Artificial Contraception

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Hi everyone. I am finding it hard for me to agree with the Catholic teaching on artificial contraception. The reason being is that natural family planning simply prevents conception by having sex at a non-fertile time. How is this so different from using a condom or a spermicide to prevent conception? I can see how using the birth control pill or another abortifacient form of birth control would be wrong but I can’t see how using condoms or other barrier methods would be wrong. Help! :confused:
 
Again one must avoid simply looking at actions based upon hoped for ends Yes both NFP when used to avoid pregnancy and contraception have the same hoped for end… but the actions are different. Contraception is a seperate action in which a couple purposefully makes an act of intercourse infertile while an NFP couple avoids sex during fertile times (which is not making their sex infertile by their own actions… nature built in these infertile periods).
It would be like the difference between letting Grandma die naturally or killing her sooner by overdosing her on some drug. Yes the same ends are achieved, but one is done naturally and left in God’s hands and the other desires to kill Grandma through their own actions… acts are different even when ends are similar.
For a really good read, check out Dr. William May’s book “Catholic Bioethics.” DOes a very good job of explaining the difference and linking artificial contraceptives to abortion mentality.
 
Pope Paul IV’s Encyclical Humane Vitae (of Human Life) is a short read but what clinched it for me was a talk by Dr. Jeanette Smith called “Contraception Why Not?” You can order it from an organization called One More Soul.

In a nut shell the Church is saying that you can not separate the unitive function of sex from the pro-creative functions of sex. The act of sex was designed by God in a certain way and it is the way that He decided to bring about life including you. If you do not allow for the complete unitive function of sex you inject selfishness into an act which is meant to be an act of total self giving. God gives us life in a total self giving way so His expectation is that we will participate in the act of the gift of life in a giving way.

The way of explaining this next paragraph comes from my opinion as an engineer, but it contains the Church’s concept. The amount of respect you have for a process is related to the respect you will have for the end result. In other words if you have a manufacturing process you will design the process of manufacturing just as much as you will design the end product. The two designs both process design and product design are coupled together. This is also true of the design and creation of people. When we disrespect the design process and turn sex into an act of recreation for the sake of pleasure, we as a society will end up disrespecting the end product which is human life. Pope Paul VI had some incredible prdictions about disrespecting human life in his Encyclical which have come true as a result of wide spread use of contraception.

Another area about the Church’s teaching that has fascinated me are a collection of Pope John Paul II’s Wednesday audiences called “Theology of the Body” Christopher West, has some excellent tapes on this collection of the Pope’s talks. They are not Church authoritative talks, but they are a tremendous gift from Pope John Paul II. The concept that I loved the most from this series of talks is that being created male and female and the sexual union between men and women is a way that we image God as the Trinity. The Trinity is a communion of Persons totally giving of Each Other, One to the Other, Three but One at the same time. A married couple in sexual union are two but one at the same time, becoming three but one at the same time. In this way humanity images God.

A little long and wordy and I hope I didn’t confuse you.

Steve
 
Holly3278 said:
Hi everyone. I am finding it hard for me to agree with the Catholic teaching on artificial contraception. The reason being is that natural family planning simply prevents conception by having sex at a non-fertile time. How is this so different from using a condom or a spermicide to prevent conception? I can see how using the birth control pill or another abortifacient form of birth control would be wrong but I can’t see how using condoms or other barrier methods would be wrong. Help! :confused:
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The goal of contraception is to prevent life. The goal of NFP is to respect it. It’s two different mindsets. Contraception is about the individual’s self-interest. NFP is about the individual’s self-donation. The end result may be the same. A couple using contraception calls an unintended pregnancy a failure. A couple using NFP calls an unexpected pregnancy a blessing.
 
And so what should one do if they simply can’t practice NFP? Like for me, I do not have periods each month. Whenever I get one is as random as when it chooses to rain and when the sun chooses to shine. A person can’t practice NFP if their cycles are so unpredictable.
 
Holly3278 said:
And so what should one do if they simply can’t practice NFP? Like for me, I do not have periods each month. Whenever I get one is as random as when it chooses to rain and when the sun chooses to shine. A person can’t practice NFP if their cycles are so unpredictable.
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My wife has a fear of pregnancy and right now does not have a periodic period. I wouldn’t mind her getting pregnant again but it’s not a decision I can make by myself. The short answer is, you abstain. It isn’t easy and it hasn’t been easy for me, but God’s ways are above our ways. The biggest problem with not being able to abstain is lust. Without abstanence a lot of men don’t even know they are lusting. If a man can stop lusting even over his wife the sperm production susides and the desire also subsides. Abstanence has to be done with prayer. Some people call fasting from food without prayer a dry fast. A dry fast has little spiritual value and may just end up being a physical exercise of will. Both prayer and more communication as husband and wife are necessary. To abstain is a blessing from God if you can do it together as husband and wife with God.
 
Holly3278 said:
Hi everyone. I am finding it hard for me to agree with the Catholic teaching on artificial contraception. The reason being is that natural family planning simply prevents conception by having sex at a non-fertile time. How is this so different from using a condom or a spermicide to prevent conception? I can see how using the birth control pill or another abortifacient form of birth control would be wrong but I can’t see how using condoms or other barrier methods would be wrong. Help! :confused:
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I just posted an answer to this question yesterday. It’s about 10 posts down. Please read my reply to this other poster. There is a difference between periodic abstaining and contracepting.

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=173839
 
Holly3278 said:
And so what should one do if they simply can’t practice NFP? … A person can’t practice NFP if their cycles are so unpredictable.
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Every woman can practice NFP. You need to learn more about it. You are incorrect that an “unpredictable” cycle eliminates you from practicing NFP. That is because NFP is not based on predicting anything. NFP is based on observing fertility signs. You are either fertile or not on any given day, and you can know this with certainty.
Holly3278 said:
Like for me, I do not have periods each month. Whenever I get one is as random as when it chooses to rain and when the sun chooses to shine.
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If you were to chart, you would discover it is not random at all.

Cycles longer than 35 days indicate an underlying pathology. A doctor trained in NFP can assist you in getting to the bottom of the problem and correcting it. If you have lengthy periods, no periods, etc, it is a sign of infertility-- possibly PCOS, endometriosis, fibroids, or something else. You need to get to the bottom of it if you do want to have children in the future.

I second the recommedation for the Pope Paul VI Institute, www.popepaulvi.com and NaPro Technology.
 
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