Christian views on birth control

Prior to the 20th century, the three major branches of Christianity—Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestantism[1] (including leading Protestant reformers Martin Luther and John Calvin)—generally held a critical perspective of birth control (also known as contraception).

[3][4] Many early Church Fathers made statements condemning the use of contraception including John Chrysostom, Jerome, Clement of Alexandria, Hippolytus of Rome, Augustine of Hippo and various others.

[5] Among the condemnations is one by Jerome which refers to an apparent oral form of contraception: "Some go so far as to take potions, that they may insure barrenness, and thus murder human beings almost before their conception.

The phrase "sterilizing drugs" (sterilitatis venena) was widely used in theological and ecclesiastical literatures to condemn any contraceptive acts and birth control.

[18] The Catholic Church continues to uphold the practice of natural family planning since it maintains the unitive aspect of the sexual union while still bolstering an openness to procreation.

[21] In justification of this position, Pope Paul VI said: Responsible men can become more deeply convinced of the truth of the doctrine laid down by the Church on this issue if they reflect on the consequences of methods and plans for artificial birth control.

Another effect that gives cause for alarm is that a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires, no longer considering her as his partner whom he should surround with care and affection.

The minority report argued that: One can find no period of history, no document of the church, no theological school, scarcely one Catholic theologian, who ever denied that contraception was always seriously evil.

However, there remains the duty of carrying it out with criteria and methods that respect the total truth of the marital act in its unitive and procreative dimension, as wisely regulated by nature itself in its biological rhythms.

[22]In 1997, the Vatican's Pontifical Council for the Family stated: The Church has always taught the intrinsic evil of contraception, that is, of every marital act intentionally rendered unfruitful.

[24] They illustrate the results of the research on contraception conducted by Kimberly Hahn as having a pivotal effect on their lives, notably the fact that the Catholic Church is one of the last few Christian groups to take a clear stance on the issue.

Among the Scripture included in the book are the following lines from Psalm 127:3–5: Sons are indeed a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.

"[25] The 2008 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's instruction Dignitas Personae reiterates church opposition to contraception, mentioning new methods of interception and contragestion, notably female condoms and morning-after pills, which are also "fall within the sin of abortion and are gravely immoral".

[26] However, Father Tad Pacholczyk of the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania stated in March 2016 that contraceptives are permissible if the sex is non-consensual, such as events of rape and sexual assault.

[28] In 2003, the BBC's Panorama stated that Catholic bishops in Kenya have taught that HIV can pass through the membrane of the latex rubber from which condoms were made.

[32] Roderick Hindery reported that a number of Western Catholics have voiced significant disagreement with the church's stance on contraception.

They insisted, "a Catholic Christian is not free to form his conscience without consideration of the teaching of the magisterium, in the particular instance exercised by the Holy Father in an encyclical letter".

However, of late a new view has taken hold among Orthodox writers and thinkers on this topic, which permits the use of certain contraceptive practices within marriage for the purpose of spacing children, enhancing the expression of marital love, and protecting health.

Among these Orthodox leaders, some teach that marital intercourse should be for procreation only, while others do not go as far and hold a view similar to the Catholic position, which allows Natural Family Planning on principle while at the same time opposing artificial contraception.

At the 1958 Lambeth Conference it was stated that the responsibility for deciding upon the number and frequency of children was laid by God upon the consciences of parents "in such ways as are acceptable to husband and wife".

[64][65] The Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Baptist denomination in the world and largest Protestant denomination in the United States, initially welcomed the invention of birth control and legalization of abortion, but the rise of the Moral Majority 1980s and increased opposition to abortion led to a more nuanced view which generally approves of contraceptives but rejects abortifacients.

Artificial insemination is generally accepted, however, all measures by which life may be destroyed by human selection are rejected.The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America allows for contraception in the event the potential parents do not intend to care for a child.

[70] The United Methodist Church holds "each couple has the right and the duty prayerfully and responsibly to control conception according to their circumstances".

Its Resolution on Responsible Parenthood states that in order to "support the sacred dimensions of personhood, all possible efforts should be made by parents and the community to ensure that each child enters the world with a healthy body, and is born into an environment conducive to realization of his or her potential".

[71][72] In 1936, the Christian Reformed Church "adopted an official position against birth control...based on the biblical mandate to be fruitful and multiply, and in keeping with this reasoning the church discouraged birth control and encouraged married couples to produce as many children as is compatible with the physical, spiritual, and mental well being of the mother and children".

In a recent resolution endorsing insurance coverage for contraceptives, the church affirmed, "contraceptive services are part of basic health care" and cautioned, "unintended pregnancies lead to higher rates of infant mortality, low birth weight, and maternal morbidity, and threaten the economic viability of families".

[75] The Conservative Congregational Christian Conference, a denomination of the Congregationalist tradition, is opposed to abortifacients as it teaches "the biblical position of the sacredness of life from conception until natural death".