¾ Say a prayer before the lesson.
If sexually active married couples do nothing to prevent pregnancy, about 85% will become pregnant each year. Because couples may have serious reasons to avoid pregnancy right after the wedding, or every year thereafter, and because many unmarried couples want to have sex without getting pregnant, “birth control” or
“family planning” methods have been developed. There are natural ways to limit family size which are in concert with God’s will and Church teaching, and there are artificial ways which are immoral and against Church teaching. We will first discuss the artificial ways, but before we do that we need to divulge an important secret.
Our Little Secret
The vast majority of people have no appreciation for what I am about to tell you. In fact, most adult Catholics do not understand the meaning of what I am about to tell you. The secret is this: the Holy Roman Catholic Church, above all else, is a church with a healthy obsession with Jesus Christ. For example, Pope John Paul II began the first of his fourteen encyclicals with the words: “The Redeemer of Man, Jesus Christ, is the center of the universe and of history.” (The Redeemer of Man, 1979) Everything that the Church does or teaches
is based on this one mission: drawing people closer to Jesus. Given the many aspects of the Church and the many ways in which the Church touches our lives this most basic fact is easily lost in the shuffle.
One of the reasons that even many Catholics are unclear on this is that most Catholics have not read Church teachings. To understand what the Catholic Church is really about you must read what the Church teaches—not from a book about Catholicism nor from someone telling you about Catholicism (especially in this day when even some priests and nuns are unreliable sources of information)—
but from the original Church documents themselves. These are now readily available on many websites, but the best site, of course, is the Vatican’s own site at www.vatican.va. Here, from the home page under “Resource Library” you will find the Bible, the official Catechism of the Catholic Church, the documents of the Second Vatican Council and the Code of Canon Law. If, from the home page, you click on “The Papal Archive” you will find every major document written by every pope going back for over a century. There you can read exactly what the Holy Fathers wrote on a great many subjects. Now I certainly don’t expect you to read all these documents, but you could pick out some to read or at least to read enough to get the essence of them, and you certainly should use them as resources.
At the end of this course, we list some of the magnificent documents the Church has recently produced which relate to sexual-ity. If you’re old enough to read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn you’re old enough to explore these documents and, if you do, our little “secret” will become very obvious.
Sadly, most Catholic adults have never read any of these documents. Worse yet, many people in leadership roles in our church have never read any of them. If you read even a few of them you will find how true this is: our Church has a healthy obsession with Jesus Christ. Its whole focus is to worship and follow Him.
So why bring this up now? Because the Church’s teaching on artificial contraception, which baffles many people, will now make perfect sense to you. If the only thing the Church cares about is bringing people closer to Christ, and if contraceptives did not affect this relationship and did not cause people to love each other less, then
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the Church wouldn’t care a stitch about whether couples used contraceptives or not. Unfortunately, these methods do directly support harmful, unholy attitudes, and that is why the Church has always considered their use immoral.
Contraceptives are artificial methods used to prevent conception that include potent hormones or devices or both. They were illegal until the 1930s and until that time all Christian religions considered their use immoral or wrong. Women who used contraceptives were considered tramps. However, in today’s world, contraceptive use is generally accepted with no particular shame attached to it. More women use them than do not. Clearly, all women who use contraceptives are not tramps, but due to propaganda by the media and politically powerful organizations like Planned Parenthood (the largest provider of abortions in the country), public discussion about Church teaching and the moral implications of contraceptive use has been effectively stifled for decades. Before 1930, churches and the general public understood that efforts to avoid pregnancy can have an effect on one’s attitudes about sexuality, including one’s openness to God’s will. Yet, today, there is essentially no discussion or mention of this anywhere.
Are We More Sophisticated than the “Good Old Days”?
Now, one could argue that the reason modern culture has generally accepted contraceptives despite the previous rejection is that we are more intelligent or sophisticated than prior generations.
However, that is a rather difficult position to defend. For example, considering just the area of entertainment see how sophisticated we really are nowadays:
• We are the culture that idolizes singers, movie stars and other entertaining but otherwise unimpressive persons who are often in and out of drug treatment centers, in and out of court over child custody, domestic violence, or divorce proceedings, blah, blah, blah.
• Most adults culture can’t name such basics as:
o The Seven Deadly Sins (which are, for the record, pride, greed, envy, anger, laziness, lust and gluttony.)
o The 4 cardinal virtues (for the same record book, they are prudence, justice temperance and fortitude)
But those same adults could easily name:
o The star of the latest trendy movie.
o Their favorite episode of the latest tasteless reality show
• All across our country, movie theaters are installing voicemail announcements which tell adults not to bring children under 3 into PG-13 or R-rated movies. It is amazing that anyone would bring small children into these movies (some would say this is an act of child abuse) and yet so many people do it that theaters feel obliged to discourage them with announcements.
• We have highway signs announcing the latest “ultimate” fight in which two pathetic chaps are literally put in a cage, like animals, and people pay to watch them try to kick each other in the head.
We could give many examples in other aspects of modern life, but the point is that we should not consider the present generation to be particularly sophisticated. In fact, maybe we have something to learn from prior generations.
Main Types of Artificial Contraceptives:
• Condom: a “barrier” method (prevents the egg and sperm from joining). A latex “balloon” that is slipped over the penis.
This method is not very effective in preventing pregnancy but is the only method that helps prevent STDs.
• Hormones: This includes “The Pill” (given by mouth), injections, and implanted cylinders that are surgically inserted under the skin of the arm. All are potent steroid hormones and so have multiple potential side effects such as high blood pressure, migraine headaches, and blood clots. Some types cause acne although some newer types are used to treat acne.
• Intrauterine Device (IUD): This is a device that is inserted into the uterus and remains there for years. It is the most
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effective method aside from sterilization. It is not used in younger women due to the higher risk of STDs.
The main mechanism of action of IUDs is to cause an abortion. The IUD prevents the developing baby from attaching to the inner lining of the uterus, thereby killing it. A few decades ago, in a most peculiar effort to conceal that this is the main way in which the IUD works (and a lesser way for hormones like “The Pill”), pro-abortion political leaders in the medical profession forced a change in the dictionary definition of pregnancy! For political reasons only, the major dictionary magically changed from saying that pregnancy began at conception to saying that it began with the attachment of the baby onto the uterine wall a week or so later, called “implantation.”
By this false definition a woman is not pregnant even though conception has taken place—even though the egg has been fertilized by the sperm and the act that joins the chromosomes of the mother and father has been completed.
Science has known for over a century that conception is the act in which each of us began our existence, yet the political leaders of the medical profession and dictionary companies agreed to spread the lie that the mother isn’t pregnant at conception but only at implantation. Scientists continue to regard every other species as pregnant at conception because there is no political agenda behind the question of when a guppy becomes pregnant.
By changing the definition of pregnancy for humans only, politically motivated physicians use a standard propaganda technique. This is just what Hitler, Stalin, and Chairman Mao of communist China did. But even if you call a four-toed hedgehog a three-toed woodpecker it doesn’t change what it is. It still has four toes and it still can’t fly.
To justify the use of birth control methods that can cause abortions physicians and dictionary editors decided that a relatively minor event determines pregnancy: the attachment of the embryo to the side of the uterus after bumping into it.
The argument for the importance of this event is that it allows the transfer of nourishment for the baby from the egg to the
mother. However, the transfer of nourishment only begins to occur after the placenta develops, which occurs gradually over the weeks following the day the embryo attaches. On the day the woman becomes “pregnant” per the revised definition, there is no transfer of nourishment. All that happens on that day is that the embryo sticks onto the side of the uterus. It is hardly an event to compare to the astounding changes which occur on the day of conception.
Fortunately this lie has proved to be too big and so the dictionary companies reversed themselves over the last few years and have gone back to the old definition: they have removed the references to implantation that they added to the definition a few decades ago. In Sexual Wisdom we quote a leading, liberal physician spokesperson saying that
“According to the medical definition, conception occurs not at fertilization but at implantation.” At the time (1990) she was right but now, with the definition changed back to the original, she is very wrong. How embarrassing for her and so many other pro-choice physicians! It shows how one can get richly deserved mud in the face if one gets too enthusiastic about a propaganda campaign based on lies.
• Diaphragm: This is a device placed inside the woman that acts as a “barrier” method (prevents the egg and sperm from joining) much like the condom. It is not very effective or popular. It is safe, although can lead to urinary tract infections (“bladder” and kidney infections).
• Withdrawal: With this method, the man removes himself from the woman prior to ejaculation. It is safe, unnatural, ineffective, and unpopular.
Failure rates:
The typical failure rate for contraceptives is from 3-10%. For example, The Pill has an 11% failure rate for females under 19 years of age and 4-5% for those over 19. Notice that these are failure rates per year. Therefore, the likelihood of pregnancy increases with each year used.
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Surgical Sterilization:
This is called a “vasectomy” for men. The vas deferens are surgically tied off and cut. For women the sterilization procedure is called a “tubal ligation” or “getting ones tubes tied.” The fallopian tubes are surgically tied off and cut. The failure rate of either of these procedures is 3-5 per 1,000 patients per year, which is to say that they do occasionally fail to sterilize the person.
But What About Love?
The main problems with artificial methods of contraception are clear when we consider the effect of contraceptives and sterilization on our five aspects of love:
Respect:
Contraception focuses sexual activity on achieving pleasure as opposed to nurturing a relationship. A boyfriend demands that a woman has sex with him to “prove” her love. He may not be so ready to abuse her if she was not on The Pill. Or, a boyfriend says to his girlfriend: “I know you’re afraid of getting pregnant or getting a disease but don’t worry, I’ll use a condom.” By promising to eliminate the possibility of pregnancy and STDs, the risks associated with sex are played down and sexual risk-taking is encouraged. Contracepting couples are more likely to ignore the
“risk” of pregnancy that sexual intercourse entails. It is disrespectful to ignore the risks you create for others and so contraceptives encourage disrespect, especially for women.
Consider the following conversation with a patient:
Me: Is there any possibility that you are pregnant?
Twenty-something patient: No Me: No possibility whatsoever?
Patient: No, I’m on The Pill.
Me: The Pill has a failure rate.
Patient: Don’t say that.
Responsibility:
Contraceptives put the responsibility for preventing pregnancy on science, not on the couple. If the couple gets pregnant, it’s The Pill’s fault. Contraceptives were supposed to free us from the risks of unwanted pregnancies and abortions, yet during the period of explosive increase in their use there was a dramatic increase in the number of “unwanted pregnancies” and abortions.
This is why people talk about the “contraception-abortion mentality.” People who use contraceptives are often overconfident that they will not get pregnant, and when they do they are more likely to feel that they are victims of faulty science, and therefore justify having an abortion. Often the man, the woman, or both blame the woman for a contraceptive “failure,” so he may push her to have an abortion or she may feel she owes it to him.
Pregnancies are more of a “surprise” when the couple has been using contraceptives, so they are generally less ready and willing to cope with the responsibility of a baby. Contraceptives discourage couples from taking full responsibility for their actions.
People have unrealistic confidence in contraceptives, and so take unreasonable risks. While I was explaining the failure rate of contraceptives to a sexually active teenager she blurted out, “But something has to work!” To truly impact the number of unwanted pregnancies we must address the underlying problem: sexual risk-taking and the rejection of true love. True love means being fully responsible. With contraceptives, couples often feel that the method bears some responsibility; they are only “sort of”
responsible if they get pregnant.
Speaking to a young lady on The Pill:
Me: What if your pregnancy test is positive?
Patient: Oh, there is no way I can have a baby right now!
(She was overjoyed that her pregnancy test was negative.) A patient of mine noticed some unusual bleeding from her vaginal area. It turned out to be the first sign that she was pregnant. She was pregnant despite having been sterilized years
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earlier. When she called her husband, his response brought her to tears so she handed the phone to me. I was amazed to find that he was more concerned with suing the physician who performed her sterilization procedure than with the safety of his wife and child!
Contraceptives and sterilization encourage people to accept only limited responsibility. But limiting our responsibility means limiting our love. People who use artificial contraceptives are being only “sort of” responsible—like the driver who asks the passengers to buckle up their seat belts but then drives recklessly.
Commitment:
With contraceptives people are “freed” to have sex with less commitment or with no commitment at all (a one-night-stand,
“hooking up” or prostitution). For example, a friend was dating a
“wonderful” man whom she envisioned to be her future husband.
Her contraceptive failed and she became pregnant. His response was to write her a check to pay for an abortion and he then disappeared from her life. He was relying on the contraceptive to give him the pleasure that he wanted. Only after the contraceptive failed did she understand that he was not committed to the relationship.
Self-discipline:
Contraceptives promote the false belief that people cannot control themselves. Uncontrollable urges become needs that can only be met through the use of contraceptives. (More on this in Lesson 11.) Contraceptives and sterilization require essentially no sexual restraint. With them, one need not practice the virtue of temperance or self-control, the cardinal virtue associated with chastity.
Trust:
Because of the many problems just discussed, the use of contraceptives often creates distrust in relationships. For example,
“I don’t love him but we can ‘make love’ anyway because I’m on The Pill.” Or, “She’s willing to have sex, but how committed is she to this relationship?”
Due to the obvious, serious effects of artificial contraceptives on attitudes, I stopped prescribing them in 1989. I was trained in the manner of all physicians in this country and had bought into the many lies about contraceptives. I did not second-guess the system until I was out of training and really started to listen to patients in my private practice. There I found the complaints, mostly from women, about the horrible abuses of sexuality, and could not help but see the obvious link to contraceptives.
Most physicians prescribe contraceptives without considering their effects on patients’ attitudes. They buy into the lies about contraceptives. In fact, the multimillion-dollar contraceptive industry is enthusiastically supported by the medical profession. There is little critical thinking or open-mindedness among physicians on this subject.
Theology of the Body Moment – Pope John Paul II It can be said that in the case of an artificial separation of these two aspects (of sexual union, the loving and life-giving aspects), a real bodily union is carried out in the conjugal act (sexual intercourse), but it does not correspond to the interior truth and to the dignity of personal communion: communion of persons.
This communion demands that the language of the body be expressed reciprocally in the integral truth of its meaning. If this truth be lacking, one cannot speak either of the truth of self-mastery, or of the truth of the reciprocal gift and of the reciprocal acceptance of self on the part of the person. Such a violation of the interior
This communion demands that the language of the body be expressed reciprocally in the integral truth of its meaning. If this truth be lacking, one cannot speak either of the truth of self-mastery, or of the truth of the reciprocal gift and of the reciprocal acceptance of self on the part of the person. Such a violation of the interior