Recently, Pope Benedict XVI made headlines by saying that condoms are an inappropriate and counter-productive solution to HIV/AIDS. Some have expanded on the implications of the Pope’s comments and have considered Church teaching on contraception in light of overpopulation. However, many understand what the Catholic Church says regarding contraception, but few understand why it says it. As such, I now offer this information, assuming that overpopulation is a problem. It is my hope that, whatever moral view you ultimately take, you at least understand the Catholic position, and do not come to a decision without considering all of the ideas here presented.

For the Catholic Church, the general standard for sexual morality is that, just as Jesus’ love for us is always total, selfless, receptive, live-giving and of His own free-will, a moral sexual act is a freely chosen and uninhibited offering of all parts of oneself to another in a relationship which is bound by wedded love, which is completely open to the other, and through which conception is always possible. By this logic, the Church concludes that contraception is immoral since it allows couples to deliberately withhold fertility from one another, and in so doing, compromise the moral requisites of a total self-offering, complete openness to the other and the possibility of conception. In addition, the Church recognizes that contraception can lead to the misuse of sex for pleasure alone, wherein individuals are dehumanized and immorally objectified, to be used as a means to physical ends alone.

This moral position against contraception, though, is not in conflict with a sustainable world population (or HIV/AIDS prevention). However, these ends cannot morally be met by means which are deemed inherently immoral. As such, since the Church views contraception as immoral, it teaches that contraception cannot ever be a moral solution, no matter a problem’s gravity.

However, while the Catholic Church invites people to “responsible love,” it also invites them to “responsible parenthood” which can include not having more children (as Christopher West has written in Theology of the Body for Beginners). So how does the Church propose individuals live out both responsible love and responsible parenthood? The answer is through Natural Family Planning. Using NFP, couples observe and track the physical signals which indicate a woman’s fertile and infertile phases (by body temperature). Based on this information, couples who do not wish to have more children then make the choice to abstain from sex during the periods of fertility. Overall, couples employing NFP sacrifice the times at which they have sex, but ultimately have just as much sex as couples who use contraception. However, since they don’t actively sterilize their relationships, NFP-couples don’t compromise the aforementioned criteria, and so do nothing immoral.

In addition to morality, NFP is also a more practical response to overpopulation than contraception. If overpopulation is the result of too many births, which result from sex during fertile times, then one of the causes of overpopulation is liberal sex during periods of fertility. Yet contraception doesn’t address this underlying cause, but instead tries to put a condom over the effects. NFP, however, works at the level of a married couple’s core beliefs which inspire choices and actions. As well, since contraception costs money and must be continually supplied, it is thus impractical for people living in poverty. Conversely, NFP requires only inexpensive and reusable instruments (e.g. thermometer), and has been shown to be equally, if not more, effective as contraception when practiced correctly.

Consequently, given both the standpoint of the Catholic Church and conditions which exist in the world, the Church teaches that contraception is an immoral and unworkable approach to overpopulation. In fact, when thoughtfully considered, it can be seen that contraception is not simply an attempt to prevent pregnancy, though some try and frame it as such. Rather, contraception was invented, and continues to be employed, because many of us are not willing to make the sacrifice of refraining from sex when pregnancy is most possible. We want to satisfy the flesh whenever we desire, and are unwilling to follow the steps of successful pregnancy prevention which already exists because it conflicts with the worldview of instant gratification and uninhibited self-seeking pleasure.

This paradigm, however, runs counter to the Catholic standards of sexual morality presented above. Thus, while the particular social issues and problems may change, the fundamental Catholic belief has not. As such, since the Church sees contraception as compromising the conditions which constitute a truly loving, respectful, moral sexual relationship, it continues to teach that contraception is immoral, regardless of the circumstances.