Confronting the Contraceptive Culture

CONFRONTING THE CONTRACEPTIVE CULTURE

“A COMPREHENSIVE PRO-LIFE

CHECKMATE STRATEGY”

by Fr. Jim Whalen

2000, Issue 3

The issue of a CONTRACEPTIVE CULTURE provokes different reactions among parents, doctors, public authorities, and whole nations. It implies that a couple has not only the means to separate intercourse from procreation, but the right or responsibility as well. Its purpose is to allow contracepting partners to enjoy the pleasures of sex without fear that their activity will lead to the procreation of another human person.

A conspiracy of silence

There is first of all a conspiracy of silence regarding contraception from the fearful be they parents, young adults, youth or pastors. There is a fear of listening to the truth for it may mean changing ways of thinking and ways of acting. There is a fear of teaching or preaching the truth for it may mean being rejected or persecuted. There is a fear of witnessing to the truth for it is sometimes controversial or complicated. There is a fear of living the truth for it is not politically correct, and leads to marginalization or isolation. There is even a pathological fear of parenthood. There is a fear of offending the sensitivities of men or women, friends, neighbours or parishioners but strangely enough, not of offending God.

A contraception deception

There is secondly a massive acceptance of falsehood, half-truths or secular views regarding artificial contraceptive means for they are endlessly promulgated in advertising campaigns by governments, anti-life organizations, (e.g.: IPPF), and in the media, as safe and available. They are erroneously promoted as instant solutions for recreational sex, pleasure without consequences. They are presented as the answer to world overpopulation, a myth advocated by national and international groups such as Planned Parenthood Federations. They are even offered as part of financial aid packages to third world countries, stipulating mandatory sterilization or birth control quotas. (e.g.: World Bank loans; China’s one child per family policy). Many are ignorant of the whole truth or misinformed about contraceptive abortifacients, their harmful and even life threatening effects, being swayed by various superficial arguments, by personal preferences or circumstances” (Situational Ethics).

There is thirdly a strong opposition to the contraceptive culture by those who faithfully follow The Teaching Magesterium of the Catholic Church. This is evident in such Pro-Life groups as Priests for Life, Canada, Human Life International and One More Soul. They adhere to Catholic Church Teachings: documents about choosing life at all stages from conception to natural death, about rejecting contraception, abortion, sterilization, euthanasia and assisted suicide; about promoting Generosity, Chastity and Natural Family Planning and Adoption.

Why this eclipse of reason and faith?

How can thinking people forget that conception of a new life depends on the activity of God and parents and that God’s role is decisive? How can practicing Catholics ignore responsible parenthood and accept the error of Consequentialism: the end justifies the means? How can the teaching of dissenting theologians, who foster Moral Relativism regarding marriage be allowed to continue in some seminaries when they repeatedly contradict the doctrines and Teaching magesterium of the Church? How can married couples and other believers disobey God’s natural and moral laws regarding procreation, unity and mutual love and claim it is for the good of society? How can Catholics and Catholic Organizations support organizations or movements that include in their agenda ambiguous goals and demands directly opposed to essential and fundamental Catholic teachings such as defending life from conception to natural death?

A conspiracy of evil

The basic answer is that there is a worldwide evil conspiracy which shows its hidden agenda in contraception: meaning, against the beginning of life, which seeks to annihilate through a culture of death: life, family, truth and faith. To demand rights to contracept, to abort, to sterilize, and to euthanize is the actualizing of evil, to attribute to human freedom, to give absolute control and power over others and against others. There is a need for a face to face confrontation with the contraceptive proponents. There is a need to develop ‘A COMPREHENSIVE PRO-LIFE CHECKMATE STRATEGY’ (see end of this article). This calls for a realistic assessment of enemy strategy and eliminating the contraceptive mentality. Failure to curb dissenting theologians or expose erroneous principles results in misleading and incomplete presentations and interpretations of Magisterial Pro-Life Teachings, which obstruct truth and weaken rather than develop faith. The essentials to build a ‘Culture of Life’ depend on biblical foundations, ethical and moral grounds, and sound principles and doctrines that should be the heart and core of conscience formation.

‘Truth Tactics’ are an essential part of a checkmate strategy, as present in Scripture, Tradition, and the Teaching Magesterium of the Catholic Church. In Revelation, God’s plan is clear with regard to procreation: “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” (Gen. 1:28). Many today, including those who consider themselves Christians or Catholics, imitate Onan, who offended God by avoiding conception. He had a direct intention of avoiding procreation during the conjugal act. He was punished for his crime of contraception: “He wasted his seed on the ground to avoid contributing offspring.... What he did greatly offended the Lord and the Lord took his life” (Gen. 38: 9-10). God’s will is a fruitful womb: “Shall I who allow her to conceive, close her womb? says your God” (Is 66:9). A great progeny of children is a special blessing to married couples, a reward to the faithful: “I will make you exceedingly fruitful and will make nations of you” (Gen. 17:16). Contraception is a violation of procreation, a self-seeking pleasure, an immoral act which defiles and divorces the sacred meanings of the conjugal act in matrimony: the procreative meaning, and the unitive meaning. It seeks to separate the life-giving act and the love-giving act. “The body is not meant for immorality but for the Lord and the Lord for the body” (1 Cor 6:13). To deny or question Scriptural teachings against birth control is to refuse obedience to God’s revealed natural and supernatural truths. To interpret them as not applicable is to deny objective or absolute truths and fall into humanism, relativism, or subjectivism.

Key questions

Do we choose to live a lie, or the Truth? Is the Church’s teaching about Contraception too much for us? It need not be if we remember Jesus continues to speak to us through the Scriptures, and through the Magisterial Teachings of the Church He founded. His Vicar General, Pope John Paul II, continues to guide and instruct us. God is still in charge of creation and procreation. Jesus is alive. He is present in His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in the Blessed Sacrament in our tabernacles in our Catholic Churches. He is also present in His Living Word in Scripture, in the Sacraments and where two or three are gathered in His name. He comes to us as our Daily Bread in the Holy Eucharist at Communion. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The Holy Spirit continues to sanctify us and reveal the truth to us. The fact is that we cannot be Pro-Life and Pro-Contraception. They are mutually exclusive. We are challenged to choose Truth and Life. To be Pro-Life is to be Pro-God, Pro-Family, Pro-Women, Pro-Men and Pro-Church.

Contraceptive calamity broad statistics indicate that:

About 340 million couples in the world now use Contraception/Sterilization, out of about 880 million couples in their fertile years; that rate would be 40%. (Catholic Teachings on Pro-Life Issues, pub. by Humanae Vitae Research Institute, Japan, Fr. Anthony Zimmerman, STD, 1996, p. 4).

Over 60 million people worldwide use the Pill.

One More Soul, an international organization promoting the Catholic Church’s teachings against contraceptives, states that Contraceptives are harmful for they lead to abortion; encourage promiscuity; jeopardize marriages; treat children as a disease; degrade women; have horrific side effects such as breast cancer, blood clots, heart attacks, and have even caused death. According to Dr. Bogomir Kuhar, in ‘Infant Homicides Through Contraceptives’, certain forms of birth control, such as all oral contraceptives, Norplant, Depo-Provera, and IUD’s take an estimated 8.1 to 12.5 million lives each year. Preven, is the latest Morning After Pill, a chemical abortifacient used as an “Emergency Post-coital Contraception”, that prevents ovum implantation.

Contraceptive consequences, as outlined in Humane Vitae, include conjugal infidelity; general lowering of morality; loss of respect for women; erroneous thinking that mankind has unlimited dominion over self; placing a dangerous technological weapon in authoritarian hands that take no heed of moral exigencies (Sec. 17). Pope John Paul II, in Evangelium Vitae, has pointed out that the links between contraception and abortion are increasingly obvious and undeniable: Contraception and Abortion are often closely connected, as fruits of the same tree (Sec. 13). Janet Smith has outlined this truth for us, while recognizing that contraception prevents life from coming to be and abortion takes a life that has already begun, it is a fact that many pro-life movements avoid completely the issue of contraception or are reluctant to deal with it, or make a connection between contraception and abortion. The fact that some contraceptives are abortifacients should be sufficient reason to get on board with rejecting the life-styles and attitudes that contraception promotes including an alleged need for abortion.

New perspectives

Dr. Donald DeMarco, states that the ‘Contraception Mentality’ contained the seeds of the ‘Abortion Mentality’. He outlines four morally revolutionary events that prepared the ground for public acceptance of Abortion:

1 rethinking of traditional views of sexual morality

2 the rise of feminism

3 recognition of the hazards of the pill

4 perceived population explosion

Contraception is unquestionably the primary, major factor, if not the direct and primary cause of family breakdowns according to Rev Paul Marx, O.S.B., founder of Human Life International (From Contraception to Abortion, Homiletic Pastoral Review, Feb., 1983, pp. 8-13).

The fact is, that many dissent from Humanae Vitae. This includes people from all walks of life.

Janet Smith tells us in her video: ‘Contraception: Why Not?’, That only 37-45% of priests support Catholic Teachings regarding contraception as contained in Humanae Vitae.

Statistics taken in Canada in 1993, show that 91% of Catholics approved of contraception (Macleans Magazine, April 12, 1993).

In the United States, 89% of young people rejected the Church’s teaching against contraception (CNN Pole released August 1993, during the Visitation of Denver by Pope John Paul II).

In 1960, before the Pill came on the scene in the US, there were 393,000 divorces. After 15 years of Pill usage, in 1975 there were 1,026,800 divorces... an explosion of 260%.

Culture of death business

The prime advocates of contraception include Planned Parenthood Federation.

In 1997-1998, they earned $60 million from the sale of Birth Control Pills with a profit of $45 million. They made $20.9 million profit from surgical abortions, which were carried out in their own abortion mills.

In the last 11 years, they received support of $1.634 billion and made a profit of $212.3 million (The Ryan Report, February 1999).

The intent of their involvement in a contraceptive conspiracy is evident in their proposal to The Human Right to Family Planning (1984): “10 year olds should have the right to contraception”.

Enough is enough. We have witnessed to prevention of life, to attacks on the unborn and the human person at all stages of life; the failure of authorities to act decisively against contraception; the multiplication of misleading and erroneous statements about contraception; the watering down and compromising of truth about contraception; the passing of laws void of morals and rejecting God’s law.

Contraception is anti-life

Msgr. Vincent Foy summarises it well: ‘The primal evil of contraception is ‘Anti-God’. It puts up a barrier against God’s creative will, a horrendous crime when seen in all its implications in time and eternity. It is ‘Anti-Church’ for it is against Church unity and results in mass immorality and mass weakening of the faith...; It is ‘Anti-Society’ for it diminishes the level of love in society and increases the level of selfishness and lust; It is ‘Anti-Family’ for it makes a lie of the marriage covenant, replacing self-giving love with the hate of marital abuse. It is ‘Anti-Spousal’ for it promotes mutual abuse and violates the conscience and person...; It is ‘Anti-Self’ for it creates selfish and exploitive persons’. (from Humanae Vitae To Veritatis Splendor, produced by St Joseph’s Workers for Life & Family, Msgr Vincent Foy, March, 1994, pp. 15-18).

New Perspectives on Contraception, published by One More Soul, Dr. Donald De Marco, 1999, pp. 69-70.

One More Soul, 1846 North Main Street, Dayton, Ohio 45405, 1-800-307-7685 or (937) 279-5433