Visitors to our CANFP exhibit often stop and peruse a brochure we offer, perhaps curious as to the answer to the provocative question it poses:What do the Supreme Court, Planned Parenthood, and Mother Theresa all agree on?They need only read as far as the subtitle to learn, it is the connection between contraception and abortion. Of course, while all three of these sources recognize the link between contraception and abortion, their perspective as to the significance of that link, and how best to respond, illuminates their drastically different perception of the problem, and the solution.
Planned Parenthood asserts “the sharp distinction between abortion and contraception is more an ideological construction than a logical response to client’s needs. Abortion and contraception services must be integrated rather than dichotomized.”
What is interesting about the Supreme Court perspective is the understanding that contraception actually changes our perception of self: “In some critical aspects abortion is of the same character as the decision to use contraception…for two decades of economic and social developments people have organized intimate relationships and made choices that define their view of themselves and their places in society, in reliance on the availability of abortion in the event that contraception should fail.”
Planned Parenthood understands the connection, and concludes it is critical to integrate the two services. The Supreme Court concludes we must have abortion, precisely because we have come to rely on contraception.
And Mother Theresa? I doubt any are unfamiliar with her thoughts on the topic. “In destroying the power of giving life, through contraception, a husband or wife is doing something to self….it destroys the gift of love in him or her.” She goes on to say “Once that living love is destroyed, abortion follows very easy.” Her solution? “the husband wife must turn the attention to each other, as happens in Natural Family Planning, and not to self, as happens in contraception.”
Despite this consensus from all sides on the connection between abortion and contraception, in my experience exposing this link in presentations, whether the audience is lay, healthcare professionals, or clergy, always invites at least one angry, aggressive response. Once at a Catholic Medical Guild meeting, I was approached after my brief talk by a “pro-life” OB/GYN so angry that I even mentioned NFP that he could barely speak. He said it was precisely because he was pro-life, and did not do abortions, that he believed in contraception. My suggestion the two are related only further enraged him.
It is not an uncommon misconception among “pro-lifers” that contraception is at the very least necessary, and in the minds of some, even good, as they believe it will prevent abortions.
The facts indicate otherwise. And in reality, many forms of contraception are not just linked with abortion behaviorally, or philosophically, but are actually themselves abortifacient.
If we want to reduce abortions, then we must empower women, and men, by educating them about their fertility. Young women who understand how their bodies work, are knowledgeable about the phases of their menstrual cycle, and have a certain comfort level with reading their own bodies, will be less vulnerable to exploitation by clinics targeting them for contraception. And their confidence in the integrity of their own bodies and their concrete experience of their fertility, inspires a deeper sense of appreciation and respect, forming a foundation for integrating the authentic connection between fertility, sex and babies, and a conviction to reserve the expression of it within the lifelong bond of marriage.