Are there any doctors you can talk to who you know are Catholics?
To me, what you will be doing (research) is not promoting contraception: you are investingating it. In time, this may actually help strengthen your belief against it.
I grew up in the UK and I remember that to pass the GCSE (16 year old level) Biology exam, I needed to have a clear understanding of repoduction and be able to name and explain all the mainstream methods of contraception (pill, condom, coil, spermicide, cap) The syllabus didn’t really give NFP a look-in. In fact, the whole emphasis was that contraception was the ‘responsible’ choice; although the exam questions were purely factual.
In order to get a good grade and move on in life, of course I learned what I was told to learn. It hasn’t altered my beliefs. Knowing how things work is good. Imagine trying to defed NFP or arguing against contraception or IVF if you didn’t actually know what they were!
The most damming verdict on contraception I ever heard came from an agnostic GP, who worked in a very deprived area. He began hsi career in the 1960s, thinking the pill was wonderful, amazing and liberating. Now, he sees it as a great social evil.
Why? Well, it has given educated couples the power to restrict their family size and promoted the idea that success is best measured with possessions and wealth and that restricting family size is ‘good’ because the standard living for the family is better. It means that ‘career girls’ aren’t ‘expected to breed’ until they reach their late 30s and indeed, starting a family early is seem as irresponsible because one is throwing away one’s career (has she never heard of contraception?!!!)
On the other hand, the pill has taken away the woman’s right to say ‘no’, because unless she and her partner follow any sort of moral creed, what is her reason to say ‘no’? If she uses contraception, she is unlikely to get pregnant and sex is free entertainment…
Except…it’s the people already trapped in a cycle of poverty and lack of education that can’t understand the instructions; who are more likely to forget to take the pill; who haven’t really got a choice because contraception is pushed so hard by GPs in the UK that the message getting through is ‘if you’re not having sex by the time you’re 14 - you really aren’t normal’
This has helped create a massive social divide, with stressed out working mums who are trying to hang on to the career ladder and maintain their standard of living, while paying through the nose for childcare and feeling guilty about it (and incidently, I know plenty of primary school teachers who will tell you that children from some of the most affluent homes are starting school with the social skills of toddlers - some even still need nappies) Then there are the young girls with no prospects and no hope and no reason to say ‘no’. It’s hard to remember to take your pill or put on yoru condom when you are drunk or high!
This has lead to called for teenage gilrs to have contraceptive implants - it’s like “must stop the underclasses breeding at ALL costs”
We have a totally unbalanced society now, with a minority of wealthy people, with access to a good education…and a huge underclass, putting a massive strain on education, health and policing.
(and that’s the agnostic’s view
)
When I shared my joy with some devoutly Catholic friends they pointed out that by taking this job I may be committing sin. You see, this internship allows me to be part of a research team for the pilot studies of male contraceptives. I wouldn’t be creating anything, it’s simply just gathering information and such. Any thoughts or anything in church doctrines that says I’m (not) committing sin?
