CONTRACEPTION IS NOT IN ACCORD WITH HUMAN NATURE
Acts that are not in accord with human nature , with God ’ s plans , predictably have bad consequences . One method of helping people be open to the Church ’ s teaching is to alert them to the bad consequences contraception has for individuals , for the culture and even the environment .
The case is quite easily made . Contraception has greatly contributed to the increased incidence of abortion and single parenthood . After all , contraception tremendously facilitates sex between partners who have no intention of having a baby . Since all contraceptives have a fairly high failure rate , an unwanted pregnancy is often the result . At present about one out in four babies conceived in the United States are aborted , and forty-two percent of babies are born to a single mother . Moreover , many forms of contraception occasionally work as abortifacients , by preventing the implantation of the newly conceived human being in his or her mother ’ s uterus . Contraception also facilitates cohabitation , which has proved to be a very bad preparation for marriage . Approximately half of all marriages contracted today are likely to end in divorce .
Who can calculate the harm done to individuals who are in and out of sexual relationships and in and out of marriage ? Who can calculate the harm done to babies born out of wedlock , to children affected by divorce ? More than eighty percent of children who experience longterm poverty come from broken or unmarried families .
More and more women are becoming painfully aware of negative health consequences of the chemical contraceptives ( see , for instance , Holly Grigg-Spall ’ s Sweetening the Pill ). The health risks of the chemical contraceptives have been known for a very long time and include weight gain , migraines , depression , and even death from blood clots . Estrogenprogestogen oral contraceptives are Group 1 carcinogens , a category shared by cigarettes and asbestos .
Moreover , contraceptives negatively affect the natural “ chemistry ” between males and females . Males and females exchange hormones called “ pheromones ” and these are the cause of the chemical attraction between them . These hormones are received through the olfactory nerves . Many women testify that one of the things that most attract them to a man is the way that he “ smells ”. Some studies show that males and females who are more biologically compatible — that is , those who are more likely to be able to reproduce with each other — are more attracted to each other .
CONTRACEPTION CAUSES WIDESPREAD DAMAGE
But hormones also affect our judgement and responses in other ways . Women who are on chemical contraceptives
4 Sacred Heart Major Seminary | Mosaic | Spring 2018
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