Marie Jermine B. Celaje Maezel T.

Villafuerte

Birth control
Is a regimen of one or more actions, devices, sexual practices, or medications followed in order to deliberately prevent or reduce the likelihood of pregnancy or childbirth. There are three main routes to preventing or ending pregnancy: the prevention of fertilization of the ovum by sperm cells ("contraception"), the prevention of implantation of the blastocyst ("contragestion"), and the chemical or surgical induction or abortion of the developing embryo or, later, fetus. In common usage, term "contraception" is often used for both contraception and contragestion. The history of birth control began with the discovery of the connection between coitus and pregnancy. The oldest forms of birth control included coitus interruptus, pessaries, and the ingestion of herbs that were believed to be contraceptive or abortifacient. The earliest record of birth control use is an ancient Egyptian set of instructions on creating a contraceptive pessary.

The promoters of artificial birth control often proclaim their allegation that contraception 'helps' married couples to be 'happy.' But the evidence is clear that this is not the case. Even as early as four years after contraceptives were first tested, researchers found that marriages in which contraceptives were used were twice as likely to end in divorce than marriages in which there was no contraceptive use. (Grant MD, Ellen Sexual Chemistry: Understanding Our Hormones, The Pill, and HRT. Mandarin Paperbacks, London, 1994.) By contrast, those couples who use NFP and are open to having children, have some of the lowest divorce rates of any group in the U.S.!

We might wonder, why is contraception harmful to marriages? The reasons are many. When sex becomes solely an act for pleasure, with no chance of having children, often a user mentality of one's marriage partner evolves. One or both partners can become selfish, and that selfish behavior can lead to other problems in the relationship. Artificial birth control also opened the door for an increase in pre-marital sex and adulterous relations. The statistical evidence demonstrates that couples that live together are twice as likely to divorce once married as couples who don't live together before marriage. Adultery is a common reason cited for divorce. Our Lord, who forbids such behavior, knew the emotional and physical pain such actions cause!

WHO USES CONTRACEPTIVES? Virtually all women (98%) aged 1544 who have ever had intercourse have used at least one contraceptive method. Overall, 62% of the 62 million women aged 1544 are currently using one. 31% of the 62 million women do not need a method because they are infertile; are pregnant, postpartum or trying to become pregnant; have never had intercourse; or are not sexually active. Thus, only 7% of women aged 1544 are at risk of unwanted pregnancy but are not using contraceptives. Among the 42 million fertile, sexually active women who do not want to become pregnant, 89% are practicing contraception.

TEEN CONTRACEPTIVE USE Teenagers (aged 1519) who do not use a contraceptive at first sex are twice as likely to become teen mothers as are teenagers who use a method. 27% of teenage women using contraceptives choose condoms as their primary method. Condom use declines as women grow older and marry. Of the 3.1 million teenage women who use contraceptives, 53% more than 1.5 million womenrely on the pill. 45% of teenage women who practice contraception use condoms, either alone (19%) or with another method (25%).

TRENDS IN CONTRACEPTIVE USE The proportion of women aged 1544 currently using a contraceptive increased from 56% in 1982 to 64% in 1995, and then declined slightly to 62% in 2002. The proportion of women who are at risk of unwanted pregnancy but not using a method increased from 5% in 1995 to 7% in 2002. Among teenagers who are sexually active and able to become pregnant, but do not want to become pregnant, the proportion who are not using contraceptives has remained steady at about 7%. But older women are now more likely to fall into this category, with an increase from 5% in 1995 to 8% in 2002 among 2529-year-olds and from 4% to 7% among 3034year-olds. The proportion of women using contraceptives who rely on condoms decreased between 1995 and 2002from 20% to 18% among all women and from 30% to 23% among never-married women. However, use was still higher among both groups in 2002 than it was in 1988.

 Between 1995 and 2002, the proportion of use accounted for by the pill increased slightly, from 27% to 31%. 27% of contraceptive users relied on female sterilization in 2002, compared with 28% in 1988 and 1995. The proportion of all users relying on the diaphragm declined from 6% in 1988 to 2% in 1995, and to nearly zero by 2002. On the other hand, the proportion of all users relying on the IUD increased slightly, from less than 1% in 1995 to 2% in 2002.

REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH BILL

Where Do You Stand?

The Catholic Church only supports "natural" birth control, such as avoiding sex on the most fertile days of a woman's cycle. The church views artificial contraception as immoral and has "long prevented any efforts" for government funding for such methods, the Monitor reports. A Pulse Asia poll conducted in the fall of 2008 found that 63% of respondents support the bill and that only 8% percent opposed it, with the remaining undecided on the issue. Edcel Lagman, the bill's key sponsor in the House, said the "influence of the Catholic Church has steadily weakened, just like in other countries." He said, "People are now more independent in their attitudes and their beliefs, and the ultraconservatism of the church doesn't jibe with the progressive ideas of the people."

Supporters of the bill say it will help prevent illegal abortions through better access to family planning resources and address poverty by reducing overpopulation. They point to data showing that as many as 500,000 Filipino women have abortions each year, with about 80,000 going to the hospital because of complications. Although the bill does not provide funding for abortion, the Catholic Church and other opponents argue that it could lead to legalized abortion. Father Amadeo Alvero, media coordinator of the Archdiocese of Palo, dismissed the results of the Pulse Asia poll and said that the "truth of the evil of the [bill] cannot be changed," no matter how many people support it.

HOW DOES THE USE OF UNNATURAL BIRTH CONTROL AFFECT MARRIAGE?

In general, it has a negative effect. The growing use of unnatural birth control since 1913 has been accompanied by an almost 500% rise in the divorce rate. Among Catholics, the divorce rate formerly was much lower than the national average, but the divorce rate has risen sharply since the mid-1960s when Catholics began using unnatural birth control at about the same rate as the rest of a culture that is no longer Christian. Even if other factors have contributed to the breakdown of family stability, there are ample indicators that the use of unnatural birth control has been a significant factor.

In our age, the use of the pill and other methods of artificial birth control has become quite common. Birth control is encouraged in schools, and is routinely suggested by many doctors. Yet for a Christian who is using or thinking these methods, or is thinking about the issue of birth control, we should be asking ourselves this question: "What does God want?" To answer that question, we will examine a number of Bible verses that will show us what Gods desires are when it comes to birth control and having children. We will also look at the impact and some of the logic behind birth control practices.

Be Fruitful and Multiply

Genesis 1:27-28

And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. And God blessed them; and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.

Fruitfulness in the marriage act is a command from God that is repeated numerous times in the Bible (for instance Genesis 9:1 and Genesis 35:11). The use of contraceptives violates the heart of this command as this is an attempt to prevent couples from being fruitful and multiplying. Nowhere in the rest of the Bible is this command retracted, we've seen that it was re-emphasized by Jesus our Savior, and therefore remains a command for us all. God is great, powerful, almighty, and loves us. He will not desert us! God is a Father who keeps His promises! He gives us a command to be fruitful and multiply and God will provide. We should put faith in the words of our Father and seek to obey his commands, in all things.

Children are a gift of the Lord

Psalm 127:3-5

Behold, children are a gift of the Lord; the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children on ones youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them; they shall not be ashamed, when they speak with their enemies in the gate.

We often pray for this or that blessing from God, too often, we shut the door when He might give us such a blessing. The gift of life is one of God's greatest blessings! It can be one of life's greatest challenges. In having children, we can better understand God, who tries to gently guide us into making the right choices in life, just as loving parents try to help their children make good decisions too.

Childlessness and barrenness are unfortunate

Hosea 9:10-17; Exodus 23:25-26; Deuteronomy 7:13-14

In the Old Testament, God punishes Israel for corruption by preventing childbirth and pregnancies. God views this of contraception as a punishment, not a positive action. Selfinduced contraception is certainly not a great scientific accomplishment. Moses viewed being barren and avoiding children as sickness or a blemish.

Wasting Seed
Genesis 38:8-10

Then Judah said to Onan, Go in to your brother's wife, and perform your duty as a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother. Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so when he went in to his brother's wife, he wasted his seed on the ground in order not to give offspring to his brother. But what he did was displeasing in the sight of the Lord; so He took his life also.

In these verses, Onan was told by Judah to go marry his deceased brothers widow. His brother, Er, had been killed by God before he had any children. Onan was to produce a child who would carry on Ers name. As spelled out in these verses, Onan was unwilling to raise up offspring that would not be considered his, and went in to his brothers wife and afterwards wasting his seed. As a result of this action by Onan, God killed him also. God killed Onan for wasting seed, a contraceptive act.

Other Sexual Offenses

In the first five books of the Bible, the death penalty is an action to be meted out for about twenty offenses. Several of these relate to sexual matters. The sexual matters which are condemned can be broken down into two parts:
(1) Those that are forbidden due to who the sexual partner is (i.e. adultery, incest, close relatives, etc.); (2) Those that are forbidden because of the act in itself.

Withdrawal/Wasting seed (Genesis 38:8-10) Male homosexual intercourse (Leviticus 20:13) Male bestiality (Leviticus 20:15) Female bestiality (Leviticus 20:16) Intercourse with a menstrous woman (Leviticus
20:18)

Pre-conception
Hebrews 7:9-10

"And, so to speak, through Abraham even Levi, who received tithes, paid tithes, for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him."
Job 10:8-11

"The hands that fashioned and made me altogether, and wouldst Thou now destroy me. Remember now, that Thou hast made me as clay; and wouldst Thou turn me to dust again? Didst Thou not pour me out like milk, and curdle me like cheese; clothe me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinew?"

Post-conception
Isaiah 44:2

"This is what the Lord says- He who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you"
Psalm 139:13-14

"For You created my innermost being; You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made."
Isaiah 49:1,5

"Before I was born the Lord called me..." "And now the Lord says-He who formed me in the womb to be His servant..."
Job 31:15

"Did not He who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same One form us both within our mothers?"

It would seem that God views children as part of a continuing process, from the time they are in the loins of their parents until the time they are born. Those that practice birth control are eliminating the possibility of future children of God. He is with us from the beginning. He loves us from our conception! He knows us from the beginning of time. Do we really want to oppose God's will? Some argue that if God really wants the children to be born, He would go past any contraception measures and give His gift of the children He really wants being Almighty God, He is in control . After all, He can make children out of rocks.

Looking at some analogies, would this same argument work if we put a gun at our temple and pulled the trigger? If our Creator really wanted us to be here, He would cause the gun to malfunction, right? Or if we decided to commit adultery, God would stop us if He really had a problem with it right? The examples could go on and on. The point is that Lord gives us the ability to have children in Godly ways and tells us to be fruitful and multiply.

Faith and Good Works

1 Tim 2:15

"Yet women will be saved through

bearing children, if she continues in faith and love and holiness, with modesty."

By keeping God's commandments and continuing in faith and love and holiness, Paul says we will be saved. Paul isn't saying that women having children will in itself provide salvation, but those who reject childbearing, when married, reject the good works Paul says accompany salvation. This statement echoes Jesus in Matthew 19:17: "If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments." Jesus is not preaching salvation by law and works, He teaches the law of love. Love God with all your heart and soul and love your neighbor. If a person is truly a Christian, good works will accompany him to eternal life.

It takes three to have a successful marriage: the husband, wife and God. We know that God is omnipresent, so He is also present during any marital act. God created sex for two purposes, unitive and procreative. Our Creator made sex pleasurable, as a blessing of marriage and also to insure the fruitfulness of the human race. There are times of the month and times in our lives when the procreative aspect is not possible, but this is part of our Maker's plan. Since periods of natural infertility are God ordained, the use of natural family planning (NFP) is morally acceptable.

The Catholic Church's Second Vatican Council dealt with this topic in this way:
"By that human act whereby spouses mutually bestow and accept each other, a relationship arises which by divine will and in the eyes of society too is a lasting one . . . A man and a woman, who by the marriage covenant of conjugal love 'are no longer two, but one flesh' (Mt 19:6), render mutual help and service to each other through an intimate union of their persons and of their actions ... Christian spouses have a special sacrament by which they are fortified and receive a kind of consecration in the duties and dignity of their state Parents should regard as their proper mission the task of transmitting human life and educating those to whom it has been transmitted. They should realize that they are thereby cooperators with the love of God the Creator, and are, so to speak, the interpreters of that love" (Gaudium et Spes, 48, 50)

Christian Unity and the Birth Control Issue Jesus said in John 16:13 "But when He comes, the Spirit of truth, He will guide you to all truth."

Until the Lambeth conference in 1930, all Christian churches condemned birth control as sinful. Today, the Catholic Church is virtually alone in holding to this ancient belief, as one denomination after another has accepted artificial contraception. This should be a troubling fact for many who believe in Scripture. Instead of birth control being an issue that divides believers, the beauty and benefits of following the Lord's will should lead believers into union with the Church that Jesus founded.

Marriage is a permanent relationship created by God and entered into by the free consent of man and woman. It is a relationship of love and service, and it is a Christian sacrament. "The intimate partnership of married life and love has been established by the Creator and qualified by His laws. It is rooted in the conjugal covenant of irrevocable personal consent.. .

"By that human act whereby spouses mutually bestow and accept each other, a relationship arises which by divine will and in the eyes of society too is a lasting one . . . A man and a woman, who by the marriage convenant of conjugal love 'are no longer two, but one flesh' (Mt 19:6), render mutual help and service to each other through an intimate union of their persons and of their actions ... Christian spouses have a special sacrament by which they are fortified and receive a kind of consecration in the duties AND DIGNITY OF THEIR STATE" (GAUDIUM ET SPES, 48).

Contraceptives treat children like a disease. Modern society often views them as things to be avoided so that must take medicine or have surgeries to avoid them. More often than it should be, it is more an occasion of condolences than congratulations. We should once again, individually and as a society, look at children in the Scriptural way, as a blessing from above!

If a hatred or fear of children causes a human being to practice contraception, love is lost; If self-centered desires for commodities stifle a desire to form a community within a family where children are welcome as gifts from God, love is lost; If the murder of innocent children continues to be the norm for those whose "choice" of contraception may cause abortion or lead to abortion, love is lost. We should deny the moral acceptability of artificial contraception and we endorse the moral use of natural methods for spacing children and for trying to have children. The Government should work to outlaw any form of "contraception which kills a human being once that baby's life has begun at conception/ fertilization. Everyone is called upon to review the material available, the studies that have been done and the reality of God's most precious gift to man and woman-the ability to procreate, to participate with Him in bringing into this world children created in His image and likeness.

Young couples need to learn about marriage as a covenant, and marital intercourse as the celebration of that covenant. They need to learn to communicate about their needs and desires, to discipline themselves when necessary, and to enjoy themselves fully in their sexual relationship.

No woman can call herself free who does not own and control her body. No woman can call herself free until she can choose consciously whether she will or will not be a mother.

Promote reorientation of Married Couples about the use of Natural Method as a way of Family Planning. Conduct seminars in different barangays about the use of the different Natural Methods for Family Planning. Strengthen the Campaign against Pre-marital Sex in different schools, thus reducing the use of Contraceptives. Promote good and informative Sex Education in secondary schools to increase awareness on the disadvantages of being involved in PMS and the accompanying spiritual punishment on the use of Contraceptives.

The duty of a Catholic, then, is to learn what the Church teaches about human sexuality, marriage, and birth control. Catholics also ought to study these teachings, preferably with other Catholics and qualified teachers, reflect on their meaning, and prayerfully consider before God how to put these values into practice in their own concrete situation in marriage and family life.

http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARRIAGE/CCLBC .TXT http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/141 973.php http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/talk ofthetown/view/20080803152296/Reproductive-health-bill-Facts-fallacies http://chatna.com/theme/birth_control.htm