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– Fausto Gomes OP
Through its fifty years of development (1968-2018) of the Encyclical Letter Humanae Vitae of Pope Paul VI, three themes continue on center stage: responsible parenthood and regulation of birth, overpopulation, and poverty. In this piece, we focus on the regulation of birth.
The sexual act, prerogative of married couples, ought to be unitive (love-making) and procreative (life-making). The unitive aspect of the sexual act means the natural union between husband and wife when having sex. Contraception opposes the procreative aspect. It prevents conception – the sexual act is not procreative. It is contra-conception (contraception). The contraceptive sexual act is not open to life, which is an essential dimension of sexual actuation. (In Vitro Fertilization, on the other hand, opposes the unitive aspect, for life begins in a petri dish, and involves “manipulation of procreation (cf. AL, 56). Writes Pope Francis: “No union which is temporary or closed in the transmission of life can ensure the future of society” (AL, 52; cf. Ibid. 42). The Pope adds sadly in his Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’ (2015): “Instead of resolving the problems of the poor and thinking on how the world can be different, some can only propose a reduction in the birth rate” (LS’, 50; cf. AL, 83).
Let us remember that the Magisterium of the Church is not only against contraception, but also – and more vehemently against “the scourge of abortion” (FC, 6): while contraception is against the virtue of marital chastity, abortion is against justice and violates directly the divine commandment “Thou shall not kill.” We have to underline with Pope John Paul II: “Certainly, from the moral point of view, contraception and abortion are specifically different evils: the former contradicts the full truth of the sexual act as the proper expression of conjugal love, while the latter destroys the life of a human being” (EV, 13). Some authors continue affirming that contraception prevents many abortions. The contrary seems to be true: “Contraception far from making abortion less common, finds therein its logical extension” (New New Charter for Health Care Workers, 19 and 63). Both are “fruits of the same tree”; both are part of a contraceptive mentality and hedonistic culture (EV, 52-55; cf. GS, 51); Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration on Procured Abortion (1974); Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Instruction Donum Vitae (1987).
In the context of abortion and contraception, we consider the explanation of The New Charter for Health Care Workers rather innovative. This New Charter speaks of interceptive methods, such as the intrauterine device (IUD) and the morning after pill. Interceptive methods “can prevent implantation of the embryo in the mother’s womb after conception has occurred,” and of contragestative methods which cause the elimination of an already implanted embryo” (New Charter for Health Care Workers, 56). “Through contraceptive methods, sexual union is intentionally cut off from procreation: the act is thwarted in its natural openness to life. In using contraceptive methods, the spouses act as ‘arbiters’ of the divine plan and they manipulate and degrade human sexuality” (New Charter…, 16).
Pope Francis reminds us all to “think of the great value of the embryo from the moment of conception” (AL, 168). With deep sadness, we add that in November 2017, the Committee on Human Rights of the United Nations declared that abortion is a fundamental human right and, therefore, the unborn children have no right to life. Benedict XV has said something worthwhile to note here. Commenting the teaching of HV that he calls “prophetic,” he comments: Paul VI “was convinced that society robs itself of its greatest hopes when it kills human beings through abortion. How many children are killed who might one day have been geniuses, who could have given humanity something new, who could have given us a new Mozart or some new technical discovery? We need to stop and think about the great human capacity that is being destroyed here – even quite apart from the fact that unborn children are human persons whose dignity and right to life we have to protect” (Light of the World, 146).
Paul VI spoke of tolerance of a lesser evil (cf. HV, 14). John Paul II (FC, 34) of gradualness in ethics and morals. The teaching is rooted on sacred Scriptures (Mk 8:22-26), and St. Thomas Aquinas (STh, I-II, 96, 2). Benedict XVI (cf. Light of the World), talked of exceptional acceptance of the immoral use –objectively – of condoms to avoid acquiring HIV/AIDS. Pope Benedict said: “When a male prostitute uses a condom, where this can be a first step in the direction of a moralization, a first assumption of responsibility, on the way towards recovering an awareness that not everything is allowed and that one cannot do whatever wants But it is not really the way to deal with the evil of HIV” (Light of the World). Writes Pope Francis: The law of gradualness means that the human being “accomplishes moral good by different stages of growth”; It is not a “gradualness of law” “but rather a gradualness in the prudential exercise of free acts on the part of subjects who are not in a position to understand, appreciate, or fully carry out the objective demands of the law” (AL 295).
The Catholic Church favors responsible parenthood, and Natural Family Planning (NFP) as the moral means to practice it: “When by means of recourse to periods of infertility, the couple respects the inseparable connection between the unitive and the procreative meanings of human sexuality, they are acting as ‘ministers’ of God’s plan and they ‘benefit from’ their sexuality according to the original dynamism of ‘total’ self-giving, without manipulation or alteration” (FC 32). Practicing Natural Family Planning, sexual actuation between husband and wife is not a contraceptive act but a “naturally infertile” act. Artificial means of birth control, contraception (chemical – pill – or surgical – tubal ligation, or vasectomy) are considered objectively immoral for they do not respect the unity between the unitive and procreative aspects of the sexual act by not being opened to the transmission of life. “The choice of the natural rhythms involves accepting the cycle of the person – that is, the woman – and therefore accepting dialogue, reciprocal respect, mutual responsibility and control” (Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio, 32; Evangelium Vitae, 43).
The Magisterium continues proclaiming the positive message of responsible parenthood. Decisions related to responsible parenthood to be done by parents only presupposes the formation of conscience: “Decisions involving responsible parenthood presupposes the formation of conscience, which is the most secret core and sanctuary of a person. There each one is alone with God, whose voice echoes in the depths of the heart” (AL, 222).
An important final point. When procreation is not possible, conjugal life continues to be meaningful. Physical sterility gives to infertile couples an opportunity to serve in other ways: educational activities, assistance to needy and poor families, and adoption (cf. FC, 14).
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