The Contraception Deception and the Link to Abortion
“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.” Jer 1:5
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him.” Eph 1:3-4.
What is the Holy Spirit saying to the Catholic Church in America at a time when a murderous abortion holocaust of enormous proportions has swept the land? The following perspectives will invite the vast majority of Catholics, both laity and clergy, to repent of the actions and inactions that have contributed to the growth of this evil amongst us.
During the decade before and after the founding of this web site in 1999, each day about 4,000 babies were surgically aborted nationwide. As of 1992, thirty- five million [1] were killed since the infamous Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision of 1973 which, for the first time, allowed abortion on demand at any time during pregnancy. About 1000 babies, or one quarter of the national total have been aborted in California every day, even though California has only one sixth of the country’s total population.
Since the Supreme Court decision, millions of heroic people have prayed, marched, campaigned, preached and pleaded to bring about an end to this atrocity through the political and legal process. While many small victories have been achieved, freedom of abortion is still the law of the land. People who have attempted to rescue a child from being murdered in an abortion mill have been arrested, imprisoned for years and have been sued for removal of all of their cash and property. Those confiscated funds are used by the abortionists to build more “clinics”, buy more equipment and perform more abortions. What has become quite apparent is that Christians in general and Catholics in particular have not had the influence on this problem that their numbers would demand.
Consider the following statistics:
About 22% (60 million) of the nation is Catholic [2] . Yet, exit polls at abortion mills indicate that Catholic women are as likely as women in the general population to have an abortion [3] . Being Catholic does not seem to make a difference!
In 1992, about 44% of the country voted for Bill Clinton, despite his well known strong pro-abortion position. About 44% of Catholics who voted, voted for Bill Clinton [4] . Being Catholic did not seem to make a difference. Bill Clinton twice vetoed the partial birth abortion act. Furthermore, 66% of Catholics said that President Clinton’s April 1996 veto of the bill to ban partial birth abortions would either made no difference in their choice between Clinton and Bob Dole in the presidential election - or that it would make them more likely to vote for Clinton. Just after Clinton vetoed the partial birth abortion bill, Catholics preferred Clinton over Dole by 58% to 33%, despite Dole’s well-known pro-life position [5] . After the 1996 election, exit polls showed that 53% of Catholics who voted, voted for Clinton [6] .
In 1998, in our own state of California, 58% of the total votes for Governor went to Gray Davis. Gray Davis avidly promoted his pro-choice (pro-abortion) public policy position and is now providing millions of dollars in the State budget to fund the abortion mills. Of Catholics who voted, 58% voted for Gray Davis for Governor [7]. Again, being a Catholic did not make a difference. The non-Catholic Christian vote for Davis was somewhat lower (47%), but still a poor testimony to pro-life values.
The distribution of thousands of pro-life pamphlets and voting guides in local churches and parishes throughout Los Angeles and Orange County in state and national elections for decades has yielded dismal electoral results for the pro-life cause.
In summary, Christians in general and Catholics in particular are not making it a top priority to vote pro-life. If 100% of Christians voted pro-life, along with the Jews, Muslims, non-believers and people of good conscience who are opposed to abortion, a pluralistic majority would prevail and efforts at the national level to end abortion would have been victorious a long time ago. Why has this not happened? The Christian church in general and the Catholic Church in particular has slipped into a blindness, silence and apathy that is thwarting resolution of the problem. The root of the problem is the contraception deception and its link to abortion. The wide practice of artificial contraception and the belief that it is acceptable is entrenched within the Church.
The situation in America is well described by the Archbishop of Denver who wrote in a pastoral letter "On Human Life" that the warnings of Pope Paul VI in his encyclical, Humanae Vitae [8] have been fulfilled. As forewarned, there has been a serious decline in morality, loss of awe for the procreation of life, loss of respect for life in general within the Church and society along with its concomitant advance toward euthanasia. Pope John Paul II has pointed out that this decline seems greatest in those parts of the world where the "Church's teaching on contraception is rejected." In essence, our nation began its spiritual decline toward abortion down the slippery slope of acceptance of artificial contraception.
In his 1998 address to bishops from California, Nevada and Hawaii, Pope John Paul II said "The teaching of Humanae Vitae honors married love, promotes the dignity of women, and helps couples grow in understanding the truth of their particular path to holiness. It is also a response to contemporary culture's temptation to reduce life to a commodity. As Bishops, together with your priests, deacons, seminarians, and other pastoral personnel, you must find the right language and imagery to present this teaching in a comprehensible and compelling way." (The emphasis is ours). In calling for a legal defense of human life from conception to natural death, the Pope said "What is at stake here is nothing less than the indivisible truth about the human person on which the Founding Fathers staked your nation's claim to independence. The life of a country is much more than its material development and its power in the world. A nation needs a soul. It needs the wisdom and courage to overcome the moral ills and spiritual temptations inherent in its march through history. In union with all those who favor a culture of life over a culture of death, Catholics, and especially Catholic legislators, must continue to make their voices heard in the formulation of cultural, economic, political and legislative projects which, 'with respect for all and in keeping with democratic principles, will contribute to the building of a society in which the dignity of each person is recognized and the lives of all are defended and enhanced' (Evangelium Vitae, 90). Democracy stands or falls with the values which it embodies and promotes (Evangelium Vitae, 70). In defending life you are defending an original and vital part of the vision on which your country was built. America must become, again, a hospitable society, in which every unborn child and every handicapped or terminally ill person is cherished and enjoys the protection of the law." [9] .
God has ordained the Church to be the moral compass for the world. When the Church (the people of God, both clergy and laity) fails in that mission, there is very little direction left. In many parishes, homilies on the evil of artificial contraception have been scarce for decades while the evil practice has mushroomed.
The Link Between Contraception and Abortion
The restoration of Catholic moral teaching from the pulpit and repentance by the laity of the practice of artificial contraception are of monumental importance. Here are five factors that link artificial contraception to abortion.
When one embraces artificial contraception, one makes the first denial of God’s will in the area of procreation. God’s plan for life is rejected.
Now, having denied God’s will once and having used a technological intervention to prevent conception, it is much easier to deny God’s will a second time and much easier to use a technological intervention to eliminate the consequences of conception - surgical abortion.
The birth control pill frequently acts as a chemical abortifacient. This is because it does not always prevent ovulation. Some ova break through and are fertilized but the newly formed human life dies because the pill renders the lining of the womb unsuitable for implantation.
In general, the reasons used by people in an attempt to justify an abortion, are the same reasons used in an attempt to justify the use of contraception.
Over 50% of all abortions are due to failed contraception.
In general, the consciences of Catholics need to be reformed. Far too many have fallen for the contraception deception. God, who loves us immensely, eagerly waits for our repentance. Only when this occurs, will our laws and institutions receive the power to put an end to the American Holocaust and restore legal protection for the unborn child.
We respectfully urge pastors and associate parish priests to dedicate a full homily, once per quarter (four times per year), at all weekend masses to the subject of contraception, abortion, euthanasia and respect for life. These teachings would be based on existing sound Church doctrine and would derive much of their inspiration from papal encyclicals such as Humane Vitae, Evangelium Vitae [10] and various pastoral letters from the pope and the bishops of the United States. The teachings would address some of the social and political aspects of the subject matter, particularly where those elements underscore the importance of the moral teaching and where they relate to the call for all Catholic men and women to join in the defense of truth and life.
The majority of adult Christians in general and Catholics in particular are in serious need of repentance of sins of artificial contraception. Since general awareness of this need is very lacking, the best opportunity for them to hear a message that will lead them to repent is during the homily or sermon at Sunday services. Because of the enormous magnitude of the problem, this message needs to be proclaimed frequently - at least four times per year.
Brian Murphy
God's Plan for Life
Coto de Caza, CA
March, 2000
References
[1] National Right to Life, http://www.nrlc.org; Source for statistics for 1973 through 1992: Stanley K. Henshaw, et al.,”Abortion Services in the United States, 1991 and 1992,” Family Planning Perspectives, vol. 26, no.3(May/June 1994), p. 101. 1994 Statistics reported in USA Today, August 14,1996, p. A17, attributed to the Alan Guttmacher Institute.
[2] PJ Kennedy & Sons, Official Catholic Directory 1996 (New Providence, NJ: R.R. Bowker, 1996)
[3] Stanley K. Henshaw & Kathryn Kost (Alan Guttmacher Institute), Family Planning Perspectives, vol. 28, no. 4(July/Aug. 1966); based on an AGI survey of 9,985 women obtaining abortions in 1994-95.
[4] Exit Polls:1992, Voter News Service.
[5] Los Angeles Times poll of 1,374 adults, 1,149 registered voters, April 13-16, 1996, MOE +/-3%; Catholic subsample 418, MOE +/-5%.
[6] Kellstedt, L.A., J. Green and J. Guth. Paper presented to the American Political Science Association Convention, Washington, D.C., 1997.
[7] “Portrait of the Electorate”, Los Angeles Times, November 5, 1998. Results of an exit poll of 3,693 voters from 60 polling places across California.
[8] Humanae Vitae, Encyclical Letter of His Holiness, Pope Paul VI, “Of Human Life”, July 25, 1968, Pauline Books and Media, Boston, 1968.
[9]ADDRESS OF THE HOLY FATHER POPE JOHN PAUL II TO THE BISHOPS OF THE EPISCOPAL CONFERENCE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (CALIFORNIA, NEVADA AND HAWAII) [Ad Limina] 2 October 1998.
[10] Encyclical Letter “The Gospel of Life”, Evangelium Vitae, John Paul II to the bishops, priests and deacons, men and women religious, lay faithful, and all people of good will on the value and inviolability of human life; Pauline Books and Media, Boston, MA 1995.