Contraception: The Bitter Pill

Inside Catholic ^ | October 20, 2010 | George Sim Johnston

[NYer]

A tough topic in any parish.

[Brian Kopp DPM]

There is no greater sign of reform and renewal in the Church at present than the recapturing and reasserting of the Church’s teaching on contraception.

[Brian Kopp DPM]

I was invited to give a pre-Cana talk on this issue to a local parish once.

Once.

[Walts Ice Pick]

Artificial contraception is wrong because it violates the gift of self that ought to be at the center of every act of physical love. When you take the pill or use a foam, diaphragm, condom, or whatever, you are, in effect, saying to your spouse, "In this, the most intimate act of our marriage, I am going to give myself to you, but only up to a point." Or, conversely, you are saying, "I want you in this act to make a total gift to me of yourself, except that part of you which so deeply defines you as a sexual being, your fertility." The body has its own deep language, and when we add chemicals or latex to the act of love, when we deliberately destroy its potential for making new life, we falsify the nuptial meaning of its actions. We hold back the full gift of self which during the wife's fertile period must include an openness to new life.

I'm sorry, but this sounds like crazy talk to me.

Isn't it more likely that a church would discourage contraception for business reasons - to grow the flock?

[kbennkc]

I wish someone would have talked me out of getting married like that.

[Tax-chick]

Women, in particular, may decide on purely feminist grounds that artificially thwarting their fertility is demeaning.

Indeed, the concept that there is something deeply, fundamentally wrong with women - because their bodies can produce those terrifying babies - is profoundly demeaning. "Just be a toilet." I don't know why woman would accept it.

[mas cerveza por favor]

A tough topic in any parish.

Not among the trads.

[Tax-chick]

What’s “crazy,” specifically? The concept that a human being is an integrated whole, body-soul, so that actions done by the person have physical and spiritual meaning? Or that rejecting something integral to the person, such as his or her capacity to produce a new life, is contradictory in a relationship (marriage) that is supposed to create the One-ness of two people?

Or do you just think Christianity in general is crazy?

[Walts Ice Pick]

Well, the paragraph I quoted just doesn't sound convincing to me. It just doesn't sound authentic. Rather, it sounds like some sort of a cover explanation for a policy that actually serves a different purpose.

And, I suggested a different purpose, a more functional purpose that might make more sense.

[mas cerveza por favor]

Read the OT story of Onan. He was struck dead for "spilling his seed" by way of the withdrawal method. Once the contraception lifestyle became established, abortion had to follow as a necessary backup.

A couple that is intimate but uses contraception is very much like a homo couple with regards to procreation. If (intentional) DINK's can get married, why not homos?

[NYer]

I was invited to give a pre-Cana talk on this issue to a local parish once. Once.

NFM is not very popular. Everyone wants the easy way out. Good for you in upholding church teachings, albeit the least popular one.

[ThisLittleLightofMine]

God has told us all along to be fruitful and multiply. I do not attend a catholic church. I wonder if any believers actually ponder that “family planning” is not biblical.

[Spudx7]

“If the arrival of children needs to be spaced (a job once done quite effectively by full-time breast-feeding), “

My son is living proof that it isn't always that effective :).

My husband and I have decided to let God determine our family size. As my last pregnancy had serious complications, we don't say this lightly. God was merciful and all went as well as it possibly could have. I must confess to some fear, but God is sovereign over all...even my womb.

[Netizen]

The general ignorance surrounding NFP is a real tragedy, because couples who use it almost universally report what a boon it is to their marriage. NFP is not "Catholic birth control." Nor is it the calendar rhythm method, which has a 15 percent failure rate and went out the window decades ago. It is a method whereby both partners exercise restraint during the wife's fertile period, which is determined by a few simple symptoms. Used correctly, it is more effective than the pill. And it ought to be noted that the more effective an artificial contraceptive is, the more potentially harmful side-effects there are for the wife.

Seems like birth control is birth control.

[Tax-chick]

I notice you didn’t answer my questions. What do you find erroneous or irrational in the statements you quoted?

Naturally, if you don’t believe human beings have souls, or that the life of a human being is of any intrinsic value, you would not find arguments based on those premises convincing. However, most Christians would agree with the premises, I believe, even if they don’t follow the reasoning all the way to a categorical rejection of contraception.

[Walts Ice Pick]

I don't see any contradiction between being fruitful and multiplying and using contraception to prevent unwanted multiplying.

I don't think there's anything wrong with a church designing and advocating policies in order grow its flock, either. Churches that don't concern themselves with the business end of things don't last too long.

[NYer]

My husband and I have decided to let God determine our family size.

In faith we truly believe that if this be the will of God, He will provide. The Duggars are an excellent example of how christian faith works. Good for you and your husband!

[Mears]

The birth control pill saved my sanity-——way back in the sixties.

[Walts Ice Pick]

Well, I think that one can give oneself while attempting to discourage pregnancy as a result. If you disagree with that, I don't know how to resolve our difference of opinion on that question.

I will say on your behalf that I consider your opinion to be more persuasive than the opinion of a church leader who doesn't participate in the activity at all, if that helps. Beyond that, I just think we disagree.