Question: Does the Catholic faith view birth control as optional or completely discourage it? Are condoms, pills, IUD’s, permanent (tying of tubes, vasectomy) procedures all shunned? If so, why? Does it have to do with Catholicism believing Christians need to populate the Earth? Why aren’t there huge Catholic families anymore if birth control is forbidden?
Answer:
Birth control. It’s like you say that word and everyone brings out their boxing gloves. Hostile topic, for sure. For people who don’t understand Catholics, the view is that the Church is all up in our sex lives and lording over them…and that Catholics just have all the babies forever and ever, amen.
And for people who use birth control, they typically think that Catholics will (hiss, hiss) throw up their hands to form a cross and start backing away.
So, what’s the story?
First, yes, the Catholic Church is against any form of birth control. Now, before you go off scoffing at the “out-dated” church, take a moment to hear the reasons. They’re good reasons and I can’t list them all here because it’s a really long list, but it all boils down to human dignity and love and almost nothing to do with populating the Earth. Though, if you are the ones having all the babies because you are open to life and don’t believe in abortion, well, then I guess you contribute to populating the Earth.
- The reproductive system is truly fascinating. I wish in my high school health class, I had learned about my body and all the ways it communicates to me about my fertility and my cycle. Instead, I was told that birth control is the way to go and “just stay safe.” Instead of teaching us the wonder and amazement of our bodies, most people are completely naive and ignorant when it comes to understanding our reproductive system. Sure, we all know that you put a man and woman together, they get busy, and a baby could be the outcome. But, that’s just surface level stuff. Our bodies operate with a rhythm (Oh my! She just said rhythm! How outdated can you be!) that does exactly what it is supposed to do. When we take birth control we are trying to stop what happens naturally. When, in any other situation, do we do this? We would never take a pill that makes us blind or causes us to lose our hearing. We would never insert a device into ourselves in order to stop our heart from working normally or our liver from doing what it does. But, we do with our reproductive system. We are stopping a perfectly healthy system from performing as it is designed to perform. We see commercials all the time of lawyers looking to make a buck off of people who have been injured by some form of birth control. I, myself, had extreme life-threatening reactions to birth control pills. I’ve known men that after having a vasectomy can’t perform anymore because of damage. None of this would happen if we let our bodies perform as they are intended. Our country is obsessed with what we eat and if it’s organic or not, but we have no qualms about putting artificial hormones and devices in our bodies. The Church recognizes the dangers associated with these different preventive measures and desires all people to be as healthy and well as possible.
- Obviously, the Catholic Church wants sex to only be within marriage, so if that needs discussing we will leave it for another time. The Church believes sex has two purposes: Bonding and babies. In marriage, we promise to give our all to our spouse. We promise to give them everything we have, but when we use birth control, we hold back a part of us. We say, “I’m willing to give you most of me, but not all of me.” If there is a barrier between us, then we are not giving all. Unfortunately, in our culture, we want the bonding/pleasure part of sex, but not the baby part. Can you imagine if your husband flipped that around on you? “Honey, I don’t really want to have sex with you in order to bond, I want to have sex with you to make a baby. I’m gonna hold back on the bonding part and let’s just make this as mechanical as possible to get the achieved result.” I don’t know about you, but I would be crushed beyond words if my husband said that to me. The Church believes that each marital act should be open to the possibility of life. “WHOA! HOLD ON, LITTLE DARLIN’! I’M NOT ABOUT TO HAVE 20 BABIES.” The Church doesn’t ask that of you. It asks that you are open to life if you are blessed with it. The Church asks that you prayerfully discern the size of your family. There are no Church soldiers knocking on doors to make sure that you are having a baby every time you turn around. There is no set number of kids every Catholic family is supposed to have. The Church understands that not all couples are called to have super large families. There may be serious reasons not to have more children: Health issues, financial issues, marital issues. Often times we turn things into negatives that are real positives. Our culture has turned the Church’s stance on birth control into a negative by saying, “The Church just wants to control everything and keep women down!” Not true. The Church wants each marriage to see children as the “supreme gift of marriage” and to not close their bodies off to each other in artificial ways.
- Birth control doesn’t solve the problem of having unwanted births. We were told that birth control will free us up, let us decide when it is right to have children–all the perks of sex without the consequences. Except, that’s just not how it’s panned out. How many of us, that have used birth control pills, got pregnant while on the pill? I’m raising my hand if you can’t tell. Nearly every woman I know that has used the pill or is using the pill has gotten pregnant on the pill. The 99.7% effective stat is deceiving.
Just think about it this way, that’s a 0.3% chance you’ll get pregnant each time you do the act, not a 0.3% chance over your whole life. The math on that means that if you do it 10 times, it already drops to 97% effective. After a hundred times, it becomes 74% effective. This means that 1 in 4 women, after only 100 times during a fertile period, will become pregnant. After 1000 times, the pill will be only 5% effective. This is all if the user is using it perfectly. Take away perfect usage and those numbers drop even more significantly. [Upon further research, after several readers challenged these stats, the point I was trying to get across remains. However, I made an unfounded assumption about the data. I thought “99.7% effectiveness stat” was calculated based on the number of times a couple had sex. However, the researchers never take this into account. They only calculate the number of pregnancies that occur in a year while on birth control compared to the number of non-pregnancies that occur over that same year. So, unfortunately, no one that I can find provides the information to actually calculate the effectiveness of contraception for each use during a fertile period. However, we can still say that while the “Pill” can be up to 99.7% effective for one year, over the 30 years (ages 15 to 45) that a woman is fertile, she has a 9% chance of getting pregnant… if she uses it perfectly. And, we know how often that happens… For more sexually active women, this number would increase. So, in summary, the corrected number is closer to 1 in 10, instead of 1 in 4 women will become pregnant while using the Birth Control Pill perfectly.] Unfortunately, the 99.7% stat puts people into a false sense of security. Not to mention that most birth control measures do not prevent STDs. In reality, birth control tries to solve one problem (which isn’t really a problem–babies aren’t problems) and it creates numerous other problems. One of the biggest issues that Pope John Paul II foresaw was that birth control measures could lead to the using of people simply for pleasure. I think you have to look no further than our hook-up culture to see that he was right. If you mostly take away the responsibility that can come from sex, people start to see others as merely an object for pleasure. Now, you could argue that sex is supposed to be fun and pleasurable and that the Church is just being a kill-joy. The Church would agree that sex should be those things and…life giving…and just with your spouse. Love leads to life on so many different levels, doesn’t it?
I could go on and on, but for the sake of time, I can’t. I used to take birth control pills. I started taking them when I was 17 years old. I did it without even thinking about it. It was just what I did because that’s the environment our culture has created. You just do it without asking questions. Those pills left me lying on a restaurant bathroom floor, delirious, foaming at the mouth, and weak. This happened on more than one occasion. Now, my husband and I practice Natural Family Planning and, no, it’s not the rhythm method. It is based on concrete science and is highly effective when used properly. Most people turn their nose down on NFP, but rarely, if ever, have those people researched or inquired about it. It just sounds all Catholicy and therefore it must be awful.
As I started exploring the reasons why the Catholic Church advises not to use birth control, it seemed like a beautiful message. Give your all to your spouse, prayerfully discern the size of your family while making sure you aren’t holding back because of selfish reasons, and don’t hurt your body by stopping it from doing what God intended it to do. You may not agree with this, but remember, the Church is in the business of getting people to heaven. They are interested in holiness, not worldliness. The world often touts one thing, but Christianity follows a narrower path.
So, in conclusion:
- Yes, the Catholic Church is against birth control. But, so were all Christians until the 1930s.
- No, the Church does not kick people out for using birth control.
- The Church does not require you to have as many children as you possibly can until your womb closes shop. They ask that each couple be open to life, welcome all blessings, and pray together about the size of their family. The Church understands that not all are called to have large families. Some couples struggle with infertility, some with miscarriages, and many other issues that most of us aren’t privy to. My family looks like a small Catholic family, but we have suffered through ten miscarriages. You just never know the reasons why a family has fewer children. Also, there are large Catholic families and for the most part, they deal with sneers and snide comments all the time about their choice to have large families. Many people steer clear of having large families because our culture treats them like immature, irresponsible free-loaders. I thought we lived in a country that worshipped at the altar of choice? All except when people chose life, right? Spend some time with a large family; they are some of the most joy-filled, fun-loving, awesome families I’ve ever known.
- Do some Catholics use birth control? Yep. There are lots of Catholics that go against what the Church teaches. That doesn’t mean the Church is wrong. It just means for whatever reason, that person or family has chosen not to follow the teachings of the Church.
- Does this mean that the Church thinks that couples who use birth control don’t really love each other? No, but they do believe that you can take it to an even deeper, more fully sacrificial love.
- Is NFP hard? Yes, it is sometimes, but sometimes what is good for us is not always easy. I have the assurance that I am putting nothing harmful in my body, my husband and I have grown in our ability to communicate, especially with my fertility, and there is never a barrier between us. That brings great peace of mind.
18 responses to “Question and Answer: What’s Up With Catholics and Birth Control?”
The principal goal of the catholic church, has been for almost two thousand years, the expression of secular power throughout the world. It has banned all forms of birth control not for the spiritual reasons of your screed, but because with more adherents there comes more wealth which is translated to greater power. They cover for many, many crimes that the clerics have, and are, committing because of that goal. Millions of little boys and girls have been brutally assaulted for millennia for that goal. Women have died in unimaginable agony for that goal. That is the only thing that matters to the church. If you have not figured that out yet, then I pity you.
Diane, I’m sorry, but you are covering more topics than what is discussed here. You need to stick to the topic. Sexual abuse is a different topic. Could you please show me in the Catholic Catechism where it states that the it’s wrong to use birth control because of wealth or covering up crimes? Not sure where you are getting that. You are being emotional and it’s difficult to argue with emotions, instead of facts. So, when you are interested in sticking to the subject and stating facts, I’ll be happy to discuss. No need for pity, I rest easy with a happy, joyful heart that has done lots of research. But, thanks for your concern.
The Catholic Church teaches that sex should be free, total, faithful, and fruitful.
Free, aka the Church is against rape, abuse, taking advantage, etc.
Total, aka couples give themselves fully and completely to each other (contraceptives hold back the gift of our fertility, therefore it is not a total gift of self.)
Faithful, aka no cheating.
Fruitful, aka open to the possibility of children (again, contraceptives hold that back, therefore it is not a fruitful gift of self.)
That is the Church’s position.
Yes, there is a lot of horrible abuse in the Church’s history. I think now more than ever we’re seeing a call for accountability of our past. Pope Francis has spoken about how clerics are not above the law, and that a broken law is to be dealt with properly, regardless of the perpetrator. My diocese has been very open and honest about the abuse that took place in the past and has gone through literally years of investigation and testimony to ensure that the victims were heard and the perpetrator punished. BUT human sins are not to be taken as what the Church infallibly teaches.
Very well stated, Natalie. Free, total, faithful, and fruitful–beautiful.
Can’t take credit. That’s all PJP2 and Theology of the Body haha
Got this in my inbox this morning from Vatican Media: very topical to your post (from Pope Francis’ discussion with journalists on the flight back from Mexico):
“Question: “For several weeks there has been great concern in many Latin American countries, and also in Europe, regarding the Zika virus. The greatest risk would be for pregnant women. Some authorities have proposed abortion, or avoiding pregnancy. With regard to avoiding pregnancy, on this issue, can the Church take into consideration the concept of ‘the lesser of two evils?’”
Pope Francis: “Abortion is not the lesser of two evils. It is a crime, an absolute evil. On the ‘lesser evil,’ avoiding pregnancy, we speak in terms of a conflict between the fifth and sixth commandments. Paul VI, a great man, in a difficult situation in Africa, permitted nuns to use contraceptives in cases of rape. Do not confuse the evil of avoiding pregnancy by itself, with abortion. … On the other hand, avoiding pregnancy is not an absolute evil. In certain cases, as in this one, or in the one I mentioned of Blessed Paul VI, it was clear. I also urge doctors to do their utmost to find vaccines against … this disease. Work needs to be done on this”.
Thank you for posting Pope Francis’ words.
They’re going to be turned into attractive (to secular audiences) soundbites quickly, so better to get the full text out even quicker.
Oh my gosh, yes. Let the memes and articles about how Pope Francis is changing the Church begin in…3…2…1
Your point about after 1000 times, the pill is only 5% effective is an untrue statement. Percent means of the whole, so you don’t add the percent for each time, you multiply by 1
You are correct that my calculations were incorrect. Thanks for setting me straight. You can see how I corrected my statement above in the blog. However, you are incorrect why I was wrong. I didn’t add 5% each time. You can see my more detailed logic in my reply to Stephanie. Please let me know if this helps.
Why does the pill become less and less effective with each use or “fertility cycle”? If anything, the more it’s used correctly the more successful it is at preventing pregnancies. A citation of the mathematics and decreased effectiveness would be much appreciated.
Also, in underdeveloped countries, following the nature plan is not useful many times. Unlike Western societies where women have a say in when to have sex, it is uncommon for women to have that choice in others. A patriarchal community/society does not permit many choices for women. A great example of this is in Hispanic countries, the man makes all the decisions of the household. In these large cases, birth control gives women choice over her body when her husband wouldn’t give her that choice otherwise.
Why would one (wife) consider not wanting to be pregnant as holding something back from the husband? In a good and loving marriage, both decide when to try for a baby and agree on forms of BC. It would be hurtful to me if my husband got a vasectomy without discussion, just as it wouldn’t be loving of me to go off BC because I wanted a baby.
Finally, what about those that need to be on the pill for various conditions? Some women have such excessive bleeding each month that the best way to reduce that is with BC pills.
Thank you for a great read! Your comments and opinions are appreciated.
“Why does the pill become less and less effective with each use or “fertility cycle”? If anything, the more it’s used correctly the more successful it is at preventing pregnancies. A citation of the mathematics and decreased effectiveness would be much appreciated.”
Dustin did the math, so I’ll let him explain. You can also look here. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/09/14/sunday-review/unplanned-pregnancies.html?_r=0
“Also, in underdeveloped countries, following the nature plan is not useful many times. Unlike Western societies where women have a say in when to have sex, it is uncommon for women to have that choice in others. A patriarchal community/society does not permit many choices for women. A great example of this is in Hispanic countries, the man makes all the decisions of the household. In these large cases, birth control gives women choice over her body when her husband wouldn’t give her that choice otherwise.”
I think that it’s extremely stereotypical to deem Hispanic households this way. Sure, this may happen, but it can happen in a lot of places with all different types of ethnic groups.
Why would one (wife) consider not wanting to be pregnant as holding something back from the husband? In a good and loving marriage, both decide when to try for a baby and agree on forms of BC. It would be hurtful to me if my husband got a vasectomy without discussion, just as it wouldn’t be loving of me to go off BC because I wanted a baby.
It’s not the “not wanting to be pregnant” that is the problem. It’s the holding back. She is holding back her fertility. It is better, if not wanting to get pregnant, to decide to abstain during that time, then to have sex while putting a barrier between you and your husband.
“Finally, what about those that need to be on the pill for various conditions? Some women have such excessive bleeding each month that the best way to reduce that is with BC pills.”
Everyone always brings this up. In this case then, the point of taking the pills is not in an attempt to thwart pregnancies, but in an attempt to help a problem. But, there could be another underlying problem that needs to be addressed. I don’t know if taking harmful BC pills is always the answer. Many times doctors just prescribe them without any other look into underlying problems…like endometriosis. It’s like those commercials that stop a runny nose, but can cause a stroke. Which is exactly what BC pills can do.
OK, I updated the stats after some further research. You can see what I crossed out and how I changed it above. However, the point remains that even with such a small chance of an unwanted outcome will gradually become more likely to occur over a long period of time. The mathematics is simple. Think of if like flipping a coin. You have a 50-50 chance of landing heads the first time you flip it. Each time you flip the coin, you will have a 50% chance of getting heads. But, what is the likelihood that you will get heads 5 times in a row. That would be 0.5X0.5X0.5X0.5X0.5, or 0.5^5. The result is about 3%. The same thing applies to the failure of birth control. I used the birth control pill in the example above because it has one of the highest rates of effectiveness of all the reversible forms of BC. So, to calculate the effectiveness: 0.997^30 for 30 years of use is 91% or a 9 percent failure rate. As to your question about contraception becoming more effective over time, notice that I used the perfect usage statistics. You’d be right if I was talking about standard usage that includes improper usage. Over time and experience, a woman should use the BC more effectively and have fewer improper usages. But, since I discarded those poor usages, experience and proper training does not apply. I hope this is clear. If you’d like more clarity, please let me know.
You are right on proper usage. Few women know that taking some antibiotics can reduce a BC pill’s effectiveness. Many a woman has come in to the office ( l worked as a nurse for an OB-GYN & in L&D) complaining of pregnancy symptoms and saying ” l swear l never missed a pill, but the home pregnancy test l took was positive. It has to be wrong “. The doctor would examine her, tell her she’s pregnant and then list the things that could have been responsible for her pill’s failure. Many times her family docor gave her a prescription for antibiotics and failed to tell her to abstain from sex or use a back up method of birth control until she had a period after finishing the antibiotic.
Or in my case, I took BC pills flawlessly. Everyday, same time, same everything. No antibiotics or anything. I have a 14 year old that found a way to defy the statistics. I’m so thankful she did, because she’s such a blessing.
Hello,
I have a question regarding birth control taken for medical reasons. I have a boyfriend but we’re waiting until we get married to have sex (is it tmi?) but I have to be on birth control because my period makes me so sick that I faint. Could it be okay with the church in this case? Because I cannot do without and I already feel bad enough for going against this church’s teaching.
Thank you,
Andrea
Hi Andrea,
Thank you for your question, as it’s one that gets asked pretty frequently. Let me first say, that I commend you and your boyfriend for remaining chaste. That’s so good to hear.
I sympathize with you on your difficult periods. I hope that I can give a clear answer. Back when the birth control pill was first coming out, Pope Pius XII said that the pill could never be used for birth control purposes, but it may-and I stress may-be used for other medical reasons. Then, lots of information started coming out about the pill and the danger of it and the Pope had to say that the pill can never be used for any reason. Here are his reasons. 1. The numerous side effects of the pill are too great to the human body. It is a harm to a woman’s body. I can attest to this as it basically was killing me. 2. Many pharmaceutical companies started making a lower-dosage pill to avoid the harmful side effects. Because of its lower dosage, women get pregnant and then the pill acts as an abortifacient. I know that you are not having sex at this time, but when you get married and if you are still using the pill, you could get pregnant and not know it and the baby could be aborted.
As a woman who has suffered using birth control, I deeply care when I hear about women that are using the pill. I hate how much women are lied to about the pill, about its origin, its harm, and the way it is pushed on women. My fear is that there is something more medically wrong with you if your periods are so extremely painful. My sister had a similar issue and it turned out to be endometriosis and birth control pills would never have cured that. You may have been checked out, but there has to be an underlying issue. There are other medicines to take that aren’t birth control pills that can help you. My fear is that these pills are masking a deeper problem. My other concern is that birth control pills are linked to infertility once a woman does want to get pregnant. I don’t know how long you have been taking them, but it is something to be concerned over. Not to mention the overall harm that they can be doing to you. They may help you with your period, but at what cost to the rest of your body?
I know that me telling you it’s wrong to take them probably brings about a lot of fear. Please know that I say this woman to woman and wanting to truly help you. I would check out this website. http://www.popepaulvi.com/ncfwh Call someone and talk with them about your condition and see what medical advice they can give you. Birth control pills are not the only answer and I would highly encourage you to check this organization. I hope this helps and if you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. And if you remember, keep in touch and let me know how you are doing.