Birth Control views?

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Ilovejesus1234 said:
well actually wait, my mom just said, and she is catholic, she said the NFP method works badly and she just used birth control, I am thinking about just having my wife on birth control despite it being unnatural, I mean I am not going against the church, I would never want to do that but its just unneccesarily tedious and chancey for the NFP method, I dont want like 8 kids like my grandmother had.
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The medical community does not like Natural Family Planning/Fertility Awareness Methods because early user effective studies indicated that couples were more likely than contracepting couples to not use the method consistantly. In other words, the couple charts, knows they’re fertile and has sex anyway. However, NFP couples (especially in the intitial studies) tend to have a more casual attitude toward getting pregnant than contracepting couples. In fact, within Catholic circles and on this site, you’ll find lots of debate over the “moral use” of NFP. People get into huge arguments about what justifies even making an effort to prevent pregnancy.

This argument has died down a little and modern studies have started to incorporate more secular individuals who use charting plus barrier methods instead of abstinence. The couples who abstain do have a lower pregnancy rate than the couples who use the barrier methods during the fertile times, but the difference is not significant and overall the user effective is about a 3% failure rate and a 1% method failure rate (though it varies slightly depending on the study.

You also have the practical experience of couples who gave NFP a shot, but learned fertility charting while they were already sexually active or even while they needed special instructions, like with breastfeeding. And so there is a definite learning curve to fertiity charting that isn’t really suited for the idea of learning the method while being sexually active. Personally I believe the charting should be taught to girls as soon as they hit their periods because the chart is also a great health record and can be used to catch women’s health issues right away.

Then you have women with irregular cycles. Left untreated, these cycles not only make charting a bigger challenge, but they also are a health issue. There is something wrong with the woman’s hormonal balance and she does need medical treatment. And such treatment ought to make NFP easier. (the only issue being that finding physicians trained in such treatment can be a huge challenge. If the woman does not have access to a physician who can diagnosis the real condition and treat it, than I believe the long term health risk of an irregular cycle warrent going on hormonal birth control because it at least regulates it to a point.

With all that said, I have noticed that the medical community now isn’t even starting to condemn NFP. They’re starting to discredit barier methods and even the pill. The push is to get most women on the IUD because since it is inserted and thus involves no steps, the user failure rate gets super close to the method failure rate unlike any methods that involve personal choice.

There is definitely a world out that that sees unplanned pregnancies as an evil. Most doctors will freak out when a woman refuses hormonal birth control. I don’t believe we can blame women for being on it. There is an agenda to get us on it.

But, no, NFP does not mean having more kids than you can handle. It does mean that you have to weigh your desire to prevent pregnancy with your need for sexual intimacy. Is it worth it or is there a bit of selfishness there?
 
Youre right… I cant kill a human life through my spouses period, I am so sorry you guys 😦 I honestly just started my faith 3 months ago and I am just a “newborn” in a way, sorry for getting ahead of myself here, god bless you all…
 
It took me so long to write this post that I missed the last post of the OP where he says he’s just beginning to learn his faith.
 
Ilovejesus1234 said:
I mean what would you perfer to use NFP and maybe have that lead to an abortion, god forbid!
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Abortion is murder. Unplanned pregnancies are not evils to avoid. Rather, birth control is about moderation. There is an element of lack of control that is necessary for us to grow in holiness because a part of holiness is respecting that each and every individual God creates or wants to creat is the crown jewel of his creation. Only human beings are made in the image and likeness of God.

The sexual act is an act of submission, of opening your palm to God’s creative will and saying “let it be.” You have no right to demand a child or reject a child. You only have the right to open or close that hand, to have sex or not have sex.
If i have lets say 2 kids and i dont want another because I am not prepared for it
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If God blesses you with an unplanned pregnancy, you carry your cross and follow His will. You look to the faith of our Blessed Mother who said yes to the Angel even though everyone would assume the pregnancy was the result of sin, even though she knew Joseph would be upset and her family would be upset. What were her first thoughts? She thought of her cousin and went to minister to her needs. And then when she neared the end of her pregnancy, what was she forced to do? She was forced to travel and then there was no room in the inn. Just think of how such an experience could be seen as a sign that God is not providing. And yet God did provide.
I would see birth control as the most easiest option,
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Sin is always easier.
 
Ilovejesus1234 said:
Youre right… I cant kill a human life through my spouses period, I am so sorry you guys 😦 I honestly just started my faith 3 months ago and I am just a “newborn” in a way, sorry for getting ahead of myself here, god bless you all…
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Well, welcome to the Faith and God bless you on your journey. I’m sorry that people on this site can be really rough around the edges. It seems the nature of the argument. People forget their talking to real people and just spew their thoughts out without thinking about it.

The person’s comment that all people using contraceptives automatically go to Hell is simplistic in its understanding of morality. Contraceptives are a grave offense, but we must consider how poorly formed people’s consciences are, how the medical community and schools work heavily to form people’s consciences to view NFP as morally irresponsible.

We need to do our job to help people form their consciences so they can pursue virtue and help them grow closer to God. We shouldn’t turn it into a simplified “Ok follow the rules and God will accept you but if you don’t, hell for you.” It’s simply an inaccurate way of looking at things people.
 
Ilovejesus1234 said:
God wouldn’t do that, that would mean he would condemn all the other dedicated devoted christians for using birth control, yes this doctorine i realize is artificial hormones but god wouldn’t condemn someone to hell for that… :/, his mercy, especially for his body which is the church is so great that he gives us two ways for us to control ourselves from having vast numbers of babies, birth control which he gave to us as an artificial method and NFP, which is the natural way, he gave us two blessed choices for which we can control our sexual maritial lives, its not a reason we should go to hell, he just knew we would need that sooner or later, I mean what would you perfer to use NFP and maybe have that lead to an abortion, god forbid! If i have lets say 2 kids and i dont want another because I am not prepared for it I would see birth control as the most easiest option, God bless you sir your answers were very prominent and well, but I just have to be reasonable in this subject… 😦
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I am really suprised to read this. Have you read the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
2370 … “every 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:159

2399 The regulation of births represents one of the aspects of responsible fatherhood and motherhood. Legitimate intentions on the part of the spouses do not justify recourse to morally unacceptable means (for example, direct sterilization or contraception).

vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a6.htm

Pontifical Academy for Life (2000) VI General Assembly
2. In analyzing the international discussion over the last five years, we recognize the great timeliness of the Encyclical, in which the Church condemns a series of attacks on human life, such as contraception, sterilization, abortion, artificial procreation, the production, manipulation and destruction of human embryos and euthanasia. Today these call for ever greater social and legal vigilance, since there is a tendency to recognize them as positive rights.

vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_academies/acdlife/documents/rc_pa_acdlife_doc_20000214_final-doc_en.html
 
Ilovejesus1234 said:
Youre right… I cant kill a human life through my spouses period, I am so sorry you guys 😦 I honestly just started my faith 3 months ago and I am just a “newborn” in a way, sorry for getting ahead of myself here, god bless you all…
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We are so glad you found your way here and welcome!
It’s a good question and you don’t need to be sorry about it. Asking questions is how we learn. Now is a great time to find out God’s plan for marriage and family life. You are at an age where you will be making major decisions that will affect the course and path of your life. Know that following God is never boring! May God continue to bless and guide you.
 
So just the way i see it i came to a conclusion, sex is mainly for procreation but also union during it…If it seems necessary if i wanted maritial sex i would choose NFP at the right time, being open to another baby, probably. But if I wouldnt want a child in a way I would just not have sex really? I hope this is a good conclusion. I am willing to control myself, I already do as of now i dont see why it wouldnt be that hard to do it while I am married as well, but honestly I am just going to trust in gods plan for me because I dont know whats ahead in my life. I love you all, Have a blessed night (:
 
I’m an ex Protestant turned Catholic, so I came from a tradition where artificial birth control was not an issue. And I’m still pro-pill, but anti-abortion, which I think is murder of a pre-existing human life. In my atheist days, I was pro-both, as I would assume most atheists would be.

I’ve attached some statistics from the Guttmacher Institute about use of birth control by Catholic, Protestant and “other” women. I’m aware the Guttmacher Institute may have reasons to be biased, but I think the statistics are fair dinkum.

There’s not much difference between Catholic, Protestant and “other” women, which means most Catholic women and their husbands are just quietly ignoring the Church’s teaching on the Pill. I remember one Catholic lady commenting, a few months before I became a (Protestant) Christian, that what she and her husband did in their bedroom was none of the Pope’s business. And she used to go to Reconcilation quite regularly. Obviously she felt no guilt about using the pill.

guttmacher.org/media/resources/Religion-FP-tables.html

For myself, my wife and I married rather late. We had concerns on two issues - the difference in age between us and any children we might have (nearly and over 40 years) and health issues for both mother and child due to a late first pregnancy.

As it was she didn’t get pregnant, and is now past menopause anyway.

Had she gotten pregnant, then we would have kept the child obviously, but it didn’t happen.

And as far as I’m concerned, I have absolutely no qualms whatever about the fact we used the pill. Others can jump up and down and say we’re going to hell etc, and all I’d say is “Garbage”.

Personally I think the contraceptive pill, despite its occasional flaws, was God’s gift, given largely through Catholic researchers, at the very time population pressures were becoming a real problem in some parts of the world.

I’ve been through this argument before, but here is a graph of world population growth.

www.susps.org/images/worldpopgr.gif

Now plot where the pill comes in, and it’s right where the almost vertical upswing takes place. Not only that, but the necessary technological sophistication for us to develop the pill also took place just at this time.

The two came together. That speaks to me of an overarching PLAN.

How fast should the world population graph advance? Think we can cope with the endless requirements for more food, more fuel, more roads, more water and all the rest?

Secondly two popes - John XXIII and his successor - set up or expanded an advisory committee, including bishops, to advise them on the correct policy regarding the contraceptive pill. They advised that it should be available to married couples. But the Pope, influenced by a hard core of conservatives, overrode their decision.

The rest is history.

I have no concern with the contraceptive pill whatsoever, even if there are some potential health issues in a small number of cases. People can have side effects from the humble aspirin tablet, to almost any other prescription on the market.

And I am not going to be bullied into a policy I don’t agree with.
 
We would never bully you into believing something, but just remember than with the pill, you flush out the embryo because it can’t grab onto anything and its basically killing one half of a human life, same with visectymines(or however you spell it) youre killing those poor sperm cells, another half of a human life, even though it may still be dna it is just as hurtful as an abortion in gods eyes.

The pope also just explains faith the best we can understand it, he is like a mouthpiece of god.
 
twoangels said:
Abortion is murder. Unplanned pregnancies are not evils to avoid. Rather, birth control is about moderation. There is an element of lack of control that is necessary for us to grow in holiness because a part of holiness is respecting that each and every individual God creates or wants to creat is the crown jewel of his creation. Only human beings are made in the image and likeness of God.

The sexual act is an act of submission, of opening your palm to God’s creative will and saying “let it be.” You have no right to demand a child or reject a child. You only have the right to open or close that hand, to have sex or not have sex.

If God blesses you with an unplanned pregnancy, you carry your cross and follow His will. You look to the faith of our Blessed Mother who said yes to the Angel even though everyone would assume the pregnancy was the result of sin, even though she knew Joseph would be upset and her family would be upset. What were her first thoughts? She thought of her cousin and went to minister to her needs. And then when she neared the end of her pregnancy, what was she forced to do? She was forced to travel and then there was no room in the inn. Just think of how such an experience could be seen as a sign that God is not providing. And yet God did provide.

Sin is always easier.
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Beautifully put !
 
Ilovejesus1234 said:
well actually wait, my mom just said, and she is catholic, she said the NFP method works badly and she just used birth control, I am thinking about just having my wife on birth control despite it being unnatural, I mean I am not going against the church, I would never want to do that but its just unneccesarily tedious and chancey for the NFP method, I dont want like 8 kids like my grandmother had.
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Actually, Natural Family Planning is just as effective as the birth control pill:

sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/02/070221065200.htm
 
Ilovejesus1234 said:
So just the way i see it i came to a conclusion, sex is mainly for procreation but also union during it…If it seems necessary if i wanted maritial sex i would choose NFP at the right time, being open to another baby, probably. But if I wouldnt want a child in a way I would just not have sex really? I hope this is a good conclusion. I am willing to control myself, I already do as of now i dont see why it wouldnt be that hard to do it while I am married as well, but honestly I am just going to trust in gods plan for me because I dont know whats ahead in my life. I love you all, Have a blessed night (:
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You’re getting it! Stay open to God; that is the way to be.
 
Bob_Crowley said:
There’s an article here about the “death rate” of zygotes (fertilised eggs) compared with and without birth control. If the author is correct, fewer fertilised eggs die with artificial contraception than if artificial conception is not used.

patheos.com/blogs/lovejoyfeminism/2012/10/zygotes-lost-with-birth-control-v-without-birth-control.html

Mind you the author appears to be feminist, but that doesn’t necessary invalidate her argument.
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The point is irrelevant. The evil that we see with the of unborn babies lies not in their deaths, but in the way they met their deaths, which if by human action would constitute a very grave sin.
 
Since the pill became widely available, there’s been a lot of unmarried, recreational sex. This is what society has been dealing with…
  1. An explosion of unplanned pregnancies. It seems counter intuitive but teens began having sex and maybe they weren’t great at taking the pill or realizing certain drugs neutralized the pill. Anyway, with all these unplanned pregnancies, you know what followed.
  2. An increase in demand for abortion. Unmarried women having sex and getting pregnant when they weren’t in a stable relationship demanded abortion, or their boyfriends and parents did. Millions of babies aborted. This is not good for women or their babies.
  3. An explosion of people infected with sexually transmitted diseases. Not only in number but in types of diseases. We are still getting STD’s and now they are becoming anti-biotic resistant. Loss of fertility for when you want a family later. This is not good for marriages or families.
  4. Young women with babies who were abandoned by their boyfriends make up a huge number of people living below the poverty line. You have babies growing up without their dad. This is not good for women or their babies.
  5. There is a huge financial drain on the economy when taxpayers have to support all these young women with babies or pay for their abortions. This is not good for the economy or the country.
God’s plan for sex and marriage works and brings blessing upon those who walk in His plan. Explain the above to future girlfriends or your guy friends. You will be Christ’s light where there is such a darkness. This is what we are called to do.
 
And so we see the framing of Church teachings, based on Divine Law, as “policies” (implies they can change) that we are “bullied” into (implies someone is forcing you with threats.) Well, you may be right about the threats. It’s quite simple, if you commit a mortal sin and die without a state of grace, you go to Hell. So with full knowledge that artificial birth control is grave matter, intrinisically evil, and against Divine Law - not just a “Church policy” - you choose with your free will to disobey God, we bullies cannot be responsible for what happens to your soul.

It is simply a shame that so many people, and especially so many married couples, do not understand God’s plan for marriage. They do not understand the beauty of sacrificial love, the total self-giving of one to another, the donation of self that mirrors the love of the Holy Trinity. If they did understand this, imagine how much stronger families would be. Imagine the faith that parents would pass on to their children, leading by example a holy life and teaching their children about unconditional love. But it’s so rare, even among Catholics. It’s sad.

Humanae Vitae had much to say about these consequences. I have linked it previously. Anyone who believes in artificial birth control is encouraged to read this document as it will hopefully change your mind for good.
Humanae Vitae:
Consequences of Artificial Methods
  1. Responsible men can become more deeply convinced of the truth of the doctrine laid down by the Church on this issue if they reflect on the consequences of methods and plans for artificial birth control. Let them first consider how easily this course of action could open wide the way for marital infidelity and a general lowering of moral standards. Not much experience is needed to be fully aware of human weakness and to understand that human beings—and especially the young, who are so exposed to temptation—need incentives to keep the moral law, and it is an evil thing to make it easy for them to break that law. Another effect that gives cause for alarm is that a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires, no longer considering her as his partner whom he should surround with care and affection.
Finally, careful consideration should be given to the danger of this power passing into the hands of those public authorities who care little for the precepts of the moral law. Who will blame a government which in its attempt to resolve the problems affecting an entire country resorts to the same measures as are regarded as lawful by married people in the solution of a particular family difficulty? Who will prevent public authorities from favoring those contraceptive methods which they consider more effective? Should they regard this as necessary, they may even impose their use on everyone. It could well happen, therefore, that when people, either individually or in family or social life, experience the inherent difficulties of the divine law and are determined to avoid them, they may give into the hands of public authorities the power to intervene in the most personal and intimate responsibility of husband and wife.
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Pope Paul VI Predicted the HHS Mandates in 1968!
 
Cricket2 said:
Well birth control does work, but it is highly dangerous.
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I know a good number of women it didn’t work for. My mother’s barrier method failed her twice. My sister had four pregnancies after using three different chemical methods. One of her children was born with an IUD that they were unable to remove until after the pregnancy was over. My cousin was pregnant for almost seven months while taking the pill the whole time. She noticed symptoms of her pregnancy but disregarded them for months because she was so certain she couldn’t be pregnant. After all, she was on the pill. Her daughter was born by emergency c-section two hours after her doctor confirmed that she was indeed pregnant. Fortunately, all that was effected was her vision and she is a healthy, bright little girl.

Everyone knows at least one person for whom the pill failed, and probably several for whom barrier methods failed. If no method is perfect, why poison yourself? At least with NFP, the worst that can happen is a healthy, new baby. If the chemical birth controls fail, you can end up harming the baby or even having a miscarraige or stillborn child. My sister has lost two babies that were concieved while on birth control. (One of them at six months) She isn’t practicing Catholic or even religious at all, and she’s dirt poor too, but even she says she’d rather give away a live baby to a loving home then bury another dead one.
 
PennyinCanada said:
Since the pill became widely available, there’s been a lot of unmarried, recreational sex. This is what society has been dealing with…

.
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Since the human race developed cars, this is what society has been dealing with -
  1. 1.28 million deaths from road accidents (WHO estimate).
  2. One time use of finite fuel deposits, with the average Australian per capita figure of about 600 litres per year, Canada 850 litres per year, USA 1100 litres per year (World Bank figures). I’m sure God put that all fossil fuel there so we could just waste it.
  3. In some highly populated countries, road densities are as high as 330 kms per 100 square kilometres of land (Netherlands), 504 (Belgium), 1475 (Macao), 3850 (Monaco). In those (so far small) countries, what do you think is an acceptable ceiling for car densities).
  4. The economic estimate of road deaths and accidents world wide is approximately 518 billion dollars (WHO).
Are you going to advocate banning cars because they cause problems, are misused, driven dangerously, and waste a lot of resources, and cost societies a lot of money when accidents occur.

How people use or misuse cars, fuel, or the pill, forms part of their own individual moral judgement. I’m well aware of the single mothers issue - I see it weekly in my voluntary capacity as a Vinnies volunteer. Single mothers would form the majority of our clients.

But you’re not going to solve that by banning the pill. As far as I’m concerned the Church is just wasting it’s time hoping that this policy will be accepted either by the majority of Catholics, or the world at large. They’ll just go on ignoring it.
 
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