Birth Control
In 1968, Pope Paul VI issued his landmark encyclical
letter Humanae Vitae (Latin, "Human Life"), which reemphasized the
Church’s constant teaching that it is always intrinsically wrong to use
contraception to prevent new human beings from
coming into existence.
Contraception is "any action which,
either in anticipation of the conjugal act [sexual
intercourse], or in its accomplishment, or in the development of its natural
consequences, proposes, whether as an end or as a means, to render procreation
impossible" (Humanae Vitae 14). This includes sterilization, condoms
and other barrier methods, spermicides, coitus interruptus (withdrawal
method), the Pill, and all other such methods.
The Historic Christian Teaching
Few realize that up until 1930, all Protestant
denominations agreed with the Catholic Church’s teaching condemning contraception
as sinful. At its 1930 Lambeth Conference, the Anglican church, swayed
by growing social pressure, announced that contraception would be allowed
in some circumstances. Soon the Anglican church completely caved
in, allowing contraception across the board. Since then, all other Protestant
denominations have followed suit. Today, the Catholic Church alone proclaims
the historic Christian position on contraception.
Evidence that contraception is in conflict with
God’s laws comes from a variety of sources that will be examined in this
tract.
Nature
Contraception is wrong because it’s a deliberate
violation of the design God built into the human race, often referred to
as "natural law." The natural law purpose of sex is procreation. The pleasure
that sexual intercourse provides is an additional blessing from God, intended
to offer the possibility of new life while strengthening the bond of intimacy,
respect, and love between husband and wife. The loving environment this
bond creates is the perfect setting for nurturing children.
But sexual pleasure within marriage becomes unnatural,
and even harmful to the spouses, when it is used in a way that deliberately
excludes the basic purpose of sex, which is procreation. God’s gift of
the sex act, along with its pleasure and intimacy, must not be abused by
deliberately frustrating its natural end—procreation.
Scripture
Is contraception a modern invention? Hardly! Birth
control has been around for millennia. Scrolls found in Egypt, dating to
1900 B.C., describe ancient methods of birth control that were later practiced
in the Roman empire during the apostolic age. Wool that absorbed sperm,
poisons that fumigated the uterus, potions, and other methods were used
to prevent conception. In some centuries, even condoms were used (though
made out of animal skin rather than latex).
The Bible mentions at least one form of contraception specifically
and condemns it. Coitus interruptus, was used by Onan to
avoid fulfilling his duty according to the ancient Jewish law of fathering
children for one’s dead brother. "Judah said to Onan, ‘Go in to your brother’s
wife, and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring
for your brother.’ But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so
when he went in to his brother’s wife he spilled the semen on the ground,
lest he should give offspring to his brother. And what he did was displeasing
in the sight of the Lord, and he slew him also" (Gen. 38:8–10).
The biblical penalty for not giving your brother’s
widow children was public humiliation, not death (Deut. 25:7–10). But Onan
received death as punishment for his crime. This means his crime was more
than simply not fulfilling the duty of a brother-in-law. He lost his life
because he violated natural law, as Jewish and Christian commentators have
always understood. For this reason, certain forms of contraception have historically
been known as "Onanism," after the man who practiced it, just as homosexuality
has historically been known as "Sodomy," after the men of Sodom, who practiced
that vice (cf. Gen. 19).
Contraception
was so far outside the biblical mindset and so obviously wrong that it
did not need the frequent condemnations other sins did. Scripture condemns
the practice when it mentions it. Once a moral principle has been
established in the Bible, every possible application of it need not be
mentioned. For example, the general principle that theft is wrong was clearly
established in Scripture; but there’s no need to provide an exhaustive
list of every kind of theft. Similarly, since the principle that contraception
is wrong has been established by being condemned when it’s mentioned in
the Bible, every particular form of contraception does not need to be dealt
with in Scripture in order for us to see that it is condemned.
Apostolic Tradition
The biblical teaching that birth control is wrong
is found even more explicitly among the Church Fathers, who recognized
the biblical and natural law principles underlying the condemnation.
In A.D. 195, Clement of Alexandria wrote, "Because
of its divine institution for the propagation of man, the seed is not to
be vainly ejaculated, nor is it to be damaged, nor is it to be wasted"
(The Instructor of Children 2:10:91:2).
Hippolytus of Rome wrote in 255 that "on account
of their prominent ancestry and great property, the so-called faithful
[certain Christian women who had affairs with male servants] want no children
from slaves or lowborn commoners, [so] they use drugs of sterility or bind
themselves tightly in order to expel a fetus which has already been engendered"
(Refutation of All Heresies 9:12).
Around 307 Lactantius explained that some "complain
of the scantiness of their means, and allege that they have not enough
for bringing up more children, as though, in truth, their means were in
[their] power . . . or God did not daily make the rich poor and the poor
rich. Wherefore, if any one on any account of poverty shall be unable to
bring up children, it is better to abstain from relations with his wife"
(Divine Institutes 6:20).
The First Council of Nicaea, the first ecumenical
council and the one that defined Christ’s divinity, declared in 325, "If
anyone in sound health has castrated himself, it behooves that such a one,
if enrolled among the clergy, should cease [from his ministry], and that
from henceforth no such person should be promoted. But, as it is evident
that this is said of those who willfully do the thing and presume to castrate
themselves, so if any have been made eunuchs by barbarians, or by their
masters, and should otherwise be found worthy, such men this canon admits
to the clergy" (Canon 1).
Augustine wrote in 419, "I am supposing, then,
although you are not lying [with your wife] for the sake of procreating
offspring, you are not for the sake of lust obstructing their procreation
by an evil prayer or an evil deed. Those who do this, although they are
called husband and wife, are not; nor do they retain any reality of marriage,
but with a respectable name cover a shame. Sometimes this lustful cruelty,
or cruel lust, comes to this, that they even procure poisons of sterility
[oral contraceptives]" (Marriage and Concupiscence 1:15:17).
The apostolic tradition’s condemnation of contraception
is so great that it was followed by Protestants until 1930 and was upheld
by all key Protestant Reformers. Martin Luther said, "[T]he exceedingly
foul deed of Onan, the basest of wretches . . . is a most disgraceful sin.
It is far more atrocious than incest and adultery. We call it unchastity,
yes, a sodomitic sin. For Onan goes in to her; that is, he lies with her
and copulates, and when it comes to the point of insemination, spills the
semen, lest the woman conceive. Surely at such a time the order of nature
established by God in procreation should be followed. Accordingly, it was
a most disgraceful crime. . . . Consequently, he deserved to be killed
by God. He committed an evil deed. Therefore, God punished him."
John Calvin said, "The voluntary spilling of semen
outside of intercourse between man and woman is a monstrous thing. Deliberately
to withdraw from coitus in order that semen may fall on the ground is doubly
monstrous. For this is to extinguish the hope of the race and to kill before
he is born the hoped-for offspring."
John Wesley warned, "Those sins that dishonor the
body are very displeasing to God, and the evidence of vile affections.
Observe, the thing which he [Onan] did displeased the Lord—and it is to
be feared; thousands, especially of single persons, by this very thing,
still displease the Lord, and destroy their own souls." (These passages
are quoted in Charles D. Provan, The Bible and Birth Control, which
contains many quotes by historic Protestant figures who recognize contraception’s
evils.)
The Magisterium
The Church also, fulfilling the role given it by
Christ as the identifier and interpreter of apostolic Scripture and apostolic
tradition, has constantly condemned contraception as gravely
sinful.
In Humanae Vitae, Pope Paul VI stated, "[W]e
must once again declare that the direct interruption of the generative
process already begun, and, above all, directly willed and procured abortion,
even if for therapeutic reasons, are to be absolutely excluded as licit
means of regulating birth. Equally to be excluded, as the teaching authority
of the Church has frequently declared, is direct sterilization, whether
perpetual or temporary, whether of the man or of the woman. Similarly excluded
is every action which, either in anticipation of the conjugal act, or in
its accomplishment, or in the development of its natural consequences,
proposes, whether as an end or as a means, to render procreation impossible"
(HV 14).
This was reiterated in the Catechism of the
Catholic Church: "[E]very action which, whether in anticipation of
the conjugal act, or in its accomplishment, or in the development of its
natural consequences, proposes, whether as an end or as a means, to render
procreation impossible is intrinsically evil" (CCC 2370). "Legitimate intentions
on the part of the spouses do not justify recourse to morally unacceptable
means . . . for example, direct sterilization or contraception" (CCC 2399).
The Church also has affirmed that the illicitness of
contraception is an infallible doctrine: "The Church has always taught
the intrinsic evil of contraception, that is, of every marital act intentionally
rendered unfruitful. This teaching is to be held as definitive and irreformable.
Contraception is gravely opposed to marital chastity, it is contrary to
the good of the transmission of life (the procreative aspect of matrimony),
and to the reciprocal self-giving of the spouses (the unitive aspect of
matrimony); it harms true love and denies the sovereign role of God in
the transmission of human life" (Vademecum for Confessors 2:4, Feb.
12, 1997).
Human Experience
Pope Paul VI predicted grave consequences that
would arise from the widespread and unrestrained use of contraception. He warned, "Upright men can even better convince themselves of
the solid grounds on which the teaching of the Church in this field is
based if they care to reflect upon the consequences of methods of artificially limiting the increase of children. Let them consider, first of all, how wide and easy a road
would thus be opened up towards conjugal infidelity and the general lowering
of morality. Not much experience is needed in order to know human weakness,
and to understand that men—especially the young, who are so vulnerable
on this point—have need of encouragement to be faithful to the moral law,
so that they must not be offered some easy means of eluding its observance.
It is also to be feared that the man, growing used to the employment of
anti-conceptive practices, may finally lose respect for the woman and,
no longer caring for her physical and psychological equilibrium, may come
to the point of considering her as a mere instrument of selfish enjoyment,
and no longer as his respected and beloved companion" (HV 17).
No one can doubt the fulfillment of these prophetic
words. They have all been more than fulfilled in this country as a result
of the widespread availability of contraceptives, the "free love" movement
that started in the 1960s, and the loose sexual morality that it spawned
and that continues to pervade Western culture.
Indeed, recent studies reveal a far greater divorce
rate in marriages in which contraception is regularly practiced than in
those marriages where it is not. Experience, natural law, Scripture, Tradition,
and the magisterium, all testify to the moral evil of contraception.
Wishful Thinking
Ignoring the mountain of evidence, some maintain
that the Church considers the use of contraception a matter for each married
couple to decide according to their "individual conscience." Yet, nothing
could be further from the truth. The Church has always maintained the historic
Christian teaching that deliberate acts of contraception are
always gravely sinful, which means that it is mortally sinful if done with
full knowledge and deliberate consent (CCC 1857). This teaching cannot be changed and has been taught by the Church
infallibly.
There is no way to deny the fact that the Church
has always and everywhere condemned artificial contraception. The matter
has already been infallibly decided. The so-called "individual conscience"
argument amounts to "individual disobedience."
NIHIL OBSTAT:
I have concluded that the materials
presented in this work are free of doctrinal or moral errors.
Bernadeane Carr, STL, Censor Librorum, August 10, 2004
IMPRIMATUR:
In accord with 1983 CIC 827
permission to publish this work is hereby granted.
+Robert H. Brom, Bishop of San Diego, August 10, 2004
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