A Reflection on Humanae Vitae at 55
Transgender ideology continues the War on Children begun by our Culture's embrace of the practice of and mentality behind contraception
On July 25, 2018, a coalition of Catholic laity and clergy, centered in Philadelphia and including Archbishop Charles Chaput, issued a Declaration to observe the 50th Anniversary of Humanae Vitae, which is listed below. A key sentence in this Declaration reads, "By contradicting God's plan that links conjugal love to procreation, contraception has become the root of the Culture of Death." The many manifestations of this Culture include promiscuity, abortion, in-vitro fertilization, embryonic stem cell research, the sale of body parts from aborted babies, and "same-sex marriage."
Now, five years later, these manifestations have not only continued, but have metastasized to include transgender ideology. This ideology denies Christian human anthropology, viz., that human beings are created in God's image and unified in body and soul, as male and female. This ideology threatens the safety of women in shelters, prisons and locker rooms; undermines female privacy and sports; indoctrinates school students; denies parental rights, as well as the religious and civil liberties of all citizens; further corrupts the medical and teaching professions; enriches the pharmaceutical industry, as well as Planned Parenthood, and foments physical attacks on public figures. The harms of this ideology culminate treating children as a target for sterilization by chemical castration and/or surgical mutilation.
The spiritual evils of contraception, both chemical and surgical, include
- undermining the Genesis 1:27 teaching that the male-female difference reflects God's Triune Image;
- repeating the Sin in the Garden that we humans get to determine good and evil;
- betraying the wedding vows exchanged by husband and wife; and
- rejecting children as a gift.
Through extensive research available on many websites, such as One More Soul (www.OneMoreSoul.com), and by admissions of the manufacturers of contraceptive drugs in their pharmacy inserts, the harms of contraceptive drugs include significantly increased rates of breast cancer, stroke, and heart disease, as well as depression.
The following is a review of the connection between the manifestations of the Culture of Death, the War on Children and contraception, which treats children as a burden.
Promiscuity
By allegedly "eliminating the risk" of pregnancy by preventing ovulation, the use of contraception encourages premarital sexual relations, which treat children as an unwelcome complication. Now, about 90% of abortions are committed on unmarried women and about 65% of abortions are committed on women who were using contraceptive drugs, from which breakthrough ovulation can still occur.
Abortion
Abortion itself is the direct and intentional killing of a child in the womb and thus treats children as an enemy.
Also, because contraception encourages promiscuity and a mentality that children are a burden, which contracepting women were "responsibly" attempting to prevent, the killing of a child in the womb by abortion becomes much more easily justified - and frequently done.
Finally, most contraceptive drugs also have an abortifacient effect. They thin the lining of the uterus, so if conception occurs from breakthrough ovulation, the new human embryo cannot implant in his or her mother's uterine wall.
In-Vitro Fertilization
Those couples seeking to conceive a child who practiced or accepted contraception (the use of which increases infertility), did not view children as a gift of procreative conjugal love. Instead, they view children as a right and become quite willing to tolerate the harms of in-vitro fertilization, (both to the child and the mother) including the intentional creation of "excess" human embryos which are then frozen and/or destroyed.
Embryonic Stem Cell Research and Aborted Baby Body Part Sales
In the contraceptive mentality, where children are not a gift, they can also become a tool to be dissected for their stem cells after human embryos are thawed.
Even many proponents of "embryonic stem cell research," allegedly done to cure certain diseases, now recognize that such "treatments" not only fail, but risk cancer. Also, adult stem cell treatments have produced some amazing cures.
The view of children as a tool also leads to "in vivo abortions" in which children are delivered alive at 24-26 weeks gestation to harvest their "fresh" organs (especially livers) for sale to "researchers." The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's "Hidden History" page on the Pa. Pro-Life Coalition's website provides additional details on this practice.
"Same Sex Marriage"
The acceptance of conjugal relations closed to procreation through contraception easily leads to accepting homosexual behavior, which is not ordered to procreation, as the social, legal and moral equivalent to marital relations.
Civil marriage, as defined as one man and one woman, has existed primarily for the benefit of children in recognition of the reality that the interests of children are best served by being raised by a mother and a father. Since contraception promotes the view of children as a burden, rather than as a gift, "same sex marriage" treats the tangible needs of children as secondary to the emotional desires of their "same sex parents."
Summary
The widespread practice of and mentality behind contraception in our culture has resulted in the treatment of children as
- a burden (contraception);
- an unwelcome intrusion (promiscuity);
- an enemy (abortion);
- a right (in-vitro fertilization);
- a tool (embryonic stem cell and aborted baby body parts);
- having tangible needs secondary to the emotional desires of adults ("same sex marriage"); and
- a target for sterilization (transgenderism).
Conclusion
Resistance to transgender ideology requires many efforts in many areas by many individuals and/or organizations that do not directly address and/or recognize the harms of contraception. Nevertheless, since transgenderism is a manifestation of the Culture of Death, with its root being contraception, the success of this resistance needs to include articulate and courageous teaching about the harms of contraception, as well as the zealous promulgation of St. Pope John Paul II's Theology of the Body, which does provide an adequate human anthropology to defeat the Culture of Death and to build a Culture of Life.
Michael J. McMonagle is the President of the Pro-Life Educational Foundation and the Founder of Generation Life.