Pro-lifers and the contraception compromise
by Carder
… [I]t’s all right to have prayer rallies and demonstrations and even a big annual March — which gets absolutely zero coverage in the secular world — because the pro-life movement will never challenge contraception, which is the root of all this. It won’t challenge it because it would reveal the deep religious differences between many Catholics and many contraception-embracing protestants in the movement.
The quiet compromise in the movement that has taken place is: The lives of babies are more important than the larger truth. That is now the ironclad position of the pro-life movement, molded and shaped by a tenuous and false political ecumenism. And when that compromised position is brought to the table of the struggle with the united secular forces, a further compromise is exacted.
March and demonstrate all you want. We will just ignore you.
~ Catholic apologist Michael Voris, criticizing the pro-life movement’s internal compromise over contraception, Church Militant, May 15
[Image via rabinmartin.com]
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
Oh boy… Not this again.
I’m thinking Mr. Voris needs to be worrying about contraception-embracing Catholics before he starts worrying about those gosh darn problematic, wandering Protestants again.
Don’t worry; Voris digs against contracepting Catholics at least once a week. Often more.
We all need to worry about contraception.
We will not be a pro-life culture again until Catholics start obeying their moral law against contraception, and Protestants remember their forgotten morality against contraception, and secularists realize that contraception is just plain harmful to women, marriages, and society.
Human beings are not made for contraception. Human societies who embrace contraception end up on the trash heap of history.
I enjoyed a Sunday picnic of barbecued ribs with three young pro-life families. (One of the guests was Steve Karlen of 40 Days For Life, just returned from the Canadian March For Life).
There were also six little boys in the yard, an infant girl, and two pre-born girls on the way. Lots of talk about pro-life, NaPro Tech, raising kids and looking forward to more kids…. and observations of the unhappiness in their extended families. Aunts and siblings who contracepted down to one or two kids, divorces abound, couples who didn’t marry until late (when they are too old to enjoy bonding), and were nearly menopausal before the first kid was finally welcomed.
There are not enough cousins for their kids to know and play with.
And the grandparents generation (my own peers) seem so amazed at how happy the young people are with their growing families. Yet this is how we grew up…. with brothers and sisters and cousins galore. We rallied during tough times and helped each other through difficulties.
We’ve lost that stability that connection with our extended family brings.
America is profoundly rich, but we are suffering and dying as a nation. And it’s not because the “rich” are failing to share enough with the poor. It’s because the healthy families are not having enough kids.
When we spend time with the young, counter-cultural families who know the personal and cultural dangers of contraception… It becomes obvious, what a horrible mistake we have made.
“Oh boy… Not this again.”
Agreed. Also happy Victoria Day to you and any other Canadians reading this.
One of these days, religious anti-contraception pro-lifers will learn that no matter how much they dislike it and long for the good old days, people have attempted and succeeded in contracepting since humans realized sex causes pregnancy. The only thing unique about our culture is the ease of access to much more effective contraceptives.
“And it’s not because the “rich” are failing to share enough with the poor. It’s because the healthy families are not having enough kids.”
This isn’t true no matter how many times you say this. Having more children in the lower and middle class is correlated with less upward mobility and poverty. If you want to encourage traditional Christian values as a solution to poverty, you’d be a lot better off focusing on marriage, as that’s been pretty strongly correlated with less poverty if you control for the amount of kids.
And I think it’s odd to connect marrying late to not being able to bond with your spouse. I don’t understand, do you think older couples are incapable of having loving sex, or what?
DLPL said, “If you want to encourage traditional Christian values as a solution to poverty, you’d be a lot better off focusing on marriage, as that’s been pretty strongly correlated with less poverty if you control for the amount of kids.”
Agreed Jack! I am amazed at the number of people who point to things like homosexuality and the attempt to redefine marriage as “between one man and one woman.” That is an incomplete definition of Christian marriage. Christian marriage is between one man and one woman… FOR A LIFETIME, with only the exceptions noted in Scripture. Dr Meg Meeker offers pages and pages of evidence that divorce contributes to higher rates of: 1) poverty and 2) teen pregnancies and abortion.
oops, tried to edit, timed out, and it renamed me “undefined”. My sentence above should say, “I am amazed at the number of people who point to things like homosexuality and the attempt to redefine marriage, asserting marriage is “between one man and one woman.”
Yes Eric. It’s also one of my pet peeves when people focus on homosexuality as what’s destroying the institution of marriage. So…. The five percent of people who are gay are destroying everything, but the ridiculous amount of divorce and out of wedlock births isn’t contributing far more? It’s bad statistics, not to mention bias. And it’s not helping anything.
Del: Human societies who embrace contraception end up on the trash heap of history.
And the ones that don’t embrace it do too, Del.
Absolutely ditto Jack. Well said.
Human societies who embrace contraception end up on the trash heap of history. – name one. We could just as easily say that human societies who embrace eating end up on the trash heap of history.
Human societies who embrace cocktail umbrellas end up on the trash heap of history.
There are several ways by which a long-lived society can die.
Killing the children — and refusing to have children — is cultural suicide. And not just by demographic winter.
Human societies who embrace the wearing of clothing end up on the trash heap of history.
Killing the children — and refusing to have children — is cultural suicide. And not just by demographic winter. – good job that’s never happened then huh.
Deluded Lib Pro-Lifer says:
May 18, 2015 at 3:06 pm
One of these days, religious anti-contraception pro-lifers will learn that no matter how much they dislike it and long for the good old days, people have attempted and succeeded in contracepting since humans realized sex causes pregnancy. The only thing unique about our culture is the ease of access to much more effective contraceptives.
There has always been rape and murder, alcohol and drug abuse, child abuse and contraception. There has always been sin.
My point is that Christian cultures have always known that these things are wrong. The people doing it knew it was wrong. The culture thrived and grew, knowing right from wrong.
“The only thing unique about our culture” is that we have embraced the old vice of contraception as if it were a new virtue. Even Christians preach contraception to our children as if it were a good thing to do.
Since the First Century, all Christians have known that contraception is immoral. And so it was, until the 1930 Lambeth Conference. Within 35 years, Catholicism was the only Christian Church that remembered and held the ancient faith. Evangelicals accused Catholics of “making it up.”
So in 1968, Paul VI issued Humanae vitae — with four prophecies of what will happen to cultures who embrace contraception, based on our experience of human nature:
1) There is an overall lowering of moral behavior.
2) Women suffer a loss of dignity, becoming objects for the pleasure of men.
3) There is an increase in adultery, divorce, and children born outside of marriage.
4) Governments insert themselves in private family decisions regarding reproduction.
These have all come to pass in recent decades, as well as the rapid return of those ancient pagan practices of infanticide, euthanasia, open prostitution, and homosexuality.
But we are addicted to contraception. Just as an alcoholic blames his troubles on everything except his drinking, we are in denial about the effects of our contraception abuse.
There has always been rape and murder, alcohol and drug abuse, child abuse and contraception. There has always been sin. – contraception only falls into that category for a minority.
we have embraced the old vice of contraception as if it were a new virtue. Even Christians preach contraception to our children as if it were a good thing to do. – it’s only a minority who think otherwise.
4) Governments insert themselves in private family decisions regarding reproduction – the only way that is happening is by people such as yourself demanding the government insert themselves into peoples reproductive choices.
the rapid return of those ancient pagan practices of infanticide, euthanasia, open prostitution, and homosexuality. – bit of a loose grip on history you have there Del. Plenty of others have, do and will practice those things.
Del: Even Christians preach contraception to our children as if it were a good thing to do.
Even many of the ones who preach that it’s a bad thing use it themselves.
Human societies who embrace making big heaps of trash end up in history.
— and refusing to have children — is cultural suicide
Variations on this argument were made in the Roman Empire in the fourth and fifth centuries, when the catholic church began advocating childlessness and successfully pushed for the overturning of pro-family laws. Contemporary historians of Rome no longer think there’s anything to the argument.
“The culture thrived and grew, knowing right from wrong.”
That’s some amazing historical revisionism. I mean, I’m a Christian but I don’t have to pretend that the world was better under purported “Christian” cultures of the past. I mean, you’re Catholic, do you not know how Protestants and Catholics have gone back and forth oppressing and murdering each other (not to mention the non-religious and other religions), depending on who was in power? Christendom had some good things, and it’s true that Christianity itself has some awesome moral lessons and guidelines, but overall “Christian” cultures have not been successful at being better than others. I’ve not seen any evidence that it was anything like you say.
“1) There is an overall lowering of moral behavior.”
Nah, we just have different popular sins now. Back then domestic abuse, racism, etc, etc etc, were more popular. Now it’s non-marital sex and such. Same amount of immoral behavior, different popular sins. And shotgun weddings were quite common in previous eras, which suggests to me that people were getting busy, just making it “honest” after the fact.
“2) Women suffer a loss of dignity, becoming objects for the pleasure of men.”
So instead of being LITERAL property and objects, like women were in the past, they are now METAPHORICAL property and objects. Hmm.
I know there are a lot of scuzzy men and taken advantage of women, but I do think women choose casual sex, etc, quite often. I’ve seen it plenty. Women aren’t children unable to make their own decisions, though I do agree the objectifying and degrading culture probably contributes to some bad ones on both the parts of men and women.
“3) There is an increase in adultery, divorce, and children born outside of marriage.”
This is true, but it depends on culture, and contraception is only one tiny player in bigger issues. These things tend to be cyclical and different for different eras and places, whether contraception exists in great numbers or not.
“4) Governments insert themselves in private family decisions regarding reproduction.”
Bahaha. Considering the “contraceptive mentality” people often seem to want birth control illegal and such, I think that’s a bit rich. I really don’t see where you’re getting that the government is anyone’s reproduction right now. Isn’t the big complaint from the pro-aborts that we want to get the government in women’s uteri, implying the government is currently pretty hands off about it?
I think you have a terribly inaccurate, rose-colored glasses look at history. And I think you completely ignore completely horrifying things about the past to push your world view. You have the right to, but it’s simply inaccurate and wrong to me.
“These have all come to pass in recent decades, as well as the rapid return of those ancient pagan practices of infanticide, euthanasia, open prostitution, and homosexuality.”
None of these ever, ever went away, even under your hallowed Christendom. Infanticide just turned mainly into abortion becoming more common as it got safer, it’s easier to kill an unborn baby than a living one. Euthanasia persisted as well. Prostitution is called the oldest profession for a reason, it’s been found in literally every culture in every time. Homosexuality is a biological issue that will always exist in some numbers in every population, though people may make it more or less safe to be open about it.
Basically, you’re making the age-old mistake of faulty correlation and a bad grasp of history to push this idea that contraception is some gateway drug into horrifying morality. It’s just incorrect.