Oh I’ve read worse that that! When I was in university the student newspaper printed an article from a female student talking about her recent abortion. She was in a relationship, and was using birth control. She detailed how she had followed all the rules, and had been taking her pill responsibly every day (set a daily alarm) and birth control still failed her. She blatantly stated that since she had crossed all the T’s and dotted all the I’s in regard to contracepting the pregnancy, that she was well deserving of the right to abort her child!! Sad sad sad…

Brilliant article! Oh, how I wish that it would go viral, Pop John Paul II, pray for us.

The only thing more likely to lead to an abortion than contraception is no contraception. No form of it is perfect, but contraception does more to prevent unwanted pregnancies and STDs than prayers and pious polemic ever will.

Christians love to rail about the depravity of man, so it strikes me as curious that Catholics would think that a bit of Biblical finger-wagging would be a sufficient means of both regulating the sexual impulses of animals with clothes on and mitigating the damage that often results from those impulses.

Outstanding last paragraph.  Simply outstanding.  Thank you.

No, SkiFree Champion.  What leads to abortion is viewing yourself and other human beings as “animals with clothes on” and thinking that sexual impulses are not controllable.  And viewing children as “damage es that result from sexual impulses”.  If however, you view other human being as well as yourself as human beings, created in the image of God and bestowed with a dignity above mere animals (Catholics do not rail about the “depravity of man” but rather his dignity) and the marital act as is kept in its proper context you will reduce the number of abortions.

Thank you.

Obviously, the kind of people who write those articles have, quite simply, forgotten where babies come from (or maybe they never learned). Proofs that many, many people are in the same situation is everywhere. For example, this is only way to explain how many hold the two, obviously contradictory, ideas that religious people (especially Catholics) hate sex and never have sex AND that religious people (especially Catholics) have way too many children.

I admit we happily used condoms and only switched out of obedience to NFP very early on in our marriage.  Neither my husband nor I has ever been convinced by any argument other than barrier methods are wrong because our Church says so.  THis argument’s no different.  If you’re going to look at one side of the slippery slope you need to look at the other.  A society who upholds sexual purity as an ideal is much more likely to stone an adulterer to death. 

NFP is ultimately a matter of obedience.

Wow, thank you Jen.  Great analysis.  So sad to see this in Real Simple, too.

@Momof11

When I said “damage” I was referring to abortions and STDs, not children. But growing where up where I did, I came in contact with many who seemed to regard their children as such. I’m afraid it only reinforces my observation that we’re talking monkeys and that it’s silly to expect “mere” animals such as ourselves to live up to some impossible divine ideal.

Ski Free Champion -

“it’s silly to expect “mere” animals such as ourselves to live up to some impossible divine ideal.”

Now who’s railing on the depravity of man?  Honestly, what a hopeless statement.

@Anonymous: barrier methods are wrong not simply “because the Church says so.”  Rather, they are wrong because they go against natural law; that is, they render sterile that which is not meant to be sterile.  Barrier methods frustrate and manipulate that which is good, normal, and natural.  Additionally, they create a barrier between husband and wife(physical, emotional, and spiritual) and remove both the procreative and unitive aspects of sex.
***
“The only thing more likely to lead to an abortion than contraception is no contraception. No form of it is perfect, but contraception does more to prevent unwanted pregnancies and STDs than prayers and pious polemic ever will.”

Actually, studies show that in areas where there is increased availability and usage of contraception, the rates of aboriton and STDs also increases. (In particular, you can view the stats through CDC and the Alan Guttmacher Institute which clearly show that over half of women who seek and abortion were using some form of contraception *in the month they became pregnant.*)  The truth is that less sex leads to lower rates of abortion and STDs.

Furthermore, all forms of hormonal birth control actually *increase* the rates of STDs: in particular the rates of chlamydia, gonorrhea, HIV, HPV, and Syphilis.  From a physiological standpoint, this makes sense given how exogenous hormones act on a woman’s body.  I’d be happy to cite sources if you’re interested.

Ski free,  who has ever claimed that “prayer and pious polemics” prevents pregnancy? Talk about a strawman…

How about living up to a human ideal? And finding out what the ideal human is?

The ancient Romans used to enjoy their food, but then vomit it up so they could enjoy more. They wanted to partake in the pleasurable natural act, but avoid its consequences.

Vomitoriums were quite in vogue.

Modern Americans, including most Catholics, enjoy their sex, but use contraceptives to prevent nature from taking its course.

Condoms are the new vomitoriums…. gross, but true. The carcinogenic and abortifacient Pill is even worse.

Thanks for the blog!

amazing article…thanks!

I’m a Catholic convert who formerly was pro-choice (I became pro-life before I started my process of conversion).

“Pro-life” isn’t against choice; you still have a choice: You can choose not to have sex with someone you don’t want to have a child with.  That’s the smartest choice of all.

Here’s a tid-bit that, perhaps Ms. Helen Gurley-Brown or her current successor as general editor of Cosmo, may not know:

After nearly 18 years of marriage to my husband, our love-making is out-of-this-world great!  In fact, you actually need to know and deeply love your partner to get to this slice-of-heaven level.

The one night stand with any stud, anywhere, doesn’t come close.

So there’s another fact-oid that, perhaps, mainstream American feminists don’t know. 

Just an FYI, ladies!

Laura -

Good comment!  I spend time with many women who are sadly not in your situation.  A common theme is that they think of other men during the act - men who they have a more emotional “connection” with.  The depth that you speak of just isn’t there, and they are unfulfilled in the act in many ways.  Glad to hear you’re enjoying this important and foundational aspect of marriage.

Furthermore, during intercourse, I believe your body produces a chemical called Oxytocin which actually causes you to bond with your partner.  Its the same chemical that women produce during breast feeding which causes them to bond with their child.  So the whole idea that you can have sex without growing attached to your partner is proven false by science.

It’s also sadly appropriate that, later on in her list, it says:
You can’t fake love. Staying in a love relationship when love is not what you feel isn’t likely to end well. If you know that what you crave is security/disposable income/child care and not the person next to you in bed, do the right thing. It’s true that one can learn to love someone over time and often through difficult circumstances. But unless the two of you agree to wait until you’re old and all the storms have passed, in the hope that love will kick in, it’s better to bail sooner rather than later.

There is a reason why the cut-and-run attitude in romantic (especially marital) relationships goes hand-in-hand with a casual attitude towards life.  Jennifer, this is an excellent demonstration of how easy it is to jump from contraception to abortion when you’ve already taken that first dehumanizing step (dehumanizing of all involved: both partners and any potential offspring).

Brandon W, excellent obsservation!

Fifty years of contraception in the U.S. has brought us the following: 1) 80% of married couples who contracept will divorce 50-60% of the time; 2) we have a 660% increase in breast cancer in this country since 1973, the year chemical contraceptives were approved for unmarried women (contraceptives were approved in 1965 for married women first); 3) all chemical contraceptives are Class I carcinogens meaning they directly cause cancer or cause mutant genes in healthy cells to become cancerous (declared by IARC an arm of WHO in 2005); 4) young reproductive aged women die of medical conditions not commonly seen for their ages, for example, stroke, cancer, DVT, and heart attack; and 5)we have 100 oral contraceptives in this country yet our abortion numbers increase each year - - contraceptives fail up to 60% of the time.  There are plenty more statistics than these.

Here’s another thing: As a (happily) married woman the worst thing that can happen to me as a result of sex is a baby. A new person to love and cherish and teach and comfort. I realize that a new baby isn’t a small thing, but when you’ve built a life with someone you trust with your whole self, it’s also not the end of the world.

The negatives of single-girl-sex is endless. While I’ve heard it claimed that you can enjoy sex without worry as a single person, I have yet to meet one actual human who has done so.

To paraphrase George Carlin, sex leads to everything…including abortion.

Continually trying to tie abortion to contraception, especially by way of scare tactics intended to frighten women away from hormonal contraceptives accomplishes nothing.

First of all, another piece on contraception and abortion…? Really? ~yawn~ ‘Cause we’ve never seen that before…

Secondly, the quoted snippet doesn’t “prove” anything other than that casual sex, while currently a societal norm, is proving to be not so great. To jump from there to contraception leads to abortion seems to be a huge stretch.

If you want to talk about hearts and minds, fine, but if you assign all the blame to a tool, an inanimate object, you change nothing because inanimate objects are incapable of unilaterally changing themselves. Not that the tool itself causes the mindset. The mindset has to exist outside of the tool.

Casual sex leads to abortion, not contraception. Contraception enables casual sex, but doesn’t in itself lead to abortion. A friend of mine just had a baby she became pregnant with while she was on the pill. Abortion never crossed her mind.

The one person I personally know who had an abortion was not using any contraception and she aborted because of fear of her conservative Catholic parents’ reaction.

Women abort because of poverty, coercion, and fear, among other reasons.

Also, women have aborted for centuries. Abortion didn’t show up the day condoms or the pill went on the market. The real reasons remain the same—lack of resources, fear, and coercion from those who are closest to them and upon whom they are often dependent.

This is an easy piece to write, it took no serious thought, no compassion or willingness to understand, and it preaches to the dimmer bulbs among the pro-life set. Those who like simplistic, pat answers, especially answers that free them from any personal responsibility or introspection will rah-rah this kind of fluff and continue to marginalize and dehumanize those who truly need support.

Thank you, Jennifer, for acknowledging the acceptance of contraception as the precursor to acceptance of abortion. Others may vehemently deny the links, but there is no way Roe v. Wade would have passed in this country had not our attitudes toward sex and “unplanned” pregnancies been so drastically altered by the legalization of contraceptives and their gradual “okaying” by Protestant churches and poor teaching about them within the Catholic Church. If anyone disagrees, please, take a moment to listen to Janet Smith’s talk “Contraception: Why Not” - you can listen to it for free or download it from several websites.

Just in case you really think your article demonstrates some sort of scholarly, or for that matter, philosophical evidence that contraceptives lead to abortion, you should probably review the definition of “logical fallacy”.  Talk about an argument replete with presuppositions and logical leaps. 

“If the contraception fails, as it so often does, and she ends up with a positive pregnancy test, she’s in a situation where abortion is going to start to feel pretty necessary”  She is?  Why?  Who says?  How did you arrive at that conclusion?  That seems judgmental.  I know of many girls who had sex with complete morons, got pregnant, and chose life over death, never once considering abortion.

I would consider taking Catholic disdain of contraception seriously if (1) Catholics actually practiced what they preached, and (2) if the Catholic Church could intelligently explain how NFP is NOT contraception.  Until that happens, you alienate a lot of Protestants with your holier-than-though, ridiculous abortion/contraception banter.

Evangeline - the Catholic Church HAS intelligently explained how NFP is not contraception. See here: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae_en.html Start at #14.

Or, if you’d prefer a simpler explanation, see here: http://littlecatholicbubble.blogspot.com/2011/03/important-follow-up-to-natural-family.html

You seem to think that Jen’s hypothetical scenario applies to every woman on the planet. It doesn’t. It’s called a “generalization.” Perhaps you might want to read up on certain writing techniques?

*holier-than-thou, excuse me. 

In addition, it is so interesting that Catholics launch national initiatives against little pills and rubber balloons.  Why don’t you focus your attention at the source of the “sex is for my own pleasure” philosophy?  (That being the individual).  Ultimately, two people can use contraceptives, just as two people can use firearms, and have completely different agendas and uses for those instruments.  Eliminating/banning/bashing either contraception or firearms won’t prevent the sinful consequences of a sinful heart utilizing those instruments.  Overturning Roe v. Wade will change nothing.  Refusing to hand out condoms at health clinics will change nothing.  Using NFP instead of an IUD will change nothing.  It doesn’t make you holier.  It doesn’t make you more obedient to anyone but an old guy named “Pope”.  It doesn’t bring you closer to salvation.  Sin is in the heart, not in the latex or lambskin.

JoAnna-

Thank you for the references.  If I had any idea how to get to #14, per your link, I would.  Thanks for the “simpler explanation”, however, not surprisingly, I don’t find it convincing, or all that intelligent.  I actually read an article by a Catholic once, arguing that NFP is in fact contraception which I found inherently more convincing and logical. 

Unfortunately, Leila @ the Little Catholic Bubble also works under several presuppositions, and fails to provide reasoning for why contraception fundamentally changes the nature of sex.  Is your body fundamentally altered when you have the flu, and you utilize a non-natural medicine as your means to a good and justified end of feeling better?  Is unity of flesh as simple as literal contact between the penis and vagina?  Even if it “is”, where is the biblical backing?  Scriptural backing?  Point me to the verse!  Do you really think your marriage is better, more holy, more sacred, and less common than a couple committed to Christ who happen to be using condoms or the pill because, at that point in their life, they are not ready for children?

Further, I disagree that with NFP, the spouses and marital act remain untouched and unaltered, under your line of reasoning.  Husband and wife are only able to unite at certain times.  NFP seeks to thwart the “rhythms that God intends” just as much as any other “non-natural” contraceptive does.  In fact, I would take it a step further and suggest that NFP is not in line with biblical teaching.  The Bible notes that the only time it is appropriate to abstain or withhold sex from your spouse is for the purpose of devoting yourselves to prayer, not to prevent pregnancy. 

Catholics want to have their cake and eat it to.  Even if you don’t buy my argument, which I have no doubt you won’t, try to understand how NFP appears hypocritical to those brothers and sisters who do not give the Pope and the Catholic Church complete credence. 

Lastly, I don’t think Jen’s hypo applies to all women on the planet.  But calling it a generalization doesn’t really help your case.  Nice snarky comment at the end as well.  Touché.  Regardless, generalizations, like assumptions, make asses out of you and me.  Without statistics, pragmatic examples, or even a short and heartfelt narrative, a generalization isn’t convincing whatsoever.  It’s a huge, huge logical leap to say that because a woman has a wordly mentality and is okay with having sex outside marriage with a total loser, it is, according to you, a GENERAL matter that she will likely consider abortion and act on that consideration.  There is simply no backing.  And if it can’t be reduced to generalities, then the entire premise of the article, that contraception leads to abortion, fails.

@SkiFree Champion—Fr. Bryan is right; The view that we’re just “animals with clothes on” IS the most depriving view of humanity you can take, the main difference between us is our intellect. We, unlike animals, can choose to have sex or not whereas animals are enslaved to urges… If that weren’t true, it’d be perfectly okay to rape a woman so long as you could run fast and catch her (like dogs do), but we can affect our minds with information and train them to think differently. I have a feeling I know what it’s like where you grew up, the saddest thing about that is the lack of education the people have- The best thing about that is no “Bible wagging” is needed, only the need for them to know that there is a God, He loves them, and a short short prayer requesting that God reveal Himself to them… If education is needed then the infinite intelligence of God will do just that and remember, praying is for us, not for God!

And Anonymous, for the Love of God!!!- The sexually purest person ever specifically taught “Let he who is wihtout sin cast the first stone”... HE, is ALWAYS the answer (Look deeper into ALL of Christianity, it’s not just a bumpersticker)!

Evangeline, you’re right - the whole culture DOES need to change.
The adversarial mainstream American feministic approach has not caused the necessary change, but has caused us as a whole to drift in the wrong direction e.g. how are our families, marriages better?  how is our society better?  I am a physician and it was only when I was on active duty in the Navy that I enjoyed equal pay - so not even THAT gap is closed, and we’ve paid too high a price in societal decay for the edge toward more equitable pay for women doing the same jobs as men.
So, my point:  Women and men should work together for the better of society NOT as adversaries.  The only way I, as a woman, know how to do this is to set the bar high whilst dating (after marriage there will be ample need to lower the bar, but that’s OK).  He proposes dinner, movie, bedtime together - I respond in the affirmative to dinner and movie, but not to the bedtime portion.  If he can’t handle that, then move on buster. Our unique, and most authentically feminine, societal role is to firmly demand respect.  It raises us and our men to the much higher human levels where we shine.  American feminism got is wrong when they told us in the 70’s to put on pants and act like men.  I can wear pants, but I can’t in good concience act like a man because, I suffer the interior discord for doing so.  Peace.

@Ben It most certainly would not be okay to rape to satisfy an urge. But the fact remains that many humans do have such an urge and are unable to overcome it. This urge cannot be prayed out of existence, and so we arm ourselves with human inventions such as handguns.

Is this an ideal solution? Certainly not. But as long as we humans insist on acting like animals, we’re going to need lots of guns and lots of condoms.

@Bob are you trying to say that $90 haircuts or $125 boots help us reach our existential fulfillment?

@Bob. I feel so sad when I read your comments because my husband and I had chosen your same path. You acted without God and as God in deciding who would be “allowed” in your family. You believe that buying things or opportunities will allow your child to excel when having a sibling to play/share/fight with would’ve done far more. You will understand this pain later when realization of what you’ve done for your own sake hits you. Reconciliation helped us. God bless you.

Bob Rodriguez -

That had to have been a sarcastic comment.  Please, please tell me that was a sarcastic comment.

@ Evangeline, laura, JoAnna: you will all be happy to know that the Church isn’t just launching an attack on contraception…! :) have a look at Theology of the Body http://www.theologyofthebody.net/ (there are better sites, but these are a start!) and Love and Responsibility http://www.catholicculture.com/jp2_on_l&r.html of which the whole aim is to promote the dignity of the human person for all of life (conception to crypt), the theological meaning of the nuptial gift of the body (even in celibate vocations!), the complementarity of the sexes, and the holy gift of marital union; which then has positive implications for relationships and morality , as with the help of the Holy Spirit we learn to relate to each other with pure sacrificial love… some of my favourite books are If You Really Loved Me (100 Questions and Answers), and How to find your soulmate without losing your soul (21 secrets for women) By Jason and Crystalina Evert - they also have a site: http://chastity.com/, and a secular version also (which shows that chastity works whether you are religious or not!) http://chastity.org/ so as you can see, we ARE going straight to the source - TRUE LOVE! Which is what God is, and us, made in His image, we are! God bless you all ^_^ <3

@ Bob, sooo you are willing to give your child everything material but a sibling? a priceless human being to love, cherish, squable with and cling to during the ups and downs of life.  One day, God willing your child will out live you and your spouse.  Will those fleeting haircuts, boots, and the opera coach/lessons be there for your child in a way that sibblings could be? I wish you could see my fifth child fought over by the older four… who will feed her next, hold her next, make her laugh next… All in their 14 dollar haircuts, 15 dollar shoes and at their weekly violin lessons.  It is amaing how the smile of an infant can melt away the worries for a few blissfull moments on some of the toughest days.  Every day someone tells me “I don’t know how you do it…”  Well, of course with God’s grace, but I don’t know how I would do with even one less.  With all challenges in life, you never know until you say yes.

Bob Rodriguez, I’ve read your little “it’s all about me affording more stuff” contraception = “progress” rantlets before.  How sad that you’re so enslaved to your expensive stuff (and it’s also getting old). 

SkiFreeChampion, who said anything about “praying the urge out of existence”?  We pray to control that urge, not pray it out of existence.  Besides, if we animals with clothes on have enough reason to do things like withhold sex from our partners to punish them, or choose whom we can sleep with, we can obviously exercise some control, indeed enough control to choose wisely.

Evangeline, you wrote: “Why don’t you focus your attention at the source of the “sex is for my own pleasure” philosophy?  (That being the individual).” Well, we are.  But we also understand that it’s a multi-level and multi-prong approach, precisely because we’re dealing with the whole person.  For example, much related to the “sex is for my own pleasure” philosophy is the “follow my own conscience” philosophy, wherein we ask, “yes, but what does a well-formed conscience look like?”  Something isn’t right just because we feel that it is right.  Furthermore, there is a strong temptation to think that sex can be not only for our own pleasure, but also consequence free, and we understand those rubber balloons and little pills to provide and reinforce that temptation.  So in focusing on the “sex is for my own pleasure” philosophy, we approach both the mindset and those things that more easily enable that mindset.

A reflection on being unable to afford luxuries because we have six kids….
We live in a house that’s too small for the eight of us.  We almost never go out to dinner, because money is tight.  There are plenty of families with fewer kids living all around us.  Their kids like to come to our house because they are always welcome and there’s always someone home and friends to play with. 

I’ve been to Europe and to fancy restaurants and nothing compares to the abundance of love in our home.  When God’s handing out the joy, He wants you to come unafraid with arms wide.  Many of us come with one hand open thinking we can’t handle any more.

We accepted NFP as faithful but immature Catholics at the beginning of our marriage.  The more we learned about the fullness of the Churches teaching the more we loved and embraced it.  God has blessed us and we have a wonderful, faith filled family…..and great sex after 17 years.

@ Bob Rodriguez—I hope that your comment was a sarcastic one. In case you are serious, let me tell you a little about myself.  I was raised as an only child (I have half-siblings, but they are much older than me and were estranged from our father when I was a kid).  I went to Europe three times as a teenager, I had all kinds of music lessons and super-expensive instruments and dance costumes, got a new car when I was 16, and have no college debt even though I’m nearly finished with a PhD.  Mom and Dad paid for everything.  They still pay for a lot, though I’m now married and almost 27 years old.

And you know what?  I’d happily give up the car and the expensive instruments and the trip to Europe if I could have the younger sibling that my mother miscarried.  I have all kinds of personal issues that I might have worked out twenty years ago if I’d been forced to share my toys, my bedroom, my parents’ attention, and if I’d been teased a little or had a sibling looking up to me and depending on me.

In my case, it was God’s will that I not have younger siblings, not my parents’ choice.  It’s the hand I was dealt, and I have comfortable surroundings in which to work out my problems.  But I would rather have had a sibling.

Mr. Rodriguez, consider having your procedure reversed or adopting a second child.  If you can afford multiple trips to Europe, you can afford a second child.  Your daughter would be a better, happier person in the long run, and you and your wife would be better and happier people, for welcoming another child into your home.

Contraception doesn’t protect from any forms of STD’s. On a molecular level, using a condom to keep out the HIV virus is like using a chain link fence to keep out a marble. The pill makes a woman more prone to contracting HIV and it actually helps the HIV progress more rapidly towards death. Condoms don’t keep you from getting HPV or Herpes or a lot of other “gifts that keep on giving”. Why do people not talk about the emptiness of being sexually active outside of marriage? Why do the women not rail against being seen as objects? They are taught that beauty is only how sexually attractive they are and that is being an object for men to lust after. They don’t care about her but only how she looks and how she’ll look on their arm or in their bed. When they tire they dump her and move on. Meanwhile hormones have been released attaching these 2 people. Separation is more damaging than it would have been without the sex and they both move on thinking that they are nothing unless they are in a sexual relationship.

We are spiritual beings having a physical experience and not the other way. We were not meant to be “happy” on Earth but in Heaven. We can have joy here but it isn’t the same as happiness for happiness is a fleeting emotion and joy is a deeply rooted Gift from God.

Popular magazines are the WORST source of information on fulfilling sexuality.  I love the observation that Peter Kreeft made about sexual pleasure: The more we “grasp” to posses light, the more we darken it.  Ecstatic love is a completer surrender, a losing of one’s self to another, a complete submission to the Divine.  The lovemaking couple open to life, and pure of heart is an image of The Holy Trinity.  If we don’t totally trust the one we love and have any “reservation” we will never attain to the ecstatic love God calls us to.  If one or both is hiding lust in their heart, or a grasping selfishness, the other will intuit this and their love will become more and more mechanical.  Waning interest levels are inevitable as the Divine spark is extinguished.  My husband and I pray on our knees together.  Our physical love together IS a prayer.  We are totally uninhibited and delight in every square inch of each others’ bodies.  I’m only revealing this because pure love sounds “boring” to some worldlings who think they have a clue, but nothing could be further from the truth.  We have been married over 25 years.  We have a bunch of intelligent, cultured children (two just got back from backpacking across Europe)who are immersed in society and who love God.  My husband and I literally can’t wait for the night, when we will be back in each others’ arms.  The DIVINE is the secret of our love.  I just wish we had fully understood these truths from day 1 of our marriage.  As we both came from pretty worldly families. I am so utterly grateful for the enduring TRUTH of our Holy Mother Church, and the many good and holy priests who helped us on our path.  May God reward their faithfulness a trillion fold!!

JaneC, I too hope that Bob will consider having his vasectomy reversed.

As a child, I yearned for siblings to play with, but instead I was always at the neighbors’ houses, playing with the kids in large families.

Money and possessions cannot provide human contact.

Ok folks, there is no way that Bob R above here is real.  I just don’t buy it.

On another note, I hear Catholics often say that couples who use NFP have a 1 or 2% divorce rate.  Yet, I know ALOT of couples who use NFP and just off the top of my head the divorce rate is at least 20-30% with some left in abusive marriages because they have a large family and with the mom being a SAHM out of the work force for a long time she has no means to support herself after all these years and can’t leave the marriage.  Just saying that the grass is not always greener.  There are some pretty bad NFP stories out there as well.  Human nature is human nature and whether you use contraception or NFP there is no escaping it all together.

The vast majority of abortions happen because people have sex before marriage.  Maybe 90% of women who have abortions are unmarried women?  Some stats say 40-50% of those who have an abortion did NOT use any contraception the month they became pregnant.  So we could argue that it is sex before marriage that causes abortion.  I’m sure if we look at the stats of faithful, committed couples who pray together and worship together but use contraception the abortion rate is next to nothing and the divorce rate as low as we think it is for NFP using couples.  I’m not talking about nominal Christians.  I’m talking about Christians who are serious about their faith.  Someone like Bob R above is not a serious Christian even if he happens to be real.  But I don’t think he is. I think he just wants to get you all stirred up.

@Bob, I recognize you from some of your postings on other blogs.  My husband and I also had a child in our forties with a fatal chromosomal anomaly.  We buried him last Summer on a beautiful day with all of his eight siblings around the casket his father made. We didn’t abort him.  We loved him intensely every day we were privileged to be his parents on this earth.  We can’t wait to meet him again someday.  Bob, I grew up in one of the best neighborhoods in one of the most beautiful cities on this earth etc.etc.etc.  My husband is from Latin America too.  His grandfather was an ambassador, and owned land as far as the eye could see.  Does this impress me?  Is this why either one of us has worth?  That’s just laughable.  I love my husband because he is pure of heart, and the spirit of God lives in him.  We are rich in love.  Vacations, cuisine, and clothing are all nice, but as an end in themselves it is hollow and frankly gets boring.  I know you haunt these blogs for a reason and I know a lot of people will pray for you.  If you love your daughter, teach her about life giving love, mother Teresa, John Paul II…  The United States IS a rich country, but did you know the suicide rate in young people has gone up 5000 percent since the 50s?  If you love her, teach her that her worth is not connected to THINGS.  God Bless you and your family.

Bob,
Please consider that you have been teaching your daughter all her life; that things are more important than people.  Would you be surprised,if,at a later time, she would seek to have you declared terminally ill rather than attempt an expensive medical treatment which might extend your life, but result in the loss of her inheritance?  Our example speaks louder than our words.  Think about what you are teaching.

In regards to Evangeline’s comments, I understand that many people in the Catholic Church don’t “walk the walk” by following the Church’s teaching on not using contraception. But, as a young married Catholic myself, I have found that once couples (both Catholic and non-Catholic) are able to get all the facts about NFP they find out what a true blessing it is and that there is nothing “contraceptive” about it when you practice it in line with the Church’s teachings. I noticed someone else has already been helpful enough to post a link that explains the Church’s distinction between contraceptives and NFP.

Evangeline had a problem with this statement, “If the contraception fails, as it so often does, and she ends up with a positive pregnancy test, she’s in a situation where abortion is going to start to feel pretty necessary.” 

While you can find some people who don’t think this way, it is definitely a mindset that is common. As someone who has went to college and graduate school at a public university I see this mentality among young students and mature professionals alike. Being pro-contraception leads you to almost have to be pro-abortion…while referring to yourself as “pro-choice”, because contraception is so unreliable but the lie that you can have your cake and eat it too has become the expectation. As a mental health professional, I work with adolescents and focus a lot on cognitive behavioral therapy and positive behavioral reinforcement. It is simple to understand that when society sends you the message that your “reward” for diligently using contraception is being able to have sex with no worries, you’re going to feel it’s “unfair” when your reward falls through. And the sad thing is doctors, in my experience, really do try to “sell” contraceptive as if they are a guarantee with minimal side effects or consequences. Many of my clients have been hearing this message since they were barely in junior high school…so by the time they experience an unplanned pregnancy it really will feel like they are justified” in fixing it because they did their part.

There really is nothing “holier-than-though” about Catholics who practice NFP, of course there are individual couples who might seem this way, but overall I have found that practicing NFP is such a humbling experience most couples I know are not at all bragging, but learning and growing along with everyone else. I have found this group to be full of wisdom and hilarious, honest jokes about true intimacy and all of the struggles that go along with it. Practicing NFP has deepened my understanding of the importance of intimacy in relationships and opened my eyes to how many women in the U.S. think they’re having great sex when it really isn’t. When I glance at articles in the typical woman’s magazine these days I can’t help but think, “wow…they really know how to sell bad sex.” The idea that sex with the same partner can’t get better after the first few times is simply not supported by science, and I’m glad Fr. Bryan pointed out that you simply can’t have sex with someone without your brain producing chemicals that result in a bond. If we spent more time focusing on the actual science of sexuality we probably would stop trying to trick ourselves into thinking there is such a thing as “casual sex.” Safe, life-giving sex, however, does exist…and NFP allows many couples to experience it.

Thanks for another great post Jennifer!

@ Bob: “I would rather raise one well adjusted highly educated and cultured child with a high achieving personality than something less.” 
My point was that I have all those other things—highly educated, cultured, high-achieving.  But I’m not particularly well-adjusted.  Aunts and cousins don’t make up for lack of siblings; I have 31 first cousins, I know whereof I speak on this issue.

Bob R said: “Spitting in the eye of your sanctimony might be the only time anybody had challenged your crazy religious world view.” And people like you are qualified to do this ... how? The people here wish you love and blessings; you spit in their eyes.  Wow.

I think that it’s safe to say that if Bob was truly happy with the choices that he has made, he would simply live his life quietly instead of trying to justify his choices through similar comments on multiple blogs. We in Christian charity should pray for him and for all lonely trolls who feed their hatred through internet blog addictions. Because we can’t phycially reach out to them, we should offer our gifts of prayer.

Bob makes a terrific point: the vehemence and persistence with which the Abrahamic faiths posture on “hot-button” issues only serves to expose their true motivation, which is maintaining a voice in a world that has less and less use for their moral prescriptions.

Christi-I appreciate your response. 

I do take issue with your comment: “Being pro-contraception leads you to almost have to be pro-abortion…while referring to yourself as “pro-choice”, because contraception is so unreliable but the lie that you can have your cake and eat it too has become the expectation.”

This is the problem I find with the Catholic view, and why the majority of Catholics who talk about this issue seem hypocritical and “holier-than-thou”.  Maybe you don’t have many Protestant friends, but I know many, many happily married couples, who seek to honor God in their life and marriage, who use contraceptives, and none of them are pro-abortion.  In fact all of them are very anti-abortion.  The problem is not with contraception itself, but with how it is used.  Refer back to the firearm analogy.  Used correctly, contraception is actually extremely reliable.  And if a married couple has prayerfully made the decision to use that contraception for the time being—I see nothing wrong with that.  Obviously using contraception still leaves room for God to work.  If it’s God’s plan for you to have a baby—you think He is not strong enough to override a rubber barrier or a little pill?  Pro-contraception does not in any way equal pro-abortion.

LOL @Bob I know I am feeding your sickness in a way by responding.  Your response about “full pews, coffers, and pervs” makes no sense whatsoever. Reread what you wrote.  I love hanging out with all my kids. They are such good company, and so beautiful.  The ones in their 20s just spent months in Europe, in youth hostels in Paris, Rome,Barcelona, Berlin, Amsterdam, Heidelberg, Vienna and Prague.  They paid for everything with their own earnings.  The oldest graduated cum laude (missed magna cum laude by a hair)and works for an international corporation doing marketing.  The second does similar work on the side while in college. He did 18k in internet sales for one of his bigger clients yesterday.  They are the oldest of eight.  Their eighteen-year-old sister is graduating this year with well over a 4.0 and is applying to art school.  They are not perfect.  They have suffered heartbreaks and set backs,and have bad moments, but they love life and light up this world with their energy and spirit.  They love God.  They were thrilled to be in Rome, and praying the Angelus with the Holy Father, at St.Peter’s last week.  They are really into cuisine, because we have always cooked together as a family.  They love to impress my husband and I this way. I love to see the little ones in the laps of the older ones, as we all sit around, enjoying life together.  EVERYONE dotes on the adorable, spitfire, two-year-old, no end.  She is learning to read books with her grandma.  She thinks it is perfectly normal to have nearly a dozen people picking her up, kissing her, and asking her why she is so beautiful ALL DAY LONG.  NONE of them has ever been to daycare or preschool. It is especially hard and costly to have a big family in today’s world, but the sacrifices are NOTHING in comparison to the privilege of getting to love them. “Embryonic slavery” it is not! LOL Your IRA won’t hug you on your death bed! Bob, best wishes and prayers for your heart thawing out, I say that with true sincerity… :)!

This worldview accepts both of the following statements as true:
1. It is okay to have sex with a man who might steal your wallet
2. It is not okay to have a baby with a man who might steal your wallet

Where do you get this? What world view outside your warped imagination would agree to this?

Why do you think that every woman who takes contraceptives is an idiot? You think we don’t know about stds and other contraceptive “failures”,  and will jump in bed with every man we meet because we think we’re “protected”?
Is it some kind of “every one who uses contrception is a harlot” mentality that makes Catholics so sexist?

@question

What’s wrong with being sexy?

LOL what’s wrong with skiing free?

@Evangeline and Christie:
Being raised in the home of a thoroughly feministic, divorcee, I recall at 15 after the demeaning gynocological exam, I received a packet of pills.  My mother, God bless her- truly - said she didn’t need to become a grandmother (at least abortion was not a part of her vocabulary, for which I give thanks to God Almighty to this day!).  So, even though I was not interested in sexual experimentation at that time, I was assumed to be ready at any instant - thus, the pills.  I recall coming home and reading the package insert.  In a truly God-Inspired moment, I understood that the statistic that even when used properly there was a 1/1000 chance of becoming pregnant.  I knew at that moment, the whole “mainstream American feministic” movement had something other than my best interests at their core.  In my first sexual experimentation encounter, I could, like the chance of a roulette wheel with the requisit number of slots, become pregnant on the first spin - so to speak.  What a fundamental lie from these American feminists!  While they, in their privleged worlds contrived the social and political landscape in order to have trists, I as a lower class American woman, were I to follow their foolish example,  would be with child and, since abortion wasn’t an option for me at any time, would be sunk for good into the mire of extreme poverty - both myself and my child.  This situation, of course, lends itself to great moral discipline, which by the Grace of God, I was able to practice. 
That so many women are lulled into the false assumption that their greater responsibility is mitigated in casual sexual encounters by using the pill - or God forgive us, “Plan B” - is a social sin without equal.  Why aren’t we, as women, awakened to the intense injustice of this situation.  Face it, ladies, WE bear the greater responsibility for sexual liasons; therefore, we have the greater opportunity to elevate and educate our peers, our men and our society!  Please, wake up!  Love your children, but do choose when to authentically engage in sexual relations with the thought in mind of your potential children!

I’m relatively new around here, but one piece of advice from my experience with comment boards around the ‘Net:

Don’t Feed the Trolls.

Agreed, Brandon. For people who say they have no use for what the Catholic Church teaches, Bob R and SFC sure are spending an awful lot of time hanging around people who do. Why is this?

Why, Sam? For the lulz, of course.

I totally agree with Laura - the pill was invented by men so that MEN could have sex without consequences - NOT the other way around, and in fact, so many women have suffered from it, yet it hasn’t been honestly presented even by health CARERS. Seriously, why take a medicine with terrible side-effects WHEN YOU ARE NOT SICK?! You are perfectly made. Fertility is a gift, not a disease, and if used lovingly, BUILDS rather than DESTROYS. True feminists right at the beginning riled AGAINST the pill because they KNEW the truth of it (that men could have sex without fatherhood and that women would be soley responsible), but in the end, the men and the money won out - and worse, in the name of FREEDOM and RESPONSIBILITY. What a crock. Get informed ladies and fight back. Make a man treat you (and your body) as a holy temple to be revered, respected, honoured, loved, and awed because THAT’S WHAT YOU ARE. You are born from LOVE, made for LOVE and by LOVE to LOVE. http://thepillkills.org/history.php And fellas, don’t get me wrong, I know there are guys out there who are on the better side of this argument and would NEVER allow such poison into the bodies of those they truly love and therefore are prepared to SACRIFICE their desires for ONE WEEK out of a month, or, in the case of my fiance, for our entire relationship until we marry August next year. God bless these holy and TRUE MEN.

Evangeline:
Just curious: how many of your married friends that “prayerfully” use contraceptives — for what reason? advance in their careers? when the timing is “right”? what? — for the “time being” have had children?  How long have they so used them? Have they, when they wanted to have kids at the supposedly right time, been able to conceive? Or does that “right time” never seem to come? Or have they had recourse to abortion when they did get pregnant because it wasn’t the “right” time? By your post, it could be — could be — that they have perhaps had an “oops” baby, one that God wanted them to have and it slipped through. By the way, God does honor our free will, so that is a meaningless and snide statement.

James you make a good point.  I’ll share a few stories with you:

Couple #1: 14 kids then tubal ligation.  They were done.

Couple #2:  2 kids and 2 life threatening pregnancies.  10 years of intense anxiety with NFP and a long haul with celibacy.  A NFP teaching couple too.  Tubal ligation combined with the knowledge of NFP brought them great peace.

Actually, of all the couples I know who use contraception and are Christians NONE of them would even consider abortion.

I would invite you to ask the same questions about people who use NFP to avoid pregnancy.  The answers are no different. For what reason do couples avoid a pregnancy with NFP?  when is the timing right?  How l ong have they used NFP to avoid a pregnancy?  Have they been able to conceive when they wanted to?

Catholics and NFP:
Good point. The Church teaches that NFP is moral provided that the reason for delaying a pregnancy is serious: something, as I believe Evangeline (off top of my head) posted about Paul’s teaching about this, that would require some serious prayer: a serious medical condition on the part of the wife, say breast cancer, a heart attack or some such. If the reason the couple is postponing is because it will affect the women’s tan lines on the beach — I have read those are some of the reasons given for abortions — or they “want” a new car, or some other one that is not serious, then it is immoral. It then becomes no better than contraception. There are also legit reasons for sterilization: a cancerous uterus, for example. In all of this, we cannot forget JPIIs Theology of the Body teaching.

I think this is an excellent article.  It is very insightful.  @Janet:  I also hope this article goes viral.

Evangeline correctly pointed out that this is a fallacious argument, and gives ammo to the pro-abortionist mantra of “scratch an anti-abortionist and you’ll find a natalist underneath.”  The important issue isn’t contraception, it’s sex outside marriage.

Natalism is one example of a value promoted by most religious faiths (although it is of course most famously promoted by Catholicism) that was a good idea in the pre-industrial era in which those religions were being established, but which no longer makes sense under modern conditions.

Because the pre-industrial world was poor and had negligible economic growth, the only way to get appreciably richer was to rob wealth from someone else by means of aggressive war.  And since weapons were largely muscle-powered in those days, the Napoleonic maxim of “victory goes to the bigger batallions” was very true.  This, combined with the appalling infant mortality rate in pre-industrial times, made it essential for states (and civilizations) to promote high birth rates in order to gain an advantage over their rivals.

Today however infant mortality is negligible in developed countries, childrearing is very expensive (due to the much higher levels of education required by a modern technological society), and aggressive war is both unnecessary due to the ample alternative ways to increase prosperity provided by technology, and (at least against major powers) suicidal due to nuclear weapons.  The old case for high birth rates is therefore now obsolete.

George:
Seriously? Big families were always seen as a good, way back in the beginnings of the Hebrew nation. It was a sign of blessing from God. It had nothing to do with war. Remember, being barren was considered a curse, e.g. Sarah (Abraham’s wife) and Elizabeth (Zechariah).  it had nothing to do with war. So your argument is fallacious. Remember God’s command to Adam and Eve: be fruitful and multiply. Kind of hard to do that if you believe that children are a total burden — total’s “modern” world — and not a blessing. I don’t believe God was talking like that to equip an army! Your last sentence is a myth.By the way, you’d be surprised what you can do without and still “live a good life”, of course, not to the world that you seem so bedazzled by.

question: Maybe if I don’t end up burning in Hell I’ll ask Him. All we have on this earth are several very solid suppositions. Something tells me you’ve heard some version of them all, however watered down. If you really want a good answer, you won’t find it on an Internet comment board. If you’re just yanking our chain like SkiFree, here, or merely in the mood for an argument, giving you any answer would only encourage you in that particular sin. All arguments are in vain if they are for the purpose of winning. Argue only for the sake of truth.

However, assuming the good in you, I recommend starting with Job, or at least this: http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0019.html. I don’t feel I have the patience for a prolonged back and forth. If you—- or anyone—- feels like addressing me, I’d prefer e-mail. Use the first three letters of my first name, the first letter of the alphabet and my last name AT gmail.com.

Actually question might be asking for real want of knowledge. But since his comment reflects that he understands very little about what the Church teaches, a good place to start whould be a basic introductory Catholic book or course and also a Bible Study 101 to understand the exegesis of Scripture, which he seems to be very deficient.

Then I would suggest a study of Humanae Vitae which would be critical to understanding the Catholic understanding of life and sexuality and perhaps a ToB for beginners would help him understand sexuality a little better so that he could argue a little more intelligently on a Catholic board. Sorry, the hysterectomy question was off the chart.

I don’t know who posted one of the last comments ... “what if ....” but apparently it didn’t post to this discussion. There really is a world of difference between using the body’s natural rhythms — which is what NFP is really about; remember, a woman can’t always get pregnant — and purposely and actively doing something to frustrate the possible outcome of the sexual act. About the hysterectomy: there is also a world of difference between a medical necessity — e.g. cancer — and simply choosing to sterilize; it’s all about the intention. No, you should not stop making love. That is a ridiculous “assessment.” The sexual act should be both unitive and procreative — or at least the potential for it. Sounds to me like you don’t like morals either from nature OR God! And the last crack is pathetic! Learn something about what the Church actually teaches, sir/ma’am! As Joanne posted, what Paul VI wrote in Humanae Vitae — remember, that so-called papal commission WANTED him to change the teaching from time immemorial — about the widespread support and use of contraception has indeed been spot-on and has led to what you see going on about you today.

James, I think you need to read up more on Catholic teaching.  Using NFP does not require such grave reasons as you describe below.  It is interesting that the LARGEST family in my parish uses contraception and they have 14 kids.  Yet, the NFP police think they are the most open to life and have negative things to say about the smaller families who actually do use NFP.  The conclusions you all make just do not add up.  I agree with the poster above that the issue is sex outside of marriage.  Survey results show that 50% of women who have had abortions used NO contraception when they got pregnant and 80-90% of them are UNMARRIED.  It seems you all ignore what you need to to keep believing what you want to.  The divorce rate for faithful couples that pray and worship together is the same whether they use NFP or contraception. 

“that would require some serious prayer: a serious medical condition on the part of the wife, say breast cancer, a heart attack or some such..”

Dear SkiFree Champion:

You said, “The only thing more likely to lead to an abortion than contraception is no contraception. No form of it is perfect, but contraception does more to prevent unwanted pregnancies and STDs than prayers and pious polemic ever will.”

There is a perfect form of ‘contraception’ to prevent unwanted pregnancies and STDs; it is called ABSTINENCE.  It is the result of prayers and self-control… responsibility. 

As far as your “pious polemic” comment goes, it shows your opposition to the Will of God, “I call heaven and earth to witness this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing.  Choose therefore life, that both thou and thy seed may live:”  http://bible.cc/deuteronomy/30-19.htm. 

If we cannot be faithful to God, how will we be able to be faithful to our future spouse?

Catholics and NFP:
I think you should read up on what you describe. You better have a darn good reason to use NFP —  to use it to “build your career” or get a bigger and better house ain’t one (then it becomes a contraceptive); neither is it to avoid ruining your tan lines (some well-known “excuses” used to justify that and abortion)  and simply because it’s not the right time (how many never get “there”?). Actually, many NFP users do have large families and there is always the plain old hypocrisy (called the human condition; people don’t always live up to their beliefs. That does not invalidate the belief). Simply because a couple that uses contraception and has 14 children — which is quirky to begin with — doesn’t violate the basic rule; the vast, vast majorities don’t have large families — generally two or less. And if they don’t use abortion as a backup, then generally it is sterilization. It’s still the same mentality.  The conclusions you make don’t make sense; you have to justify and rationalize to keep believing what YOU want to. As well, it is about sex outside of marriage; so what? It can only mean one thing? Is it a good thing to have sex outside of marriage and abort the children? I absolutely disagree that the divorce rate among NFP users, couples that pray and worship together, is the same as those that use contraception. Or all you talking about what the media refers to as “devout” Catholics/Christians? Those that pick and choose what they want to believe but then claim they are “devout” in their “religion”? Good luck with that. By the true meaning the word devout, they are living out their faith, not just on Sundays; this is their life — Jesus is whom they live for, not just when it’s convenient — not just a part of it.
I don’t know who posted the “I believe in each woman’s right…” but do you not see the connection between the falling birth rates, contraception and abortion? Think about this: by some of the “pro-contra’s” own statements, a condom or a pill used correctly will fail 1 out of 1,000 times. Now, how many times is that condom/pill (especially the former) used correctly; the heat of passion, forgetting to take it or put it on properly? Plus, we are forgetting the fact of STDs; the pill is no defense to begin with and a condom doesn’t always stop the sperm from getting through; the AIDS virus, e.g., is much smaller than the sperm. And many BC pills doesn’t always stop impregnation but will stop implantation; thus, an early abortion. That is how the pill works! The fact that your tax dollars support RC families — every family, no? — that need help is irrelevent. Do you want them to go to support abortion, the taking of an innocent life every time, and to force me to do the same? Yes, why don’t you turn to the New Testament and the teachings of Jesus and the Disciples? I think you will be in for a shock.

Hay Anon99, if you want to call us pro-lifers “dim bulbs” I suggest you read the facts posted by all the pro-life bloggers who’ve commented here.  The first hormonal contraceptives contained three times the amount of estrogen as they do today. During clincal trials pushed onto poor and illiterate women in 1950’s Puerto Rico, two people died.  The causes were never investigated.  To read more:  http://www.puertorico-herald.org/issues/2004/vol8n27/AngerPill.html.
Today there are about 100 different formulas for hormonal contraceptives, all with lower doses of estrogen and higher doses of progesterone.  They work by thinning the lining of the uterus, which prevents the 3-7 day old baby from implanting in the mother’s uterus.  Hormonal contraception is abortifacient.  Mom aborts her baby without ever realizing she had conceived. To find more information on this, I suggest you read the well-known book by Randy Alcorn, “Does the Birth Control Pill Cause Abortions?”
In addition to the moral problem of causing abortions, hormonal contraceptives are all classified as the most serious cancer-causing drugs on the market.  Read the results of this study about the pill and breast cancer:  http://www.preventcancer.com/patients/med_avoid/pill.htm
These drugs also continue to be linked to blood clots.  If you watch enough television, you’ve no doubt seen ads by lawyers offering to help women sue Bayer, the maker of Ocello and Yaz birth control pills

People are starting to catch on to the massive lies.  Do some basic research and accept the truth.  Although humankind has always tried, you cannot seek pleasure from sex without accepting the responsibility of new life.

In the Supreme Court ruling of Planned Parenthood v Casey in 1992, this is a quote from the Supreme Court on why it ruled in favor of upholding Roe V Wade:

“Abortion is customarily chosen as an unplanned response to the consequence of unplanned activity or to the **failure of conventional birth control**, and except on the assumption that no intercourse would have occurred but for Roe’s holding, such behavior may appear to justify no reliance claim. … To eliminate the issue of reliance [on abortion] that easily, however, one would need to limit cognizable reliance to specific instances of sexual activity. But to do this [limit abortion by banning Roe v Wade] would be simply to refuse to face the fact that, for two decades of economic and social developments, people have organized intimate relationships and made choices that define their views of themselves and their places in society, ***in reliance on the availability of abortion in the event that contraception should fail***. (505 U.S. 833)”

There it is, and the logic is strikingly coherent. Allowing the evil of Contraception opens the door to allowing the evil of Abortion, since Abortion is *founded* upon the need for a “Plan B” in the event Contraception (“Plan A”) fails.

This is why the Pro-Life movement has been severely crippled this whole time, because many in the movement are pro-contraception.

http://www.creightonmodel.com/    I am a 72-year-old female, never been married or pregnant.  Last Saturday at the St. Louis Planned Parenthood ‘clinic’, I explained Natural Family Planning, Creighton method to a young man holding his darling son.  We talked freely because the Escorts were not around to thwart the conversation. 

His wife was inside geeting a renewal prescription for birth control.  He listened and promised to look into this virtually free from $$$$ and free from chemicals and free from divorce and worry.

We do what we can to get out good information to those who need it OR who might pass it along to others.  The USPS delivery person knows all our information by heart!!!

I never look into women’s magazines at my doctor’s office and see Natural Family Planning as one of the choices for reproductive health options or birth control.  The media is playing games and the public is listening.

Could not churches make a specific point of publizing NFP information at the parish level….Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Jewish!

The issue is not the Vatican likes or does not like….the issue is taking control of one’s body, the temple of the Holy Spirit!

Nick -
“Allowing the evil of Contraception opens the door to allowing the evil of Abortion, since Abortion is *founded* upon the need for a “Plan B” in the event Contraception (“Plan A”) fails. This is why the Pro-Life movement has been severely crippled this whole time, because many in the movement are pro-contraception.”

Well summed up! Your comment supports the title of Jen’s article so well.

It is sad that so many people who call themselves “Catholic” don’t take seriously all the information and instruction the Church provides with NFP. We need to pray daily that the beauty that is NFP inspires Catholics and non-Catholics alike.