less likely" may seem surprising to our modern ears, conditioned to think of contraception as always effective when used properly. But every contraceptive technique, like every other medical procedure, must be admitted to have a failure rate, and no technique, not even sterilization, can boast of being 100% effective in avoiding conception. [11] Castration, that is the removal of either a man's testicles or woman's ovaries, is the only completely effective way to avoid conception.

For a woman, contraceptive methods typically pre- vent her body from releasing an egg during the natural reproductive process called ovulation. For a man, contraceptive techniques typically prevent his semen from entering the woman's body during the conjugal act. Some of these methods, such as the IUD and the Pill, can also act as abortifacients. This means that if the device fails to prevent conception, the fertilized egg (that is, the newly conceived life) is often aborted, typically without the woman's knowledge.[12] Ethical concerns raised by the practice of abortion are discussed in the Abortion section of this handbook.

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The legal status of contraception

In this country, contraceptive measures are currently legal. In order to protect the health of the user, there are guidelines for testing, evaluation, and approval of contraceptive drugs and devices through the Food and Drug Administration before they can be legally used. Some of these methods must also be prescribed by a physician due to medical risks for certain individuals. However, it is often forgotten that contraception has only recently become legally and culturally acceptable.

Since its founding, America's attitude toward contraception followed the rest of the Western world, which considered contraception morally unacceptable. When vulcanized rubber was discovered in 1839, it offered the promise of increased contraceptive effectiveness. Out of concern that these improvements would lead some people to use contraception, Americans widely supported legislation in 1873 which outlawed the manufacture, distribution, and sale of contraceptive devices. It must be noted that these laws were supported by a predominantly Protestant America and that the driving force behind this legislation was an evangelical reformer. (The position of Protestant denominations toward contraception is described later in this section.) Although these laws had fallen into disuse by the middle of the (18) twentieth century, it was not until the Supreme Court decisions of Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) and Eisenstadt v. Baird (1972) that these laws were officially overturned.

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The history of Christian teaching about contraception

Just as contraception is not new, so Christian teaching on the subject is not new either, although scientific advances have resulted in greater discussion and clarification of that teaching.

Over the centuries, the Catholic Church has been confronted repeatedly by individuals who have proposed alternative understandings of what it means to be followers of Christ, with corresponding differences in how that calling is lived out. For example, the Gnostics of the first century taught that there was a great difference between spirit (which was assumed to be good) and matter (which was assumed to be evil). This simple-sounding belief led them to a ridiculous conclusion: because sexual intercourse involved the "evil" human body, they taught their followers to avoid it as much as possible, but at the very least to avoid the possibility of creating another "evil" human body through pregnancy. In the two millenia since the time of the Gnostics, many other similar heresies about the division between body and spirit have come and gone. With each one, the Church has continued to teach that our physical bodies are not evil, but are part of what we are as human beings. Each human being is an embodied soul created by our loving God, and therefore both soul and body must be cared for and treated with respect. Because of these distortions of the meaning of the human body, the Church has had many opportunities to speak against the practices of contraception over the centuries.

Cultural issues have also led the Church to make statements about contraception. As has already been stated, contraceptive procedures were not unknown to the ancient world. Early in the history of the Church, leaders were called upon to offer advice about how a Christian should live out his or her faith. For example, in the earliest recorded Christian discussion of contraception, a third-century Christian author wrote of a serious temptation facing freeborn Christian women in Rome. In order to have a Christian husband, these women sometimes married slaves. Under Roman law, if the father was a slave, the child would be a slave as well. As this was a deterrent to having children, some women practiced contraception. The author speaks of this practice as shameful and not in keeping with the Christian faith. Similarly, all subsequent Christian writings about contraception uniformly condemn it.

The development of Church teaching on contraception has continued over the centuries, sometimes responding to a theological challenge, sometimes responding to a specific cultural issue. Official Church documents over the centuries have consistently called Christians to reject contraception, with growing clarity in the explanations for this teaching. Some of the greatest Christian thinkers over the ages -- such as St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas -- expanded our understanding of this complicated issue as they sought to explain it to both believers and non-believers.

While it might be supposed that the early Protestant leaders separated from the Catholic Church in part due to opposition to this teaching on contraception, nothing could be further from the truth. Martin Luther taught that contraception was sodomy. John Calvin said that it was the murder of future persons. In the 1600's, it was the pilgrims who ruled that a church official found guilty of using contraception was no longer allowed to hold his position.[13] In fact, all Protestant churches (and Eastern Orthodox churches) held contraception to be morally unacceptable until this century. It wasn't until 1930, when the Anglican bishops of England voted to allow contraception in cases of severe hardship, that any Protestant denomination spoke publicly in support of contraception.

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Church teaching on contraception

The controversial nature of contraception typically inspires hot debate in the public arena, with the result that Church teaching is simply not presented clearly in the confusion. This is a pity, because Catholic teaching about contraception is really simply an explanation of God's great gift of human sexuality within the sacrament of marriage. The recent debate, however, has been something of a blessing, for it has caused both popes and laity, both theologians and married couples to consider the basic principles involved and offer us different ways of looking at this issue.

Before discussing contraception, we must first examine the topics of human sexuality and the sacrament of marriage. (The following points are taken from the Catholic Catechism. It is recommended that you read the footnoted sections for yourself, as the discussion here is greatly abbreviated.) It was God who created us as male and female beings, and He created man and woman for one another.[14] Since the calling of every human being is to love,[15] God offers us a powerful way to learn to love through the sacrament of marriage. Marriage is not a contract, like a land purchase or legal partnership, but is a total giving of each spouse to the other.[16] One of the ways a married couple demonstrates love for one another is through their sexuality. Since "the physical intimacy of the spouses becomes a sign and pledge of spiritual communion"[17] within marriage, the sexual intimacy between husband and wife is not something outside of their relationship with God but is rather very much a part of it. When the conjugal act results in pregnancy, it is always a blessing, a gift from God. "A child does not come from outside as something added on to the mutual love of the spouses, but springs from the very heart of that mutual giving, as its fruit and fulfillment."[18] While the Church recognizes that spouses may wish to space the births of their children, husband and wife must first remember that it was God who created human sexuality and who created the link between the conjugal act and the creation of a new human being. Therefore "each and every marriage act must remain open to the transmission of life."[19] To use contraception is to refuse to cooperate with God in one of His most powerful acts: the creation of a new human being.

Much of the controversy about contraception today is focused on a well-known but much unread papal encyclical titled Humanae Vitae (Of Human Life). When Pope Paul VI wrote this encyclical in 1968, he was primarily restating teachings from previous Church documents and responding to questions about recent medical advances. Those who have only read secular interpretations and "soundbites" from this encyclical would be surprised at how gentle and pastoral this brief document really is. One key concept in this encyclical is that the conjugal act between a husband and wife has two meanings: unity and procreation. The pope says that, "[B]y its intimate structure, the conjugal act, while most closely uniting husband and wife, capacitates them for the generation of new lives, according to the laws inscribed in the very being of man and of woman. By safeguarding both these essential aspects, the unitive and the procreative, the conjugal act preserves in its fullness the sense of true mutual love and its ordination towards man's most high calling to parenthood."[20] Put simply, sexual intimacy should do two things: unite both husband and wife together in love and leave open the opportunity for that love to be blessed by children. Married couples should therefore have the intention of drawing closer to one another through their sexuality (rather than using one another for personal pleasure) and should be willing to accept any children God sends them (rather than refusing to recognize that sexual intimacy can make babies).

In his 1994 Letter to Families, Pope John Paul II offers us another perspective on the subject. He writes, "The Second Vatican Council, particularly conscious of the problem of man and his calling, states that the conjugal union, the biblical 'una caro,' can be understood and fully explained only by recourse to the values of the 'person' and of 'gift.' Every man and every woman fully realizes himself or herself through the sincere gift of self."[21] When we recognize that each spouse's decision to engage in sexual intimacy is a gift of himself or herself, a gift of love, we can see how contraception places limits on that gift. Rather than offering themselves completely to one another, the contracepting couple is rejecting the fertility of the man or of the woman. Fertility is not like a suit of clothes one can choose to put on or take off; the ability to become a parent is part of each person. The pope further reminds us that, "The person can never be considered a means to an end; above all never a means of 'pleasure. ' The person is and must be nothing other than the end of every act."[22] Within our culture, there is a common and unhealthy attitude that it is acceptable to treat other people as merely the means of receiving pleasure. As Christians, called to love and serve not to use and be served, we must be careful to avoid this depersonalizing attitude.

John Kippley, director of the Couple to Couple League, an international organization devoted to explaining natural family planning to married couples, offers another perspective. Based on the teachings of the Church and the writings of contemporary theologians, he proposes a "covenant theology of sex." The core of this theology is that, "Sexual intercourse is intended by God to be at least implicitly a renewal of the marriage covenant."[23] This simple approach reminds us that: 1) marriage is a covenantal relationship involving God, a man, and a woman, 2) sexual intercourse was designed by God Himself to be part of marriage and is therefore important and honorable, and 3) sexual intercourse has a purpose -- to renew the covenant of marriage. When a married couple uses contraception to eliminate the possibility of pregnancy, they are, in a sense, attempting to rewrite the terms of the agreement they made with God and He with them.

In the popular discussion of contraception, the subject of "conscience" is often raised. It is suggested that one must follow one's conscience, particularly in such sensitive matters. The Catholic Church agrees that the dignity of human persons and personal conscience must be respected. But it is important to understand the term "conscience" first. Vatican II documents state, "In the depths of his conscience man detects a law which he does not impose upon himself but which holds him to obedience. Always summoning him to love good and avoid evil, the voice of this law can when necessary speak to his heart more specifically: do this, shun that. For man has in his heart a law written by God. To obey it is in the very dignity of man: according to it he will be judged."[24] Note that a person's conscience is not his or her will; it is rather the law imprinted on that person's heart by God. Thus a thief is following his will, but not God's natural law, imprinted on his conscience, when he steals. In matters of morals, the Church reminds us of this natural law and exhorts us to accept even teachings we find difficult by turning to God for understanding through prayer and study.

The practical experience of those who have used contraception also shows us how it fails to create the marital closeness its proponents promise. Ruth Lasseter, a Catholic wife and mother, writes that although contraception seems so very sensible and desirable to our age, its specific effects on her marriage (and, she believes, all marriages) were far from desirable. While she and her husband initially desired a large family and prayerfully included God in their decision-making, her decision to be sterilized after their sixth child dramatically changed their relationship for the worse. Friends and family praised them, but they quickly found their marriage to be full of self-pity, doubts, resentment, sarcasm, and detachment. This reaction might seem strange, as accustomed as we all are to thinking of contraception as a "help" to marital bliss. But a woman's cycle of fertility is part of who she is, and hiding or eliminating this feature of who she is can make her feel put upon to be constantly "available" to her spouse and make her feel that her fertility is a curse, at least to her husband. As Mrs. Lasseter wrote, "Under the guise of helping love, artificial contraception cunningly establishes a tyrant in the marriage: the sex act declines from a reaffirming of the whole marriage covenant, true lovemaking, to joint seeking of mutual satisfaction."[25]

Since Pope Paul VI wrote his encyclical thirty years ago and contraception became readily accessible and culturally acceptable, many changes have occurred in our culture. In the pope's encyclical, he warned that widespread acceptance of contraception would affect society in several ways.[26] He said that adultery would become more common, that there would be a general lowering of morality, that our young people would be particularly vulnerable to premarital sexual activity, and that men would come to view women as mere instruments of pleasure rather than "respected and worthy companion[s]." It is hard to ignore the similarities between our current cultural problems and the pope's predictions.

Throughout this discussion, the question of contraception has been examined only for married couples. The Church has always taught that sexual intercourse is reserved for married couples only. Individuals who are not married but who engage in sexual intercourse are "stealing" a gift God has not yet offered to them. Contrary to the attitudes of our relativistic society, the immorality of that decision is in no way lessened by the use of contraception.

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The impact of contraception

Contraception is a widespread practice in our culture today and has been for the past few decades. For this reason, it is difficult for us to see how the use of contraception affects our families and our own attitudes.

If a couple is using contraception to avoid pregnancy, becoming pregnant is by definition a "mistake." But a new human life is never a mistake. God allows us to be cocreator with Him when a child is conceived, but that child's unique human body and priceless eternal soul are gifts from Him. By using contraception, the man and the woman are attempting to wrest control over life from God. It is all too common for this "unplanned" gift from God to be rejected by the violent act of abortion. As Mother Teresa said, "Once that living love [between man and woman] is destroyed by contraception, abortion follows very easily."[27]

It is not too great a caricature to say that in our culture we are encouraged to consider a new child -- at least those not born to healthy, intelligent, and prosperous parents -- as merely hungry mouths who will use up valuable resources and lead terrible lives of poverty and suffering. But God loves human beings. As Pope John Paul II wrote, "In every child which is born and in every person who lives or dies we see the image of God's glory."[28] God teaches us the most powerful (although very painful) lessons when He asks us to sacrifice for one another, as a parent, a friend, a casual acquaintance, or even a stranger. Every mother and father can easily acknowledge that being a parent is a constant challenge to sacrifice personally for the good of the child. When we forget the power of Jesus' infinite sacrificial love for each of us, it is easy to forget that new human lives are opportunities for God to build up the Body of Christ and bring His kingdom here to earth.

It is hard to avoid the fact that easy access to contraception makes sexual activity outside of marriage much more attractive. A man or woman who is considering an extramarital or premarital affair and who believes the threat of pregnancy is eliminated through contraception is naturally more likely to pursue the affair. Thus the mere fact that contraception is available is a temptation to adultery and a threat to the sanctity of marriage. In this way, all people are affected by the current social attitudes toward contraception because even happily married couples find themselves challenged and ridiculed by individuals who have broken their marriage vows.

All these statements about how contraception affects our attitudes may seem intellectual and distant, unrelated to our day-to-day lives. But they are much closer to us than we may think. When a coworker becomes unexpectedly pregnant, do we judge her as being careless or foolish? Do we also judge her economic situation and shake our heads that this pregnancy is poorly timed? If we do, contraception has developed an attitude in us that treats pregnancy as a burden and has allowed us to forget that God's gifts do not always come when we would ask for them. When we see a couple with a large number of children, do we judge them as irresponsible or crazy? If we do, we should reflect on the fact that the Bible never sees the birth of any child as a curse, but always as a divine gift, and calls those with large families particularly blessed. Finally, when a friend chooses to live with his girlfriend and states that he has no plans for marriage, do we consider his decision morally acceptable as long as they practice contraception? If we do, we are ignoring the fact that sexual intercourse was designed to unite a man and a woman in the unbreakable bond of marriage, that both parties might be made holy by their love for one another, and that they might bring many gifts into the world for the Lord -- including, if He wills, new human lives.

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Alternatives to contraception

The use of contraception is a human act by which we exert our wills over God's. The alternatives to such an act are simple.

First and foremost, we must transform our secular attitudes about sexuality to Christian attitudes. We must first separate ourselves from the contemporary treatment of sex as a commodity or mere physical activity and acknowledge the truth that human sexuality is a gift from our loving God. Just as His personal gift to you of intelligence or an outgoing nature or physical strength should be used rightly (to work honestly for example, rather than to rob banks), so His gift of sexuality should be used rightly. We do this by treating our own bodies with respect, by making a personal decision to reserve sexual intercourse for marriage, by ensuring that sexual intimacy within our own marriage is open to the possibility of procreation, and by doing our best to see that our acts of sexual intimacy create an atmosphere of love with our spouse.

We are indeed fortunate, for this century has brought a greater understanding of how our marvelous human bodies function. Our knowledge of human reproduction has given us a far more effective method of allowing us to space the births of our children than any contraceptive method, and, not surprisingly, this method is also highly effective at maintaining unity within marriage.

By using natural family planning (NFP), a couple learns to accurately identify the woman's fertile period through simple physical signs, such as her body temperature. An older method of natural family planning assumed a 28-day calendar cycle for every woman and was therefore much less effective at helping couples avoid or achieve pregnancy as they desired. With the Sympto-Thermal method of NFP, only 0.07-0.2 surprise pregnancies are expected out of 100 women correctly using the method. This rate betters the Pill (0.34), the IUD (1.0-3.0), and condoms (3.0).[29] The effectiveness of NFP should not surprise you; remember that a woman can really only become pregnant during the days surrounding the time her body releases an egg during the process called ovulation. Identifying this fertile time is not hard when you know what to look for, and there are no increased medical risks as a result of taking your temperature daily! Although a formal study has not been performed, Couple to Couple League reports the divorce rate among NFP users is extremely low. This is also not surprising since the practice of NFP requires constant and open discussion of subjects married couples typically like to avoid: sexuality, intimacy, spiritual growth, children, sacrifice, and future plans and goals.

A common argument is that NFP is just "Catholic contraception" and that there is no real difference between a couple that attempts to avoid pregnancy with NFP and one that attempts to avoid pregnancy with condoms, for example. Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk offers us the following description of the difference: (23) "More at issue here is the seemingly theoretical question of means and ends. The difference between natural family planning and contraception lies in what we say by our actions. To practice contraception says that one of the basic values of marriage is ours to do with as we please, that we can deliberately suppress one of the two gifts which are inherent in marriage. It is to take control over something which is not ours to control and to try to remake marriage to a pattern other than God's. Natural family planning, on the other hand, even if its outcomes are as effective as the use of contraceptives, gives witness that both the marriage community and the generation of new life are God's gift. Natural family planning is a sign of respect for God's creative lordship."[30]

To see the difference between NFP and contraception, consider this analogy. If you want to buy a house, you can get the money for the down payment in many ways. You could save money from your job over a period of years until you had a sufficient amount. Or you could rob a bank. Buying a house is certainly morally acceptable, but robbing a bank to do so is certainly not. When a couple uses NFP, they are acknowledging that God is the ultimate authority in when or if they will be given children. They may refrain from intercourse to avoid a pregnancy because they believe they have sufficiently serious reasons to do so for the moment, but they are acting with the moral framework God created. They are accepting our Lord as the Author of Life.

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Making a change

Contraception is widely used today, even by Catholics. The preceding explanation of contraception is not designed to condemn, but to inform all Catholics of the beauty and simplicity of Church teaching in this area and to challenge all Catholics to live it. If the information in this handbook is unfamiliar to you, consult the references used here to become better acquainted with the subject of contraception.

To accept this teaching in contemporary America is to invite ridicule, rejection, and personal sacrifice. But such treatment is promised to all those who commit themselves to follow Jesus Christ.

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Resources

Prayers

Please add your own prayers to these.

Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in
vain who build it.
Unless the Lord guard the city, in vain does the
guard keep vigil.
It is vain for you to rise early, or put off your rest,
you that eat hard-earned bread,
for he gives to his beloved in sleep.
Behold, sons are a gift from the Lord;
the fruit of the womb is a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the sons
of one's youth.
Happy the man whose quiver is filled with them;
they shall not be put to shame when they
contend with enemies at the gate.
Psalm 127

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Prayer for Chastity

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Proclaiming the Sanctity of Life  | Purpose of This Handbook  | The Importance of Life  |  Abortion  |  Contraception  | Death Penalty  |  Euthanasia  |  Substance Abuse  | Suicide  |  Conclusion  |  Footnotes

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