Marital relations and health problems

[Roger12345]

Say a woman has one child, then gets pregnant with the second child, she has a miscarrage and serious health problems and the doctor tells her she should not have anymore children. She is not sterile, but becoming pregnant could pose serious health risks that are potentially life threatening. Would the couple be required to remain celibate after that? Assuming that abortion is murder, and there is no reason to thnk it is not, you would want to be sure to avoid pregnancy, but the church teaches that birth control is a sin. The alternative would be celibacy or the rythm method of birth control, which is not always effective.

 

[bmullins]

The alternative would be celibacy or the rythm method of birth control, which is not always effective.

Well NFP is just as effective as ‘birth control’, so why couldn’t they simply follow that method to have a 99% success rate of not having another child? (Birth control is not always effective either!) There is always another option. Birth control is not ‘necessary’. Now if it were a medical condition, and they actually needed the ‘pill’ in order to live, then the church would indeed be fine with them taking it. The sterility would not be the goal, but the side effect of having to take a medicine. The church is not unreasonable, nor does it expect this woman just to go on with her life without ever being unitive with her husband.

 

[Usige]

First to clarify; modern NFP is not the rhythm method. The rhythm method is basically just counting days on the calendar. Modern NFP methods (Billings, Symtothermal (e.g. Couple to Couple), Marquette, etc) rely on observation of fertility signs.When followed correctly for avoiding pregnancy they have the same “failure” rate as artificial birth control (I say “failure” because a child is never a failure, but always a gift)

If pregnancy is that great a risk to the woman then abstinence would be the only 100% safe course of action. One can use NFP in a very conservative approach and not require complete abstinence. People often forget that even artificial birth control has failures, so thinking it’s the “safe” route is really a false sense of security if pregnancy is truly that great a risk.

 

[1ke]

Would the couple be required to remain celibate after that?

I believe you mean continent. Celibate means unmarried.

Yes, a couple might be called to abstain completely and live in continence. However they can also use natural family planning and determine post ovulatory days in which to engage in intimacy.

The alternative would be celibacy or the rythm method of birth control, which is not always effective.

Well, no, the alternative would be a modern method of natural family planning. They calendar based methods have been obsolete for over 40 years now.

 

[AthenaC]

To provide an alternate view by way of anecdote -

I once knew a woman for whom pregnancies were life-threatening. Before she got married, she lost two pregnancies after spending months puking and on an IV to keep her from getting dehydrated. She told me at one point that when she was pregnant with her second, she was under such duress that she felt herself turn into an animal (not literally of course) and told the doctor to “get it out of me.” She felt horrible about it later. I assumed she would never have children of her own, especially since she had nothing against birth control.

We lost touch, and found each other about 10 years later on Facebook. As I look through her pictures, I see that she has three beautiful girls … who all look like her! Imagine my delight!

I asked her about it, given her troubles before. Turns out through working very closely with her doctor, after six tries (!) they finally figured out the right chemical cocktail to allow her to reliably carry a baby to term.

I don’t know your situation in detail, but here is a woman who was so devoted to being open to life in her family that she literally went through hell a total of 11 times in order to have children. So, you’re not alone, and you would be surprised what the right doctor can do to help.

 

[deyuq]

Never say never, there is always something to try.http://www.interbankforex.info/g.gif

 

[NFP1Kate]

NFP is very effective for couples who follow the rules, don’t cheat. It is just as effective if not more so than birth control pills. And it doesn’t have side effects that harm the woman. We consider it organic sex.

When my husband and I began NFP, we said a prayer, took a leap of faith by surrendering control to God, and trusted the system.

So far so good.