A Holistic View: Catholic Sexuality (Part 3)

Widespread acceptance of birth control is the root cause of a host of social ills in our country: promiscuity, divorce, abortion, gay marriage, and a loss of gender identity. And anyone who accepts birth control finds it logically difficult, if not impossible, to oppose any of these other social evils. 

In my last post, I outlined the philosophical reasons why birth control was sinful. It is now time to give a fuller explanation of the dark fruits of birth control.

The link between birth control and promiscuity is easy to explain. If the threat of an unwanted pregnancy is removed from the sexual act, it becomes much easier for a man and a woman to engage in casual intercourse without fear of consequences. It allows men to sleep with women without the responsibility that a child might be conceived, and gives women the illusion of being able to tempt and to seduce men without consequences.

Given the illusion of risk-free intercourse, many more men and women will choose to undertake the sexual act. And since birth control makes pleasure the first goal of sexual intercourse, men and women will seek this pleasure more often, and be more likely to seek to engage in intercourse with multiple partners.

The major disincentive to promiscuity, unlawful pregnancy, is rendered ineffective by contraception. Promiscuity is an obvious consequence of birth control.

The link between birth control and divorce is also easy to explain. I discussed the divisive nature of birth control and how it changes the act of intercourse in my last post. Birth control creates a fundamental divide between a married man and woman; couples who use contraception use each other for sexual gratification rather than desire each other for their own sake. This disconnect is revealed in the skyrocketing divorce rates that came about after the widespread rise of contraception during the sexual revolution.

Also, relationships with children – families – are more likely to survive marital troubles than relationships without children. Children tend to cement a bond between a couple; a married man and a woman are more likely to stay together in times of trouble, in order to keep a stable family. A couple with no children is more likely to split, because the partners have less incentive to hold a relationship together.

But the links between birth control and the others may initially be difficult to see. At first glance, birth control and abortion may seem different from one another. Contraception prevents pregnancy, while abortion terminates pregnancy.  

But in reality, birth control and abortion are two sides of the same coin. They each have the same ends in mind – the prevention of human life from being born and the removal of the “curse” of fertility from the sexual act. 

Abortion is merely “cleaning up” where birth control fails. The failure to prevent pregnancy in birth control is “taken care of” by abortion. And since birth control is often ineffective, abortion is a handy backup to have in case pregnancy ensues.

(Planned Parenthood, which is the chief proponent of birth control in this country, also happens to be the largest provider of abortions in the United States.) 

Acceptance of birth control also removes the major defense against homosexuality and "gay marriage." If intercourse is solely for the purpose of pleasure, as modern society advocates, then very few viable arguments left against homosexuality remain. The defenders of traditional marriage have practically lost the battle against homosexuality if they accept the pleasure premise of intercourse.

Birth control is the foundation of the premise that fertility doesn’t matter in a sexual relationship. It is at the root of the “pleasure principle” in sexual intercourse today. The acceptance of this principle effectively destroys the Christian worldview regarding the nature of sexual intercourse. If only pleasure remains as an end of intercourse, then there is no harm in two consenting adults – of whatever gender – engaging in intercourse of any type. Birth control thus destroys the basis for a logical argument against homosexual acts.

The loss of gender identity in society and calls for women priests are based in birth control, as well. Through contraception, a woman theoretically has the same easy access to sex without consequences that a man has. In effect, the woman who uses contraception to prevent contraception seeking to become more “man-like” in her sexual behavior – she can engage in the sexual act without the fear of pregnancy.

The Holy Grail of feminism, the idea that women have all the pleasures of manhood without any of the consequences, can only achieved only if the role of motherhood is rejected. “Equality” with men, in a feminist’s mind, is in reality sameness. Birth control, with its removal of motherhood and its "evening of the sexes" regarding sexuality, is at the root of this feminist notion. Men and women are rendered "equal" sexually by birth control - and that "equality" logically extends everywhere else, if birth control is accepted.

"Women priests” are a logical extension of this idea of “gender equality.” Divorced from the idea that men and women were created by God equal in dignity but possessing different roles, women priests are merely another measure of the demand for equality among feminists. After all, if women are “equal” to men (translation: the same), shouldn’t they have the same rights as men?

As these examples prove, human sexuality divorced from the plan of God is destructive – and the fruits of birth control are many and awful indeed.