Birth control remains a hot-button issue in our Church and in our world, but like with many Catholic teachings, there are sometimes complications in our lives that make understanding and living out those teachings a challenge.
In this podcast, a 23-year-old woman tells Father Dave she’s been diagnosed with a Class C heart failure, which runs in her family. She has been advised by her doctor that her heart is not strong enough to sustain her through a pregnancy, and that getting pregnant could be fatal to both her and the unborn child. While the caller is not married or dating, her doctor has advised her that if she gets married in the future, she should take birth control to avoid getting pregnant. The caller wants to know how she can pursue the life she wishes to lead, eventually getting married and having a family, without going against Church teaching or jeopardizing her life. It’s not an easy question, but Father Dave has an answer.
Father Dave starts by clarifying her medical condition in regards to why she would be taking the birth control pill: “Sometimes there are certain [hormones] in birth control that can have other effects, [which] are prescribed for healing other ills that really have nothing to do with whether or not you have children… [But] your doctor is saying that you should do anything you can to not get pregnant because it would be dangerous for you to be pregnant.”
It’s a helpful place to start because for some women, taking birth control is medically advised in order to treat other conditions unrelated to fertility. In certain cases, this is permissible under Catholic moral norms thanks to the principle of Double Effect. However, the caller explains that in her case, taking a birth control pill does not treat her heart condition, other than to ensure she does not become pregnant. Therefore, taking the birth control pill would not be permissible under Church teaching.
However, Father Dave also clarifies that “birth control” is not synonymous in the Church’s eyes with “contraception.” So while taking contraceptive and/or abortifacient drugs are morally unacceptable, the Church does have an approved method of birth control. The Natural Family Planning or “NFP” method is approved by the Church, and, as Father Dave explains, “is statistically measured to be 98-99% effective when used properly.” While some critique the NFP method for being a more complicated and inconvenient process than taking a pill or using a contraceptive device, it is actually “just as, if not more effective, at making sure that [one doesn’t] conceive a child as any of the artificial methods on the market today.”
Father Dave counsels the woman that it does not go against her faith to avoid pregnancy in marriage due to a serious medical condition—because she could choose NFP, which the Church finds morally acceptable. Moreover, while NFP may take more effort than an artificial method, many couples herald NFP as a method that bonds them together more strongly.
(Original Air 01-10-17)