Struggling with Contraception

[Xanthippe_Voorhees]

That makes me so sad. What awful things to say to and in front of children. Children aren’t idiots and they aren’t deaf - they know when an adult is talking about them. And, nevermind that every time the mother has a child she is lining the doctor’s pockets - why the sour opinion?

This is why I stick with midwives. They’re generally more open to life and love all babies and children, at least the ones I’ve interacted with.

It was a GP not an OB. Where I am GP’s do not handle pregnancy, and may not handle pediatrics, so they have no interest in women having babies. We actually have a wonderful OB/midwife practice for babies but their office dosn’t have GP care.

 

[petra22]

Wow, that makes me sad… I was #4… and happy to be…

 

[Tiago92]

I was responding to ChunkMonk… Who said that I “expressed disbelief that contraception its a mortal sin”

Thank you Xanthippe_Voorhees, for your kinds words!! We will be studying NFP and trying to live a godly life…

 

[JimG]

Four kids who will be contributing to his social security pension!

 

[petra22]

LittleWay16, I just wanted you to know that I did jump to conclusions and I apologize… I’ll try to read more carefully…

 

[catholicmama]

As a new convert to Catholicism, and a mom with a history of pre-term births and birth complications, I can tell you that I struggled with this topic the most myself while in the process of discerning my call to the Catholic faith. I was 100% on board with everything else, but this was a hard one because having another child could have serious repercussions for both me and my unborn child. I prayed and prayed and posted on CA forum (I have been a member since 2012 but had to set up a new account) and considered the responses I received. I have a deep faith in God as well as in the truth of the Catholic Church, but I still needed to hear it in just the right way that my head AND heart could both comprehend and accept. By chance I came across a great book called “Something Other Than God”, by Jennifer Fulwiler, which is a really amazing, intelligent, and thought-provoking autobiographical account of the conversion of a well-educated and determined atheist young woman/mother to Roman Catholicism. Her story and struggle very much centered around the themes of contraception, right-to-life, and “women’s rights” as they are viewed by the Catholic Church, and I strongly suggest reading it… it made all the difference in the world to me, and after I read it the last wisps of doubt were blown away and I felt such a strong, comforting joy when I finally understood something I was so wrong about for most of my life. If you are struggling with the contraception issue, I strongly recommend reading Jennifer Fulwiler’s story, as it may answer some of your concerns, fears, etc. in a far more powerful and helpful way than the overwhelming amount of advice on CA forums (no offense at all to the forums, I just know first-hand that as someone who was not-yet Catholic, it can be a bit intimidating). God bless you, and may you find peace and the answers that you seek.

 

[LoveTLM]

I second this suggestion. Jennifer Fulwiler has a knack for explaining many of the current social issues in a clear and charitable way. Her book is fantastic and well worth the read.

 

[runningdude]

Please understand, using a condom is NOT equivalent to “murder or rape”!

Contraception causes spiritual harm. Evangelicals do not escape this harm; they are merely ignorant of it. The fruits of unchaste behavior (of which condom use is but one element) are broken hearts, divorce, broken families, prostitution, and ultimately abortion. Any one act against Chastity is not equivalent to any or all of the consequences, but hardens one’s heart, making it easier to accept (or more difficult to refuse) the choices that unchaste behavior forces.

Chastity is putting love first in all things physical; a lack of Chastity leads to selfishness and destruction.

 

[ATraveller]

True. There’s a prominent Southern Baptist leader who’s view on contraception is less than positive. Despite being against the Papacy, he found Humanae Vitae to be beneficial to Evangelicals too if they bothered reading it.
After being on CAF and lurking before joining and reading the arguments, my view on contraception has shifted towards the Catholic position, which was the view of all Christian denominations prior to 1930.

 

[ajourney]

I came across this article about contraception yesterday and was happy that the teen pregnancy rate is declining. Having taught high school for 34 years, I saw, first hand, the results of not teaching sexually active teens about ABC. I would much rather see these young people using ABC than in line to obtain an abortion.

Teen births have plummeted 51 percent over the past decade

The data shows a massive, little-noticed public health victory.

www.vox.com

 

[ChunkMonk]

Both will send them to Hell, so it seems strange to pick one as “better”

 

[ATraveller]

http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/new...ies-fall-after-cuts-to-birth-control-budgets/

 

[Vonsalza]

http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/new...ies-fall-after-cuts-to-birth-control-budgets/

Similarly, Murder rates also increase with ice cream sales.

Now, they don’t have a thing to do with one another, directly. The driver for both is summer weather.

Correlation vs Causation. There be a difference.

Drop In Teen Pregnancies Is Due To More Contraceptives, Not Less Sex

 

[ATraveller]

The study cited in the Catholic Herald link:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167629617304551

So no, it’s not just a mere correlation. They found the results to be statistically significant.

The NPR study received funding from Guttmacher Institute so that may raise suspicions.
In the NPR article:

The downturn in teen births actually dates back to the early 1990s, the authors say, with the rate dropping by 57 percent between 1991 and 2013. The increase in contraceptive use dates to the mid-1990s, with the use of any contraceptive at the most recent sexual encounter rising from 66 to 86 percent from 1995 to 2012.

Something else was driving the decline prior to the increase in contraceptive use.

Also, should we encourage teens to have sex? Should we not care about the psychological effects? No one ever talks about those. Social effects are important too.
Should we allow more hormones to enter the environment? We should protect the environment by flooding ecosystems with hormones in addition to the estrogen-mimicking compounds due to plastics use sounds unhelpful.

 

[Vonsalza]

The study cited in the Catholic Herald link:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167629617304551
So no, it’s not just a mere correlation. They found the results to be statistically significant.

The NPR study received funding from Guttmacher Institute so that may raise suspicions.
In the NPR article:

The downturn in teen births actually dates back to the early 1990s, the authors say, with the rate dropping by 57 percent between 1991 and 2013. The increase in contraceptive use dates to the mid-1990s, with the use of any contraceptive at the most recent sexual encounter rising from 66 to 86 percent from 1995 to 2012.

Put your guns away. I was just making sure our beloved readers knew that causality and correlation can look the same, but are actually very different.

Kids are kids and most learn (somehow) that sex feels good.

I’m saying that most think-tanks that don’t have a religious dog in the fight do produce pretty convincing studies showing a causal relationship between the availability of birth control and reductions in teenage pregnancy, for good or bad.

 

[Rau]

I’m saying that most think-tanks that don’t have a religious dog in the fight do produce pretty convincing studies showing a causal relationship between the availability of birth control and reductions in teenage pregnancy, for good or bad.

Given sex is widely regarded as highly desirable, it would be surprising if simple, widely available and generally effective means to prevent pregnancy did not have that effect, particularly among person with no business having children and who would perceive a great deal of negative consequences from doing so.

 

[ATraveller]

I don’t think that’s necessarily true about these think-tanks. It appears they believe people should do whatever they please and the consequences should be minimised. It appears instant gratification and ‘non-judgementalism’ is their religion.
This quote is worrying:

Ann Furedi, chief executive of BPAS, said: Our data shows that women cannot control their fertility through contraception alone, even when they are using some of the most effective methods.

"Family planning is contraception and abortion.

“Abortion is birth control that women need when their regular method lets them down.”
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-40520235

And because of that they fail to see the unforeseen consequences.
If the negative relationship between contraceptive use and pregnancy rates is true, such contraceptives don’t prevent the spread STDs. With that is the possibility of accelerating the ability of pathogens to become drug resistant. These same activists will tell people to use condoms but the fact is most still won’t because many will say it won’t maximize pleasure for them. They also break.
Researchers will develop a new drug, which will work for a period of time before the pathogen of interest becomes resistant. There are already concerns right now about HIV, though that shouldn’t be a surprise given the nature of its unstable genome. With that are the economic costs of the development and treating people. It’s very myopic for think tanks and policymakers to focus only on pregnancy, when we should go at the root of the problem, which is different matter.
It goes to show that contraception, the sacrament of the West today, isn’t some miracle drug to society’s problems. In fact it creates new ones. And this is in addition to its effect on encouraging promiscuity and adultery.