Contraception: Panacea or Poison?

Many Catholics argue about the answer to this question: Is contraception good or bad, a panacea or a poison? As a lifelong Catholic and medical doctor, my answer to this question has changed over time. I have always known that the Church says “NO” to the use of contraception. I haven’t always known, however, why the Church denounced this practice. Now I know the answer. The Church (and her representatives) speaks on behalf of God. When God says “Don’t”, He is ultimately saying, “Don’t hurt yourself”. It wasn’t until I witnessed the harmful consequences of contraception firsthand that I began to rethink my answer to the above question.

I was taught in medical school that the birth control pill served as a kind of panacea, a tool that allows us to address many different problems that women bring to us in the exam room. It helps to treat acne, it eases the pain of menses and it helps avoid unwanted pregnancies, among other benefits. Why wouldn’t I prescribe such a helpful drug? I was taught that there were “rare” harmful side effects that could result but would just need to be tolerated because the benefits generally outweighed the risks.

Over time, I began to question whether this was good medicine. Working in a primary care clinic, I began to encounter numerous young women who were dealing with the harmful effects of hormonal birth control such as blood clots, cancer, stroke, and high blood pressure. Worst of all, there were many cases of sexually transmitted infections and countless numbers of women suffering emotionally as a consequence of their decision to engage in sex with the wrong person. Was I really helping these women by prescribing a pill that could lead to this kind of suffering?

It was at this point that I began to study what both faith and science taught about contraception. I wondered whether the Church had been right all along to advice against the use of birth control. When I learned that combined oral contraceptives were determined to be Class 1 carcinogens by the World Health Organization in 2005, I felt betrayed. Why had I not read about this in medical literature or learned this from trusted colleagues? This revelation confirmed the reality of what I saw happening in the clinic. It turns out that the science confirms the truth of all that the Catholic Church has taught for more than 2000 years; contraception is bad medicine. It is poison for our bodies and its use too often brings about disastrous consequences in our relationships. Throughout my medical training, I was taught how to diagnose and treat many diseases, with the long-term goal always being the healing of patient. In the case of the birth control pill, it is the one place in all of medicine that we offer treatment with the intention to causing disease in an otherwise well-functioning system of our body.

Along my journey to discover the truth about contraception, I read Humanae Vitae by Pope Paul VI for the first time. I was shocked to realize that he accurately predicted what would become of our culture if the widespread use of contraception were accepted. He predicted several outcomes: an increase in marital infidelity, an overall lowering of moral standards, and the likelihood that men would more easily fall into the temptation to use women as a “mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires”. His final prediction relates to the ACA/HHS Mandate: “Who will prevent public authorities from favoring those contraceptive methods which they consider more effective? Should they regard this as necessary, they may even impose their use on everyone.” After considering how each one of these predictions has become reality, I made the decision to stop prescribing contraceptives in my practice and to offer healthy alternatives. My prayer is that others, especially physicians, will decide to embark on a similar journey of asking the right questions about contraception and then to have the courage to accept and live out the truth that they discover.