The Catholic Church and Birth Control
Birth Control and the Church
How did the Catholic Churches opinion change on birth control from the 1930s to the 1960s? I became interested in this topic when I went on birth control when I was nineteen years old. I had, had very painful periods sense I was fifteen, but was never allowed to go to the doctor because my parents did not want me on birth control for several reasons, but mostly religious reasons. When I finally moved out on my own, I made the decision myself to see a doctor and was in fact put on birth control and my periods completely stopped. Fastforward to earlier this year my roommate who also grew up religious decided she wanted to go on birth control she asked what I suggested because she had heard that it is healthier to have a period. I stated that this was false information and that the only reason they require pills that allow you to menstruate is because the Catholic Church was uncomfortable with the idea of women not having periods. And so, my curiosity was peaked.
On New Year’s Eve 1930, the Roman Catholic Church officially banned any “artificial” means of birth control. (American Experience, The Pill) They went as far as to even ban condoms. They considered it a “mortal sin” to tamper with the male seed and considered it murder. The church believed that if you were willing to have intercourse then you should be willing to take the risk of bringing a child into the world. (American Experience, The Pill) The issue that doctors and the government was running into at the time was the death rate of children and mothers were extremely high. The National Archives Catalog has a recording called the “march of time.” In this recording they talk about how they started noticing that young men were not growing to be as strong and healthy as was expected because their families could not afford to feed them. They stated that the church had the right to their opinion but that it was an uneducated one and that something needed to change. (National Archives Catalog. “march of time” 1934–1951)
The opinion of the church did not change for a long time in 1959 the Catholic times published an article where the pope at the time condemned the United States for using tax payer money to send birth control to in underdeveloped countries. The pope stated that the U, S, should help these countries but not like this. (The Catholic Times, December 04, 1959) On July 25, 1968, Pope Paul VI stunned Catholics around the world with his announcement of Humanae Vitae, “Of Human Life,” a document in which he forcefully reaffirmed the church’s previously stated position in the use of artificial birth control, calling it “intrinsically wrong.” (NPR, 1968: How we got here) The Pope though it was a wrong to decide how many children got brought into the world and this was something that should be left up to God. By this time at least half of catholic women were using birth control and at least two out of three women were on birth control to regulate pregnancy. Families felt that they had a right to decide how big their families were despite what the church said. (NPR, 1968: How we got here) The catholic church was not able to uphold the ban on birth control much longer after this. And by 1972 the Supreme Court removed the ban on single woman taking birth control. (The Washington Post)
