Christians and Birth Control

All Christian denominations share the belief that sexual intercourse is not a casual act between strangers but an intimate act between a man and a woman in a committed relationship. Before the 1930s all Christian denominations were united in their firm rejection of contraceptives. O’Grady traces the history of the church and artificial birth control, in her article, starting in 1930 when a division between Christian denominations developed over the use of artificial birth control.The Lambeth Conference of the Church of England decided to deviate from the prohibition of artificial contraception, by advocating their use when abstinence was deemed impracticable. In 1931, The Federal Council of Churches adopted the policy of conservative promotion for artificial birth control methods. By 1961, the National Council of Churches declared a liberal policy on contraceptive use, subject to mutual consent between couples.

[1] Protestant denominations including Anglicans, Presbyterians, Reformed, and Episcopalians allow artificial birth control.Most Protestants view birth control within marriage as an acceptable way of regulating the size of one's family. Historically, Orthodox Christians opposed birth control and although some still follow this belief, many hold the position that sexual intercourse also constitutes an expression of love within a marriage and is not limited to procreation. Orthodox and Protestant Churches allow married couples to make their own decisions on contraceptive use.

On the other hand, the Catholic Church remains firm in their opposition to artificial means to birth control because it believes that procreation is an integral part of sexual intercourse. 2] However, many Catholics believe that couples should be responsible for making decisions about birth control. The Catholic belief is based on the Bible which promotes productive childbirth and encourages followers to "be fruitful and multiply" (Gen 1:28). The Bible also discourages birth control, for example in the story of Onan, when he had intercourse, “he spilled his semen on the ground so he wouldn't produce a child.

God was much offended by what he did and took his life” (Gen 38:9-10). [3] This indicates God’s position on sexual intercourse and birth control: the purpose of intercourse is to procreate.The first official objection to artificial birth control methods by the Roman Catholic Church was declared by Pope Pius XI in his 1930 encyclical, Casi Connubii. This view was supported by the 1968 encyclical of Pope Paul VI, Humanae vitae, and remains the present day policy of the church. The Catholic position on contraception is highly influenced by the natural law theory of Aristotle, Augustine, and Aquinas, which deems that sexuality has an end purpose, procreation; to interfere in this end would be a violation of the natural law, and a sin.

The Catholic Church sanctions only the rhythm method and abstinence as suitable techniques for birth control. [4] The rhythm method is the oldest and most widely practiced method of fertility awareness. In a study conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics in 2008, 0. 5% or 309,000 Catholic women reported that they use the rhythm method. [5] Early in the twentieth century, the rhythm method was promoted by the Catholic Church as the only morally acceptable form of family planning.

In the 1920s, it was discovered that for a woman with regular cycles, ovulation usually occurs the 14th day from the first day of her menstrual period. Based on this knowledge, a couple can calculate the best times to have intercourse in order to achieve or avoid pregnancy. The rhythm method is based on three assumptions: that ovulation occurs 14 days before the beginning of menstruation, plus or minus 2 days, that sperm survives up to 3 days outside the body, and that the ovum survives for 24 hours. 6] However, one problem with the rhythm method is that most women do not ovulate at the same time every month, and each menstrual cycle varies from previous cycles. A study conducted by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences found that even though clinical guidelines assume the average woman is fertile between days 10 and 17 of her menstrual cycle, only 30% of the women studied had their window of fertility fall entirely within that time period.

Even women with reportedly regular cycles had a 10% chance of being fertile on any given day of their cycle between days six and twenty-one.As a result the average failure rate for the rhythm method is between 13-20%. [7] For this reason, the rhythm method is not very effective unless a menstrual cycle lasts the same number of days each month. Another issue with the rhythm method is that participants found it inhibited the expression of affection between couples. Faithful Catholics, who sought to limit their families by practicing rhythm, found this method to be unreliable, frustrating, and often resulted in numerous unplanned pregnancies, the elimination of marital affection and created tension within the marriage.

8] Many Catholics find that despite encouragement and support for the rhythm method by the Catholic Church the method is unreliable and an ineffective form of contraception. Sexual abstinence is practiced in every country in the world and is the only 100% effective method of preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Abstinence, or the action of refraining from sexual activity, has been used for centuries in order to prevent unwanted pregnancies. [9] In 2008, a study conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics found 0.

% or 62,000 Catholic women practiced sexual abstinence. [10] Sue Widemark, a devoted catholic writer, believes that abstinence promotes real relationships to develop between men and women, for sex is seductive and when couples go to the bedroom they stop developing their friendship, which is necessary for a successful relationship. [11] According to Bishop Robert F. Vasa, Catholics who commit sins of impurity and fail to live chastely, become self-centered, arrogant, and focused on their own needs over others.

The Bishop also believes that unmarried Catholics should practice abstinence because God’s design is that sex belongs in marriage. [12] Abstinence is impractical in modern society, where sex has become a fundamental part of modern culture. In 2002, the National Survey of Family Growth asked 40,000 people, ages 15-44, about their sexual behaviour and found that 95% of participants had premarital sex. [13] According to Judith Levine, author and civil libertarian, abstinence is “impractical, useless, negative, and ideological.

[14] She believes by teaching and advocating abstinence, the individual’s sexuality is ignored, leaving the individual to learn about their sexuality on their own, by trial and error. Levine feels that, it would be more beneficial for individuals to be taught that an intimate sexual relationship is a positive component of healthy maturation, rather than negative behaviour outside marriage; for this leaves individuals uneducated about pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. 15] Statistics Canada found that in 2007, 60% of teenage women and 70% of teenage men were sexually active by the age of 18. They also discovered that the rate of teenage pregnancy was 42. 7 pregnancies per 1,000 women aged 15 to 19, and of these pregnancies 75% were unintended. [16] By educating young adults on sexual education and contraception the rate of teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases will decrease.

Catholics against artificial contraception have many reasons for their viewpoints.For instance, in May’s article, he refers to Dr. Robert MacDonald, a physician, psychotherapist, and ordained Catholic deacon, who argues that when couples use contraception the husband’s focus shifts from giving himself to his wife to pursuing his own pleasure and he begins to treat her as a sexual object and look for more sources, such as pornography, to stimulate his desires. Consequently, according to MacDonald these actions lead to spouses becoming alienated from each other, frustrated, angry, and most likely to commit adultery. 17] Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo and Bishop Elio Sgreccia believe that the birth control pill encourages promiscuous sexual behaviour. They also believe that contraception has overwhelmed many young people and has altered many responsible relationships by falsifying their mutual self-giving.

[18] On the other hand, Mary Daly, a well-known feminist philosopher and theologian points out the inconsistencies of what the church says and their policies. For instance, in Pope Paul’s 1966 address on the use of artificial birth control, he also spoke on equality rights.Daly states that “this is problematic as how can society have equal rights when the church prohibits the use of birth control-the means necessary to free women from unwanted and excessively numerous pregnancies? ”[19] Daly also argues that the church’s ban on birth control causes women to be “enslaved to their species, instruments of reproduction. ”[20] She believes access to birth control is crucial if women are to “transcend their situation”[21] In other words, Daly implies that birth control gives women the liberation to choose when or if they have children.Despite the Catholic prohibition on the use of birth control, many faithful Catholics use some form of artificial contraception.

A study by Tablet magazine in 2008 found that 96% of sexually active Catholic women had used some form of birth control, other than the rhythm method at some point in their lives. Additionally, they found that out of 1500 participants interviewed, 88% of male and female Catholics felt that the official doctrine of the Catholic Church should allow the use of artificial contraception.Participants of the survey stated that even though the Catholic Church forbids the use of artificial contraception, they believe that you could use artificial birth control and still be a “Good Catholic. ”[22] Despite the fact that the church may influence some decisions made by Catholic couples, they do not control all decisions made by them. The solution is to allow individual couples the right to decide their use of contraception. ----------------------- [1] Kathleen O’Grady, “Contraception and religion: A short history,” Ottawa: Institute of Women’s Studies: University of Ottawa, (1997): 4.

ttp://www. mum. org/contrace. htm (accessed March 18, 2011). [2] Melody Covington, & Micheal Covington, “What Christianity is All About? ,” Athens: Covington Innovations (2010): 3.

http://www. covingtoninnovations. com/christian. html (accessed March 21, 2011). [3] Colby Colson, et al. , The Apologetics Study Bible, (Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers, 2007), 63.

[4] Kathleen O’Grady, “Contraception and religion: A short history,” Ottawa: Institute of Women’s Studies, University of Ottawa (1997): 2. http://www. mum. org/contrace. htm (accessed March 18, 2011).

5] Current Medical Research. “Natural Family Planning,” Current Medical Research 21, no. 2 (Winter 2010): 2-4, http://www. usccb. org/prolife/issues/nfp/CMRWinterSpring201formatted.

pdf (accessed March 21, 2011). [6] Ajay Jain, “Fertility Awareness Methods: Calendar Rhythm Method,” Los Angeles, CA: DeepHealth Network (2011): 1. http://www. contracept. org/rhythm. php (accessed March 18, 2011).

[7] Sarah Yang, “Modern Rhythm: Finding ‘Safe’ Sex Days,” MedicineNet (2011): 1. http://www. medicinenet. com/script/main/art. asp? articlekey=51269 (accessed March 23, 2011).

8] Charles E Rice, “Contraception and Catholicism,” Front Royal, VA: Christendom Publications (1983): 4. [9] David Knox, & Caroline Schacht “Choices in Relationships:An Introduction to Marriage and the Family,” Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning (2009);279. [10] Current Medical Research.

“Natural Family Planning,” Current Medical Research 21, no. 2 (Winter 2010): 2-4, http://www. usccb. org/prolife/issues/nfp/CMRWinterSpring201formatted. pdf (accessed March 21, 2011). [11] Sue Widemark, “Artificial Contraception-A 1996 Revisit,” Catholic Information Network (2010): 2.

http://www. cin. org/con96rev. tml (accessed March 21, 2011). [12] Bishop Robert F. Vasa, “Bishops urge: Live Chastely,” National Catholic Reporter, February 18 2011, 4.

[13] Sharon Jayson, “Most Americans have had premarital se, study finds,” USA Today, December 19, 2006, 3. [14] Judith Levine and Joycelyn M. Elders, Harmful to Minors: The Perils of Protecting Children from Sex (Rochester: University of Minnesota Press, 2002), 126. [15] Ibid. [16] Heather Dryburgh, “Teenage Pregnancy,” Statistics Canada: Health Reports, vol. 12.

1 (2007), 4. [17] William E. May, “Contraception Again, A New and Interesting Account,” The Culture of Life Foundation. 2011): http://www. lifeissues.

net/writers/may/may_39contraceptionagain. html (accessed March 18, 2011). [18] Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, & Bishop Elio Sgreccia, “Truth and the Meaning of Human Sexuality” Manassas: Catholic Information Network, (1997): 1-2. http://www. cin.

org/truemean. html (accessed March 21, 2011). [19] Mary Daly, The Church and the Second Sex, (Boston: Beacon Press, 1985), 64-122. [20] Ibid.

[21] Ibid [22] BBC Religions “Contraception,” BBC Religions, (2009): 1. http://www. bbc. co. uk/religion/religions/christianity/christianethics/contraception_1.

shtml (accessed March 23, 2011)