TLDR: Humanae Vitae

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the release of Humanae Vitae.  This was the papal encylcical which, in the face of mounting pressure to the contrary, reaffirmed the Church's teaching against contraception, sterilization, and abortion.  It is a document which effects my life every single day.

However, it can be a bit lengthy for some folks.  So I've decided to give it the same treatment I give the Epistles in my book, Too Long Didn't Read.  Today I'll be reducing Humanae Vitae down to 1/5 its size for those who want to dip their toes in.

Catholics and "Providentialism"

A friend of mine recently encountered a Catholic who is critical of Natural Family Planning.  His complaint was:

“Why bother trying to take control of family planning?    No child comes into existence without God's agency.  Why don’t you just trust in the will of God?”

The man was espousing a philosophy known as “Providentialism”.  And today I want to discuss why it ought to be avoided.

Is the Church Contradicting Itself by Banning Abortion AND Contraception?

As pretty much everybody knows, the Catholic Church stands firmly against abortion.  What often confuses people is how the Church could then go on to be against contraception too.  Every now and then I'll hear a person say:

"If the Church was really  against abortion, it would be the biggest proponent of contraception.  Properly used, contraception has the power to prevent unwanted pregnancies - thus eliminating the need for abortion.  So it is working cross-purposes in banning both."

That's what I wanted to look at today.

Is the Church Inconsistent on Family Planning?

In 1967 Pope Paul VI released encyclical called Humanae Vitae.  The document upheld the perennial (and traditionally Christian) teaching that contraception was contrary to the moral law.  However, the same document goes on to endorse "natural means" of postponing the conception of children.

Humanity has long known that a woman's menstrual cycle has spaces of fertility and infertility.  Couples have used this fact to space out children by not having sex during the fertile periods.

In the past this was done through the "Rhythm Method".  It relied on averages and personal menstrual history to guess where a woman is in her cycle.  Its usefulness and reliability have well-known limitations.

A more modern method is called Natural Family Planning (NFP).  It also uses abstinence during fertile periods, but relies on various biometric markers to identify signs of a woman’s fertility.  This method is far less dependent on a woman's regularity and – (when practiced rigorously) - achieves levels of certainty equivalent to modern forms of contraception.

And again, this method is approved by the Catholic Church.

Some people see the Church’s approval of NFP as arbitrary and inconsistent.  They will commonly object:

“When non-Catholics want to have sex without having a baby, they use contraception.  When Catholics want to have sex without having a baby they use natural family planning.  It’s the exact same thing.”

Well... is it?