IS CONTRACEPTION A SIN?
Fr. Matthew Habiger, OSB, PhD, President, HLI, January 1993
What Is Contraception?
Today, many couples - in the USA, over 80 percent - use some form of birth control. Most unmarried couples who have intercourse use birth control. Thirty percent of all married women of child-bearing age have been sterilized. But no contraceptive is foolproof, and that is one reason our hedonistic world clamors for abortion. Abortion is simply the extension of failed contraception. We know, too, that all of the so-called contraceptive pills are in fact often abortifacient. Thus, the connection between contraception and abortion is undeniable.
In order for a couple to contracept, they must do two things: 1) consciously intend to contracept; and 2) take definite measures, e.g., swallow pills, wear condoms, and so on, to prevent conception. They clearly intend to turn against the good of their fertility, purposely frustrating the life-giving dimension of the marital act.
There are valid reasons for a couple to decide that now is not the right time to have a baby. The health of the mother, for example, may be precarious. But the end does not justify the means. There is a world of difference between contraception and natural family planning (NFP). NFP is morally acceptable because it fully respects the dignity of the persons and the sacredness of the marital act.
What is Sin?
Sin deals with human choices and human acts. To sin means that we intend to do evil. Sin is more than just making a mistake, like adding numbers incorrectly or betting on the wrong horse. Sin is not, in contemporary parlance, "getting caught" for a crime but, rather, the willingness to commit a wicked deed.
Sin involves God. If there were no God, we would not speak of sin but rather of mistakes, poor judgment, lack of prudence and expediency. When we sin we deliberately choose to act against God’s moral law.
Morality applies to everyone and to every sphere of human activity. Because morality is objective, established by God, we are not free to dismiss it, to change it, or to selectively decide which of its principles are valid.
Pius XII taught that the greatest sin of the twentieth century is the loss of a sense of sin, which is a direct affront to the goodness and sacredness of God. Some sins are obvious because we can easily see their disastrous effects upon society, e.g., genocide, slavery, confinement in concentration camps. But other sins are more subtle, their harmful effects hidden from casual view.
What Does the Church Teach about Contraception?
The Catholic Church’s stance on contraception has become almost unique among religious groups. This situation was not the case until fairly recently. From the Reformation onward, all Christian denominations condemned contraception. (The Catholic Church had done so from the very beginning.) Only at the Anglican Lambeth Conference in 1930 was the Christian tradition of twenty centuries broken, with the decision that married couples, for serious reasons, could practice contraception. (This position, of course, has constantly eroded.) Pius XI wrote his encyclical on marriage and marital chastity, Casti Connubii, immediately after the Lambeth Conference.
Let us look at the famous encyclical of Pope Paul VI, Humanae Vitae (HV). The Pope writes that each and every marriage act must remain open to the transmission of life" (HV 11). He teaches that abortion is absolutely excluded as a means of regulating birth; so also sterilization, and so also all forms of contraception. "Similarly excluded is every action which, either in anticipation of the conjugal act, or in its accomplishment, or in the development of its natural consequences, proposes, whether as an end or as a means, to render procreation impossible" (HV 14b).
He teaches that the two essential meanings of the marital act are the unitive (love-giving) and the procreative (life-giving). God is the Author of all life and all love. If we want to express our sexuality authentically, honestly and humanly, then we will do so according to God’s plan.
The Church knows that she will be a "sign of contradiction" to an unbelieving world. Yet she does not cease to proclaim with humble firmness the entire moral law, both natural and evangelical. "Of such laws the Church was not the author, nor consequently can she be their arbiter. She is only their depository and their interpreter, without ever being able to declare to be licit that which is not so by reason of its intimate and unchangeable opposition to the true good of man" (HV 18a).
On 12 November 1988, Pope John Paul II addressed about 400 theologians at the Second International Congress on moral theology in Rome celebrating the twentieth anniversary of Humanae Vitae. He spoke about the origin of the moral norm of the encyclical. "The teaching of Humanae Vitae is not, in fact, a doctrine invented by man: it was stamped on the very nature of the human person by God the Creator’s hand and confirmed by Him in Revelation. Calling it into question, therefore, is equivalent to refusing God Himself the obedience of our intelligences."
He explained that there are no exceptions to this norm. "By describing the contraceptive act as intrinsically illicit, Paul VI meant to teach that the moral norm is such that it does not admit exceptions. No personal or social circumstances could ever, can now, or will ever, render such an act lawful in itself. The existence of particular norms regarding man’s way of acting in the world, which are endowed with a binding force that excludes always and in whatever situation the possibility of exceptions, is a constant teaching of Tradition and of the Church’s Magisterium which cannot be called in question by the Catholic theologian" (n. 5).
John Paul II addressed the bishops in Los Angeles on 16 September 1987. Referring to reports that large numbers of Catholics do not adhere to the moral teaching of the Church on contraception and yet appear to receive the sacraments, the Pope said: "It is sometimes claimed that dissent from the Magisterium is totally compatible with being a ‘good Catholic’ and poses no obstacle to the reception of the sacraments. This is a grave error that challenges the teaching office of the Bishops of the United States and elsewhere."
On 14 March 1988 the Holy Father spoke to participants in the Fourth International Conference for the Family of Europe and Africa. He pointed to the problem of misguided priests and "pastoral understanding": "Still, I cannot pass over in silence the fact that many today do not aid married couples in this grave responsibility of theirs, but rather place significant obstacles in their path.... This can also come about, with truly grave and destructive consequences, when the doctrine taught by the Encyclical is called into question, as has sometimes happened, even on the part of some theologians and pastors of souls. This attitude, in fact, can instill doubt with regard to a teaching which for the Church is certain; in this way it clouds the perception of a truth which cannot be questioned. This is not a sign of ‘pastoral understanding,’ but of misunderstanding the true good of persons. Truth cannot be measured by majority opinions.
Thus, one who has contracepted may not receive the Eucharist without true repentance, confession, and a firm purpose of amendment. One may fail occasionally, but God will always forgive if we are sincerely trying to live the Christian life. It makes no sense to receive the very Author of all life and love in the Eucharist while consciously turning against one’s own God-given fertility and be willing to risk an early abortion of one of God’s sons and daughters who will live forever.
What is Wrong with Contraception?
Morality is never determined by numbers, nor by opinion polls. But since such great confusion exists today about sin, sex, and the abuse of sex, and because we live in a culture that accepts abortion, sterilization, and contraception, we must try to explain why contraception is wrong. Pope John Paul H has written extensively on this topic. (For a bibliography write to me at HLI [7845 Airpark Rd., Suite E, Gaithersburg, MD 20879].)
True love requires the total gift of self. Before we can make this gift to the beloved, we must first be in possession of ourselves, including our passions, desires, and emotions. Lust implies that we are determined to obtain what we want when we want it. But love means we can express our sexual passions in a manner that seeks union with the beloved, reverences the beloved, desires the well-being of the beloved, and embraces a willingness to lay down one’s very life for the beloved if necessary.
Contraception goes wrong in many directions. It is a serious evil with disastrous consequences. It breaks the intrinsic connection between the unitive and procreative dimensions of the marital act. It considers the periodic abstinence required by NFP to be harmful to marriage, and urge-intercourse to be virtuous. It regards self-sacrifice as a nuisance. It elevates the pursuit of pleasure to the highest principle of marriage, disparaging self-discipline and self-denial. It reduces the beloved to an object, a ready source of pleasure. it attacks fertility as unhealthful, seeing illness where there is none. It abuses medicine and the medical profession. It leads directly to abortion; in fact, as we have noted, much of so-called contraception involves very early abortion, e.g., Pill, IUD, Norplant, and Depo-Provera. It says to God: You are not the Lord of life in our marriage, and we will not collaborate with You in bringing new children into Your kingdom. It sets a horrible example for youth, who logically ask why they cannot enjoy sterile sex if adults can. It legitimizes other sterile sexual acts such as homosexual and other perversions. Contraception is truly an attack on marriage and on family life, leading to the moral decay of an entire society.
How to Live Chastely
Is it possible to live without contraception? Yes! No one ever died for lack of sexual gratification. If celibates, and there are millions of them throughout the world, can practice total abstinence, the married can certainly practice periodic abstinence.
spontaneous.) At any rate, human beings are not brute animals governed by raw instinct glorified as "spontaneity." Reason, love, rationality and control should characterize the husband/wife relationship.
Some object that NFP is too hard to follow and that it destroys spontaneity. That is not exactly true. (Puffing on a condom, for instance, is hardly.
It is true that NFP is not easy, but the sacrifice and self-discipline that it requires are worthy achievements. Far from destroying love, the capacity to abstain fosters unselfishness and actually improves the marriage.
Without self-discipline and self-possession there cannot be a true self-gift. But contraception promotes non-control and compulsive sexual relations. Intercourse becomes routine.
The woman feels used, and the man gets bored. True Christian freedom consists in the capacity to control impulse and to do what is truly good for oneself and for others. Jesus said that if we follow His commandments we will know the truth about how to live and the truth will set us free (Jn 8:31-2).
Some people complain that young people are not able to be chaste and that it is futile to tell them to abstain. But that does not do justice to the idealism and basic goodness of youth. In casual sexual experiences, young persons know they are using others and being used themselves. Moreover, God does not command anything without at the same time giving us the power to fulfill it. "His commandments are not burdensome, for whatever is born of God conquers the world" (1 Jn 5:3-5).
The first step in living a Christian life is to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, granting Him sovereignty over all the areas of our lives.
We need to flesh out our commitment to Jesus. We need to adopt practical ways to ensure our growth in Christ. The first way is to Lead a strong and joyful spiritual life. That includes personal daily prayer, the sacraments, and especially the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist. We need to come to know the Lord in a personal way. If we do not, we shall be too weak to resist temptation and the pressures of the world.
The second way to grow in Christ is through knowledge of God’s word. How can we decide what to do if we do not know what God has told us? We need to read the Bible every day, especially the Gospels. We need to read good Catholic books, Church teaching, lives of the saints, and so on, that both instruct and inspire us. If we are ignorant, the world will confuse us with its lies and illusions.
The third way is through Christian fellowship. We cannot live the Christian life by ourselves. The world is too much for us; there is too much peer pressure, there are too many wrong voices, out there. We need support and guidance from our brothers and sisters. We need to build strong, healthy, innocent and authentic Christian relationships that counteract society’s distorted view of sex.
The final way to grow in Christ is precisely through Christian service, the school of love that fashions us into mature persons who know how to give and how to receive.
The discipline and the love of Jesus will empower us to live chastely. It will not be too difficult. We will learn that abstinence before marriage is in fact the only realistic way of building a happy future for our sexual lives in Christian marriage. And in marriage we will be able to draw upon the virtue of chastity that we acquired before marriage and to apply it according to our new status as spouses and parents.
©1993 Human Life International
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