Menopause as contraception

[sergius89]

Does a woman who accelerates her hormones to trigger menopause commit the sin of contraception?

 

[TheRealJuliane]

I have no idea how this would even be possible. If a woman has a hysterectomy, and oophorectomy, she LOSES the ability to produce estrogen and has to supplement with artificial hormones. Is that what you mean?

You cannot “accelerate” your hormones because menopause is a depletion of hormones. No one does this for contraception. Other things change in a woman’s body during menopause, it would never be a good idea to try and go into menopause early.

 

[1ke]

Does a woman who accelerates her hormones to trigger menopause commit the sin of contraception?

I don’t believe this is possible. One could have a complete or partial hysterectomy, if done specifically to prevent pregnancy then that is sterilization. Still a sin, however.

Any action one takes before, during, or after the marital embrace to render it sterile is contraception. So, yes, if one could hypothetically do what you propose for the purpose of avoiding conception, then it would a contraceptive act.

 

[juno24]

There are a few drugs which can have the effect of bringing on early menopause. My sister has severe endometriosis and some other reproductive organ issues for which she was taking one of those drugs (I don’t remember which drug, specifically). One effect of taking the drug was that she went into early menopause. She was not taking it in order to bring on menopause, but it was a side effect of the drug.
If one took these drugs with the specific intent to bring on menopause in order never to have children, then I suppose that would be sinful. But it would not be if it was to treat an illness and the side effect was sterility/menopause. I cannot imagine any doctor prescribing these medications as a form of contraception, though. My sister went through hell while on the medicine.

 

[Allegra]

That would only be the most unhealthy method of birth control ever! Why would somebody do that to themself? Why would any doctor allow it when there are much safer methods of birth control available? Yes, it would be sinful to take such drugs for the purpose of contraception. The doctor who would perscribe such a treatment for a purpose such as contraception should lose his or her license!

 

[SonCatcher]

Both Sarah and St. Elizabeth conceived after they had already passed menopause, so they would still have to be “open to life,” as ridiculously unlikely as it may be.

 

[EasterJoy]

If a married person were to undergo a procedure, take a medication, or use a device for the real and primary purpose of evading the natural likelihood that procreation will accompany the marital act, that is wrong, whether the effect is temporarily or permanent. (It is not wrong for a non-complicit spouse to engage in marital relations with a contracepting spouse.) It is permissible to engage in marital relations after repenting of this, but a person would be guilty of the sin of presumption if he or she were to be sterilized with the “plan of repentance”.

If a married person chooses or accepts a procedure, medication, or device as treatment other symptoms that interrupts or ends the person’s fertility as a side effect, that is permissible, provided that the symptom being treated is not trivial and an equally suitable treatment without that side effect is not readily available.