top of page
Search
Writer's pictureCalifornia Right to Life

The Contraception-Abortion Connection

Extract of article by Fr. Shenan J. Boquet – President Human Life International

The Tentacles of the Contraceptive Mentality

Any good medical doctor knows that while it is often necessary to treat or control the symptoms of a disease, without treating its cause the patient will often be much worse off in the long run.

HLI’s founder, Fr. Paul Marx, OSB, ardently believed that, looked at one way, abortion is merely one symptom of a much deeper cultural and spiritual disease. Without addressing this deeper problem, he worried, we may well save many individual lives, but make precious little progress in turning the culture away from child-killing.

For his part, Fr. Marx believed that the root cause of abortion, and many of the evils of the Culture of Death, is the “contraceptive mentality.” As he said: “While we need a variety of pro-life groups hacking away at the anti-life monster, it is enormously futile and indeed grossly short-sighted to overlook the chief source of baby-killing, which is contraception.”

Unfortunately, many people, even those in the pro-life movement, still respond to Fr. Marx’s claim with incredulity. Furthermore, for many people it’s very difficult to imagine how we might even begin to “put the cat back in the bag,” so to speak – that is, to convince Catholics, let alone the broader culture, to turn their backs on contraception. The technology is now so cheap, so easy, and so readily available, and the (apparent) benefits so enticing, that addressing the topic of contraception seems akin to tilting at windmills. Thus, they throw up their hands in despair.

In one sense, I can understand this defeatist perspective. In our current cultural context, it is difficult even to begin a calm, objective conversation about the morality and hidden costs of contraception without being shouted or laughed off the stage. On the other hand, the Church’s traditional teaching on the issue is so rich, and the evidence supporting that teaching so compelling, that I am sometimes amazed that so many still pretend as if everything Paul VI predicted in Humanae Vitae hasn’t come dramatically true.

Contraception promises consequence-free sexual pleasure. And who wouldn’t want that? And yet, since contraception was first manufactured and distributed on a massive scale, we have seen anything but consequence-free sex. Instead we have seen an explosion in abortion rate; a gigantic surge in sexually-transmitted diseases; a radical transformation of sexual morality, with the mainstreaming of pornography and meaningless casual sexual encounters, leaving countless men and women emotionally wounded; and the rise of coercive (sometimes brutally so) state-sponsored population control. All of these Paul VI predicted.

Misusing Our Freedom

However, the temptation of contraception, I believe, is a much deeper and more pernicious temptation than many people realize. It’s not just about sex. I recently ran across a highly illuminating quote in a biography about an Eastern Orthodox monk, St. Silouan the Athonite. “The temptation with freedom for the creature created in the Divine image,” said St. Silouan, “is to fashion his own being, determine himself in all things, become a god himself, and not just take what is given, because that would entail a feeling of dependence.”

I believe this temptation is at play in the contraceptive mentality. Within God’s creation, sex and procreation are inextricably connected. This is a biological fact. It is one of the most self-evident facts that we know. It is something that is given to us in our beings from the moment we are conceived. Every aspect of our bodies, and indeed our minds, points to the fact that sexuality has what the philosophers would call a teleology that is a directedness, an orientation, a motion towards a certain specific aim or goal. The Church has always taught that this teleological orientation is two-fold: at the biological level, towards procreation; at the psychological and spiritual level, towards closer union with one’s spouse. Contraception weaves the illusion that, by exercising our freedom, we can somehow overcome the givenness of this teleological orientation of our sexuality, that we can remake sexuality in our own image, as it were.

Natural Family Planning Works with God

Some people have a very hard time distinguishing between using contraception and trying to avoid pregnancy by means of Natural Family Planning (NFP). They point out that in both cases the intention is the same: to avoid pregnancy. But this is a sadly superficial analysis. They fail to understand that contraception and NFP involve radically different mentalities. Whereas contraception attempts to overcome the givenness of our bodies, NFP seeks to work with that givenness. The contracepting couple is seeking to control – and even to transcend – nature, whereas the couple using NFP is demonstrating a profound awareness of and respect for the nature that God has given us. Whereas the contracepting couple is playing at make-believe – the make-believe that technology has successfully separated sex and procreation – the couple using NFP is constantly reminded of that connection, and by the logic inherent in the practice of NFP, above all the logic of self-sacrifice, forced to continually re-evaluate their intentions. Whereas the goal of contraception manufacturers is to create a contraception that is so effective that those using their product will never even have to think about the possibility of a baby, the couple using NFP is reminded, daily, about the fact that sexual intimacy and babies are, in God’s great design, part and parcel. The contracepting couple wants to put their (non)-fertility on auto-pilot, and to live their lives unencumbered by the responsibilities inherent in sex, whereas the couple using NFP wants to seek God’s will for their lives, and is pushed to prayerfully seek to know his will every time they undertake an uncomfortable period of abstinence to postpone having another baby.

From a distance this may look similar – like two different couples avoiding having children. Look at it more closely, however, they could not be further apart. The one method is predicated upon a desire for dominance and, ultimately, an illusion. The other method is predicated upon respect for God’s commandments, humility, and a profound awareness of the way things truly are. The one seeks absolute control, the other fosters self-control.

Toxic Contraceptive Mentality

I do believe that we will not end the violence of abortion, reclaim a moral society, protect the sanctity of marriage and its openness and generosity toward life, and promote purity and chastity unless we address the toxic contraceptive mentality. The contraceptive mentality is identical to the abortion mentality. The reasons women use contraception are the same as the reasons they have abortions: They have too many children already, they don’t have enough money, they want to get an education, they don’t want their parents to know they are having sex, and so on. Additionally, many women whose contraception fails believe that they are the victims of a technological failure, and that they are thus entitled to another form of medical technology (abortion) to compensate them. In fact, half of all women seeking abortion today were using contraception when they got pregnant.

Ultimately, fighting abortion while not exposing its primary underlying cause ― contraception ― is like trying to get rid of a weed by pulling off its leaves. As long as the contraceptive mentality remains, the abortion mentality will flourish. At HLI, we have had decades of experience speaking to people one-on-one regarding this topic. We have found that contraception is usually the “hinge” issue in a person’s thinking about the life issues. When people compromise on birth control, they find it much easier to compromise on other evils such as abortion, divorce, and homosexuality. Likewise, if they see the evil of contraception, they will reject these other evils as well. In other words, if we convince people about the evils of abortion but not about those regarding contraception, we have simply wasted our precious time.

1 view0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comentarios


bottom of page