How Does Contraception Differ from Abortion?
| Samuel Amaral: When did Abortion become contraception ? Did I transition in another dimension without noticing ? · 13 minutes ag |
The question posed by Mr. Amaral is a good one, and it may be of larger interest. I knew nothing of the answer myself until a little over thirteen years ago when the question came up in the course of the Pre-Cana preparation that my prospective bride and I went through prior to our marriage.
On the face of it, if its etmyology is any guide, the word contraception ought to mean "against conception" -- i.e., the word should be used solely to refer to devices, such as condoms, which prevent conception from taking place.
In practice, however, the word contraception has come to be used much more broadly -- not just for devices that prevent an encounter between egg and seed but also for devices that prevent the product of their encounter, a fertilized egg, from being implanted in the uterus. The morning-after pill does the latter (medical explanation here). It is an abortifacient. It kills an unborn child, already conceived, by preventing its implantation in the uterus. Intra-uterine devices (IUDs) have the same effect. They are abortifacient. They induce abortion.
Ordinary birth-control pills are designed to prevent ovulation. When they do so, they are genuine contraceptives. They prevent conception. If and when, however, they are ineffective in this particular, they can prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus -- i.e., they can produce an abortion (medical explanation here).
The Obama administration recognizes that the Catholic clergy have done next to nothing to explain to Catholics the teaching of the Church regarding any of this, and they are deliberately and cleverly taking advantage of the confusion that has been sown -- by forcing Catholic hospitals and other institutions to provide for those who work for them those abortifacients that masquerade as contraceptive devices.
In doing so, I believe that Barack Obama, Kathleen Sebelius, Nancy Pelosi, and the like have done the Catholic Church and its adherents a great favor -- first, by forcing the bishops, nuns, and priests to address a question they have for nearly fifty years assiduously avoided discussing; and, second, by bringing home to them the degree to which the public provision of medical care, which they have vigorously promoted for nearly forty years, empowers the government to persecute the faithful.
I doubt that most of the bishops currently in office will discover a new-found appreciation for the principles of limited government and for their implications. It is hard to teach an old progressive new tricks. I suspect, however, that many younger priests and seminarians will have occasion to rethink the foolish stands taken by their elders.
It is a sad business, but it is true. Persecution can be and often is good for the Church. In its absence, the Church Militant has a way of turning into the Church Flatulent.
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Comments:
Jun '10
Re: How Does Contraception Differ from Abortion?
liberal jim
Sorry but Dr Paul is correct. Birth control pills are designed to kill and already-conceived child. When they fail to prevent conception they secondarily prevent the fertilized egg from attaching to the uterine wall and thus killing and already conceived child. Most women who have been on the pill for a period of time have unknowingly chosen to have a chemical abortion. I have never understood how someone can be for the use of birth control pills but against abortions. Morally and logically one should be in favor of both or opposed to both.
Dr. Paul's rambling answers are a Rorschach test: they are sufficiently vague and incoherent that what you say about them may reveal more about you than it does about him.
May '10
Re: How Does Contraception Differ from Abortion?
I know my case isn't normal, but neither is it unheard-of. My husband and I were married in 1989. A course in NFP was part of our marriage preparation. (I'm pretty sure it was a required part.) It covered the moral case against contraception, as well as explanations of the various methods and their potential for causing abortions. Among our friends and acquaintances are scores of Catholic couples who fully understand and adhere faithfully and joyfully to the Church's teachings on sexuality. We have many friends who teach it in their parishes.
Edited on February 23, 2012 at 9:09pmJun '10
Re: How Does Contraception Differ from Abortion?
katievs
In any case, Dr. Paul's point was that there is nothing wrong with contraception, and it's ridiculous for Santorum or anyone else to make a fuss over the morning after pill, since it's the same as contraception.
I call that a lie.
I'll take my turn at the Rorschach test.
Remember that for Paul the only question worth discussing is whether something should be legal or illegal. Morality is a purely private matter for him. I thought he was saying that if The Pill is legal for birth control, you cannot prevent someone from buying it and then taking a larger dose to use it as an abortifacient. Therefore you cannot outlaw "the Morning After Pill" unless you also outlaw The Pill since they are really the same pill.
But even under that interpretation I still think he's wrong. Doesn't the FDA routinely approve substances for one purpose but not another? And certainly a doctor who knowingly prescribed a fatal overdose of a legal drug would still be held criminally responsible.
May '10
Re: How Does Contraception Differ from Abortion?
That doesn't make sense to me, Joseph, since at issue (if I remember correctly) was Santorum's views about birth control.
May '10
Re: How Does Contraception Differ from Abortion?
Ok, just got the quote:
“But sort of along the line of the [contraception] pills creating immorality, I don’t see it that way. I think the immorality creates the problem of wanting to use the pills. So you don’t blame the pills.”
I see what you're saying now. I still think he's wrong, and misleading to the point of dishonesty. No one is arguing the the pill causes immorality. We argue rather that the act of contraception is immoral, whatever means are used.
Nor is anyone proposing that contraception be banned.
Jun '10
Re: How Does Contraception Differ from Abortion?
When have you ever known Dr. Paul to stick to the subject at hand?
Apr '11
Re: How Does Contraception Differ from Abortion?
Ravished. A good word.
Jan '11
Re: How Does Contraception Differ from Abortion?
Again, Professor, we have a basic disagreement over the expectations of the church.
I was, in fact, taught about the differences in the details of contraception ... in my Catholic high school, and again in a Catholic college. That's why the church built those schools - to have a place to teach Catholic faith. Those schools are the primary venue for propagating Catholic teaching - not the pulpit. The church exercises its ministries in many forms and many places. Worship is only one ministry; teaching and service are just as important, and those ministries take place outside of the church building.
So, if you're looking for the church to explain why an IUD is an abortifacient, where exactly would you expect the church to offer that teaching? From a priest during the Sunday homily? (It doesn't belong there.) In the school's health and hygiene curricula? Yes ... but as I say, I was taught it there.
What do you expect?
Jun '10
Re: How Does Contraception Differ from Abortion?
KC Mulville
Iwas, in fact, taught about the differences in the details of contraception ... in my Catholic high school, and again in a Catholic college. That's why the church built those schools - to have a place to teach Catholic faith.
I was raised Catholic but my parents sent me to public schools, as I believe many (most?) Catholic parents do these days. I did attend a weekly Catechism class at my parish, but most of what we learned was more practical than theoretical: basic prayers, preparation for First Communion, Confession, and Confirmation, etc. Chiefly I remember a lot of coloring, crafts, a nativity play, and learning a song and mime routine that we performed for our parents after First Communion.
We did cover contraception at junior high age, but as I recall it wasn't very different from sex ed at public school. Mainly they talked in graphic detail about various STDs and told us condoms were not a 100% reliable protection.
I don't recall ever even hearing the phrase "natural family planning" until as an adult I began reading Catholic blogs, watching EWTN, and listening to Catholic radio and podcasts.
Jan '11
Re: How Does Contraception Differ from Abortion?
Joseph Stanko
I don't recall ever even hearing the phrase "natural family planning" until as an adult I began reading Catholic blogs, watching EWTN, and listening to Catholic radio and podcasts.
For the vast majority of Christianity's existence, the teachings of the church were propagated face to face, by clergy. When universities and mass education emerged, the church was at the forefront. And in most of the world, the church ran its own schools, teaching Catholic faith without much interference from the king or state.
As education became institutionalized (and more sophisticated, and more complex, etc.), the church transitioned most of its teaching ministry to institutions. For example, the Jesuits have been highly invested in universities since the beginning. The Jesuit universities are the hub of their whole ministry.
But ...
The Catholic education system these days a core ministry of the church, and it's run mostly by lay people. The clergy serve as little more than guides. Bishops used to command clergy, but they can't command lay people the same way (lay people don't vow obedience).
If someone hasn't been taught about IUDs, how is that the clergy's fault?
Re: How Does Contraception Differ from Abortion?
KC, I think that you are dreaming. I remember the Church of the 1950s where chastity and contraception were discussed in the course of homilies. You greatly underestimate the degree of corruption in the clergy that lies behind all of this.
Ross, my wife and I went through Pre-Cana in a diocese run by a fine bishop (the sort who pickets abortion clinics). We heard not one word about Natural Family Planning. At my wife's suggestion, we looked into. We took a course on it taught by a lay couple. No priest recommended it. No priest even mentioned it. We found it ourselves. And we practice it.
Re: How Does Contraception Differ from Abortion?
For the record, there was never a time in the United States in which anything even remotely approaching a majority of Catholic young people attended Catholic schools. And there was never a time when the Church in the United States relied primarily on Catholic schools for the catechesis of young Catholics. Yes, there were catechism classes on the weekends for those attending public school, but they were pretty feeble (at least when I was young). The pulpit was in those days quite frequently used -- both when the readings naturally pointed towards a subject, and when they did not.
What I said above about the clergy's abandonment, in and after the 1960s, of its duty to address faith and morals in the matter of chastity and contraception is true, and it accords perfectly with the lackadaisical conduct of the bishops with regard to the sexual abuse of children by clergymen in the decades following the clerical rebellion against the Church's teaching regarding contraception that I described in my previous comment.
Feb '12
Re: How Does Contraception Differ from Abortion?
Paul A. Rahe:
Ross, my wife and I went through Pre-Cana in a diocese run by a fine bishop (the sort who pickets abortion clinics). We heard not one word about Natural Family Planning. At my wife's suggestion, we looked into. We took a course on it taught by a lay couple. No priest recommended it. No priest even mentioned it. We found it ourselves. And we practice it. · 1 minute ago
An excellent, recent article at NRO offered interesting news about the growing popularity of natural family planning:
Jun '10
Re: How Does Contraception Differ from Abortion?
KC Mulville
Those schools are the primary venue for propagating Catholic teaching - not the pulpit. The church exercises its ministries in many forms and many places. Worship is only one ministry; teaching and service are just as important, and those ministries take place outside of the church building.
So, if you're looking for the church to explain why an IUD is an abortifacient, where exactly would you expect the church to offer that teaching? From a priest during the Sunday homily? (It doesn't belong there.)
From Sacrosanctum Concilium:
I agree the homily should be based on the readings of the day, and should mostly avoid politics and current affairs. But it does seem to me that teaching faith and morals would fall under expounding "the mysteries of the faith and the guiding principles of the Christian life." The Mass includes worship and preaching.
Nov '11
Re: How Does Contraception Differ from Abortion?
"I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.” One could certainly interpret that to mean that someone who divorces and remarries is committing adultery. Likewise, any children conceived from that second union would be considered bastards. So what's worse, being an abortionist by taking the pill or having bastards? Or, we could just drop the whole thing and stay out of each other's business and allow people the right to practice their religion the way they see fit and trust in God's judgment, not man's. · 8 hours ago
Take it down about ten notches. No one is accusing you of being an abortionist. No one is suggesting that birth control pills be made illegal. To choose to use or not use contraceptive drugs is a moral choice, and whether you agree with the teaching of the Catholic Church or not, this should be recognized and contemplated.
Jun '10
Re: How Does Contraception Differ from Abortion?
That's how I've always interpreted it.
Karen:
So what's worse, being an abortionist by taking the pill or having bastards?
Abortion is worse than having an illegitimate child.
I'm alarmed by the growing illegitimacy rate in this country, but if an unmarried woman got pregnant and asked my advice I would tell her it's far better to bring the child into the world in less than perfect circumstances than to kill it.
Sep '10
Re: How Does Contraception Differ from Abortion?
katievs: Ok, just got the quote:
“But sort of along the line of the [contraception] pills creating immorality, I don’t see it that way. I think the immorality creates the problem of wanting to use the pills. So you don’t blame the pills.”
I see what you're saying now. I still think he's wrong, and misleading to the point of dishonesty. No one is arguing the the pillcausesimmorality. We argue rather that the act of contraception is immoral, whatever means are used.
Nor is anyone proposing that contraception be banned. · 6 hours ago
I did not listen to much of the debate but heard this part and I took Paul's answer as a request for consistency. Remember birth control pills are designed to cause the death of fertilized eggs as the morning after pill is. Why should one be legal and one not. At one point there were a couple of pills that did not cause the death of fertilized eggs, I believe the manufacture of these has been discontinued. I don't argue that contraception is immoral. I argue abortion is.
Jan '11
Re: How Does Contraception Differ from Abortion?
Yes -- and that's much of the reason why the liturgy was reformed after Vatican II. The homily is based on the scriptural text of the day. If the readings focus on chastity or purity, then it's entirely appropriate to discuss that - and I have heard some of those homilies.
But you're accusing priests of "corruption" because they don't thunder from the pulpit about contraception. Who's dreaming?
Cut to the scene during a mass where the priest begins discussing IUDs during the homily. Focus on that little kid in the tenth row who turns to his mother and says, "Mommy, what's an IUD? Do you have one?"
And you think priests avoid that sort of thing because ... they're ... corrupt?
Jan '11
Re: How Does Contraception Differ from Abortion?
And are you under the impression that every Catholic was fully informed on Catholic theology? And this was achieved through courageous homilies?
Jan '11
Re: How Does Contraception Differ from Abortion?
You're arguing that because priests (all of them? most of them? how many?) opposed contraception, that corrupted them to the point of becoming indifferent to child abuse?
You're alleging a connection that doesn't exist - not to mention a gratuitous insult to the vast majority of clergy who did their jobs properly, honestly, and at times heroically. It's a sensationalist headline and accusation, but it comes at the expense of real working servants.