"In this way, as hindering the begetting of
children, there is the 'vice against nature,' which attaches to every venereal act from
which generation cannot follow; and, as hindering the due upbringing and advancement of
the child when born." - St. Thomas Aquinas ("Summa Theologica" 13th
century A.D.)
"And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went
in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled [it] on the ground, lest that he should give
seed to his brother. And the thing which he did displeased the Lord: wherefore he slew him
also." - Genesis 38:9-10
"He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not
enter into the congregation of the Lord." - Deuteronomy 23:1
"And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the
transgression. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in
faith and charity and holiness with sobriety." - 1 Timothy 2:14-15
What the Catechism of the Catholic Church says on
"Contraception:"
2370. "Periodic continence, that is, the methods of birth regulation based on
self-observation and the use of infertile periods, is in conformity with the objective
criteria of morality. [HV 16.] These methods respect the bodies of the spouses, encourage
tenderness between them, and favor the education of an authentic freedom. In contrast,
'every action which, whether in anticipation of the conjugal act, or in its
accomplishment, or in the development of its natural consequences, proposes, whether as an
end or as a means, to render procreation impossible' is intrinsically evil. [HV 14.] Thus
the innate language that expresses the total reciprocal self-giving of husband and wife is
overlaid, through contraception, by an objectively contradictory language, namely, that of
not giving oneself totally to the other. This leads not only to a positive refusal to be
open to life but also to a falsification of the inner truth of conjugal love, which is
called upon to give itself in personal totality.... The difference, both anthropological
and moral, between contraception and recourse to the rhythm of the cycle . . . involves in
the final analysis two irreconcilable concepts of the human person and of human
sexuality.[FC 32.]"
COMMENTS
All Protestant denominations considered artificial contraception a sin up
until the Anglican Lambeth Conference of 1930. At that conference, the
Anglican Communion decided that artificial contraception was no longer a sin and the rest
of mainstream Protestantism followed suit.
Contraception 