He Knew What He Was Doing

Pope Benedict XVI has declared the next twelve months as the “Year of Faith.” As we enter into this Year of Faith, natural family planning offers many areas of reflection to strengthen our faith in our loving God. God, the Author of Life and creator of all things, tells us that He is Love. On the sixth day of creation, He created us male and female, made in His image. Do we believe He knew what He was doing?

Over the past 50 years, our culture seems to be shouting that God somehow made a mistake when it comes to human love and reproduction. All around us, there seems to be the push that women were actually made wrong, and that in order to be fulfilled and loved, women need to be modified from God’s original plan. Although in the early 60’s it may have seemed logical to many that couples needed the power to modify their fertility to control family size, we now have decades of experience to see the cost of that path. The increasing percentage of couples using artificial contraception precedes the increased rate of both divorce and the number of abortions. It also predates the rise in cardiovascular death in women, at a time when the cardiovascular death in men was decreasing.  The rise in breast cancer also followed the rise in artificial hormone use and abortion.

The current political media spin for the HHS mandate deceptively promotes that to help women you have to give them something harmful to suppress their fertility.  Of course, they do not like to admit it is harmful. In fact, as more and more studies are published exposing the harms of contraception, editorials pop up, like the recent one in the New England Journal of Medicine, which states that although there are risks of stroke and heart attack, hormonal contraceptives are safe enough for women (NEJM, 6/14/12). Contraceptives are frequently justified by stating they are safer than pregnancy, implying that to not be using artificial contraception equates with having a risky pregnancy.    Fortunately, women who use natural methods of family planning are far safer than those on hormonal contraception, and when they choose to have a child, the pregnancies can be much safer than the unexpected pregnancies that occur when contraception fails. Women who chart are very aware of cycle abnormalities, and when present, they can seek medical investigation before they achieve a pregnancy to help promote healthier outcomes. They can also chart through the pregnancy, as mucus changes during pregnancy often give advanced warning if there is a risk evolving. Clearly, women empowered with the knowledge of tracking their fertility can have safer outcomes, both when trying to avoid or achieve a pregnancy.

God did not make a mistake when he made women. We can have faith the God of all creation knew what He was doing. Life and love are cherished gifts which are meant to always be connected.

The truth about natural family planning needs to get out. St. Catherine of Sienna stated “Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.” Have you asked God what He is calling you to be?  Now would be a good time.

God Bless America.