“The poison pill that is contraception”
By Father Joseph Klee
Printed October 15, 2006, in the Catholic Times (our diocesan newspaper)
“That same selfishness that wants to prevent the child by contraception will grow until it wants to kill the child already conceived” – Blessed Mother Teresa.
A most bold and provocative initiative was staged recently at a conference hosted by the Pro-Life Action League, of Chicago, IL. The conference’s title, “Contraception is Not the Answer,” was the idea of the league’s founder, Joseph Scheidler, who has received national recognition in recent years, for his victories in the U.S. Supreme Court, following lawsuits against him by the overtly anti-life N.O.W. (National Organization of Women).
Just when many would lament that the “Culture of Death” (the term coined by the late Pope John Paul II) was the law of the land, with the daily killing of 3,600 innocent children in the U.S. being tolerated for more than 30 years, one might think that the issue of contraception was a settled matter. However, as evident in the perceptive wisdom of Blessed Mother Teresa, seen in the aforementioned quote, the abortion Holocaust was inevitable, with abortion serving ultimately as a “safety net” for contraceptive “failures” (as though the divinely intended contraception of a new human life could ever really be seen as a “failure”).
This sociological reality, along with the disturbing fact of the potential abortifacient nature of the oral contraceptive pill, give cogent urgency to a re-examination of the use of contraception in our society.
Father Thomas Euteneuer, president of Human Life International set the tone for the conference with his talk entitled “The Infertile Soul: Contraception’s Influence on Faith and Society.” He has extensive international experience tracking the consequences of the inflicting of “Contraceptive Imperialism” on countless innocent cultures and simpler societies. As he explained, peoples untainted by Western materialism have naturally assimilated the divine command of Genesis 1:28 (to be “fruitful and multiply”), and, unlike cultures corrupted by contraception, see children as a cherished blessing.
Hence, the likes of Planned Parenthood, the United Nation’s UNFPA, UNICEF and other such anti-life entities conspire against such societies by using Malthusian scare tactics, saying that they have “too many children” – something such peoples are unaware of, until being told by so-called government experts. By gradually inducing a sense of fear and loathing of children, the stage is slowly set wherein abortion can eventually be successfully introduced.
Detroit Sacred Heart Seminary Professor Dr. Janet Smith left conference attendees awestruck with her talk “Hormones ‘R’ Us: How Contraceptives Alter Human Relationships.” She related findings on the powerful and extensive hormonal implications of numerous contraceptive agents.
Although one would expect a treatment on contraception to be predictably Catholic in perspective, the talk by Dr. Allan Carlson, president of the Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society, and self-described “Cradle Lutheran,” was a riveting expose of Reformer-originated Protestant perspectives on contraceptive practices.
Martin Luther himself obviously took Genesis 1:28 very seriously, as he fathered six children – edifying proof of his vehement eschewing of contraceptive practices, and a fact which might amaze Catholic sensibilities.
Luther was scathing in his condemnations of contraceptive practices, citing the biblical condemnation of the contraceptive act of Onan (Genesis 38:9-10).
The German reformer’s teachings even showed his understanding of the contraception-abortion link. Carlson related similarly-amazing scorn of contraception by fellow Reformers John Calvin and John Wesley.
The array of presenters typically had a spiritual basis and approach to their respective examinations of contraception, with a couple of exceptions.
Andrew Pollard is an Englishman with extensive consultancy experience in demographics, who floored the audience with an alarming global overview of the effects of contraception on population trends, “Societal Suicide: The Profound Demographic Impact of Contraception.”
Although many of the states (not all) of the U.S. are barely at replacement-level birthrates, he cited a very disturbing statistic from 2005, namely that for the first time in our nation’s history, one state, West Virginia, had more deaths than births.
Overall, however, Europe is in much worse shape. The aging of that continent was summed up well by Russia President Putin, who recently declared, “We are becoming a senile nation.”
Pollard alluded to the depopulated situation in Germany, citing that certain rural areas in that country are now seeing the growing presence of packs of wolves, as nature reclaims territories formerly dominated by man.
If one believes that massive immigration to supposedly “developed” countries is the answer, the presenter noted the terrible damage that such trends are having in the immigrants’ countries of origin. The Health Minister of the African nation of Malawi noted that the “brain drain” of that country’s medical personnel “is killing our people.”
Pollard alluded to the irony of First-World nations’ inflicting of family-destroying “Contraceptive Imperialism” on the societies of the very countries from which the immigrants are coming: Before long, such countries will themselves be depopulated, and thus unable to provide any more immigrants to the wealthier nations! Meanwhile, in the more affluent countries, the big question currently is “Who is going to pay the taxes to pay the pensions of those who contracepted?”
Although initially hailed as a benefit to our world, contraception is proving to be a cultural curse and nightmare. Its spiritually damaging dimensions, identified centuries ago even by non-Catholics, is also becoming increasingly evident. Happily though, demographic trends are showing the simple fact that it’s the morally grounded and generous people of today’s world that are tenaciously resisting the poison pill of contraception, and will be the only people surviving and repopulating the earth in the future. Our Lord knew what He was talking about when He promised that “The meek will inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5).
