THIS Holds Back the Pro-Life Cause Like Nothing Else

I have been a sidewalk counselor for years outside abortion centers across the country.

As a result, I have had some memorable conversations with people regarding abortion.

One common complaint I hear while out on the sidewalk is this one: if only she had used her birth control, she wouldn’t be here. Sadly, while this seems statement is plausible, there remains an irony in those words, as well.

Most pregnant women who end up at an abortion clinic have engaged in intercourse while maintaining what Pope Saint John Paul II called “the contraceptive mentality” (Evangelium Vitae [‘The Gospel of Life’], 13). That is, they have separated in their minds the act of intercourse from the possibility of having children.

This is what contraception use teaches its users. In other words, those who use birth control disconnect the conjugal act from any resulting baby. After all, that is the purpose of using contraception. Contraception seeks to make sex possible without the conceivability of having kids. (Pun intended.)

Thus, people train themselves that contraceptive sex means sensual pleasure without the consequence of a child to raise. Pretty soon, however, many people make the small leap in their minds that sex itself (even without contraception) can be, and even should be devoid of babies.

Before contraception became vogue, a pregnancy was a logical possible outcome to having sex. Thus, those who had an unplanned pregnancy felt a duty to carry to term their preborn child. But today this obligation has been virtually eradicated by popular culture. Women are told these days they have no moral obligations to their preborn children. They are legally free to have them killed for any reason.

We have a culture that has enshrined contraception into the fabric of our everyday life. Its use is taken for granted as a literal birthright for women. It is seen as the great equalizer against men, allowing both sexes to enjoy fornication without the need to worry about any progeny resulting.

Given how widespread its use is, to challenge its usage would appear to be crazy. Sadly, even among folks who consider themselves pro-life against abortion embrace birth control as a moral good.

However, until pro-lifers unite in condemning contraceptive sex, the pro-life cause will continue to do a simultaneous double-speak, weakening its message.

When contraceptive sex is promoted as a moral alternative to abortion, at least three immoral outcomes are then promoted. First, and most importantly, the risky behavior that leads to the majority of abortions is being stimulated.

Think about it. In effect, those who suggest contraceptive sex as a moral substitute for abortion are encouraging, or at least not dissuading people from engaging in risky sexual behavior.

Even abortion practitioners recognize that the number of abortions they perform is directly tied to the use of contraceptives. In fact, the Guttmacher Institute—Planned Parenthood’s research arm—found over half the mothers seeking an abortion were using contraception the month they became pregnant! The rate is even higher in other studies.

Secondly, and in fact, urging couples to use birth control actually emboldens them to have more intercourse. This is logical, because those who use contraception think themselves immune from conception taking place. Thus, they participate in sexual activity at a higher frequency than they would have if they were not “protected.”

The third immoral outcome of encouraging contraceptive sex remains that it does not cure the root of the problem. That is, rather than promoting virtues like chastity and self-control, using contraception allows people to give in to their indulgences and appetites for carnal pleasures.

It is no coincidence that the rate of abortions skyrocketed once contraception use became mainstream. Time and again, studies have proven that abortion rates rise when contraception use goes up. And you don’t need to read long, scientific studies to see the causality.

Just ask your local college fraternity if their sexual activity grows with the ease in access to condoms and other contraceptives. More sexual activity leads to more cases of pregnancy. Even if the sexual activity involves contraception use, remember that no contraceptive is 100% effective.

Thus, more contraceptive sexual activity means more instances of contraceptives failing. As more people engage in contraceptive sex, so grows the number of people who buy the contraceptive mentality: sex and procreation can be divided.

For the pro-life message to be consistent, its adherers need to stop promoting or allowing contraceptive sex to be a viable alternative. We cannot expect our message to be persuasive when we say someone may and even ought to engage in sexual activity with the intention of avoiding any resulting baby from being conceived.

Both the pro-lifer and the abortion supporter have already agreed on the premise that children can be and even ought to be avoided in sexual activity.

For, if this mentality is permissible, then do you see how much harder it is to argue that the murder of an undesired baby is immoral?