Contraceptives

Introduction
 Introduction
● Contraception is the prevention of pregnancy.
● Contraception is also known as birth control and it allows couples to plan the
timing of pregnancy.
● Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012
○ Law mandating the government to promote, without bias, any and all
forms of effective natural and modern methods of family planning that are
medically safe and legal.

(National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2017)

 History
People have always been trying to prevent the occurence of
pregnancy in numerous ways.

It started since the time of the ancient Egyptians up to the

present.
History: Ancient Egyptian
- Women used to rub
crocodile dung on
their cervix to
prevent pregnancy
- They would cover the
“mouth of the womb”
with a sticky barrier
to block the sperm
History: Medieval, Renaissance,
Early Modern Times

- Women were using

herbal contraceptives
to prevent their
pregnancy
- They were accused of
witchcraft and were
burned alive for such
practice
- Glans condoms were
also used by upper
class Asians
 Advantages
● To prevent pregnancy related health-risks in women
● Reduction of infant mortality
● To prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases
such as HIV/AIDS
● To empower people and to educate them
● Reduction of adolescent pregnancies
● To slow down population growth
Statistics
Foreign
Local
Perspectives
Psychological Perspective
 Psychological
● Introduction of the contraceptive pill in the 1960s was a major milestone for
female empowerment
○ Allowed women to separate sex from procreation
○ Increase female participation in work outside the home
● More than 100 million women use the oral contraceptive pill to prevent
unwanted pregnancies or to control their menstrual periods.
● Most common reason why women stop or change the pill itself is because of
the mental side effects

(Kulkarni and Gurvich, 2018)

 Psychological
● Depression is one of the most prevalent mental disorders
○ Affects twice as many women as men
○ Estimated that one in four women will experience depression in their
lifetime
○ Only few are aware of the link between the usage of the pills and
depression
● A study showed that women taking oral contraceptive pills were more likely to
be depressed than non-pill users

(Kulkarni and Gurvich, 2018)

 Psychological
● Psychologists do not discourage using contraceptives
● Women and their doctors need to be more aware that hormone contraceptives
can contribute to mental health problems
○ Consult with professionals should they experience mental health side
effects.

(Kulkarni and Gurvich, 2018)

Medical Perspective
 Medical
● Most Ob-Gyn physicians generally support the usage of contraception
● Some physicians had ethical reservations to specific contraceptive methods
○ Some would refuse to provide specific contraceptives
● Most physicians consider Natural Family Planning (NFP) as a poor option
○ Study showed that physicians had negative assessment of NFP
○ Support of religious physicians can be attributed as much to familiarity as
to religious motivations

(Lawrence et al., 2012)

 Medical
● Religious physicians would likely object/withhold some types of contraceptives
○ Many Catholic physicians had no qualms about its usage and would
provide the birth control if patients requested.
○ Most physicians, even those with objections to some contraceptives,
would offer a contraceptive method if a patient had requested for it.
■ Consistent w/ the position made by the American College of Ob/Gyn
● All patients must have access to all forms of legal and standard
treatment options.
(Lawrence et al., 2012)
 Medical
● Religious physicians would likely object/withhold some types of contraceptives
○ Most physicians who would deny a contraceptive request acted not
because of a moral or ethical objection, but it was for other reasons.
■ Efficacy
■ Compliance
■ Familiarity

(Lawrence et al., 2012)

 Medical
● Only few Ob/Gyn physicians would object to one or more of the contraceptive
methods
○ If one method was problematic for both parties, doctors were willing to
offer alternatives until an agreement was reached
○ Religious physicians were more likely to consider Natural Family Planning
as a more reasonable option as compared to artificial contraception
● There does not seem to be a significant source of division amongst the
Ob/Gyn physicians.
(Lawrence et al., 2012)
Moral Perspective
 Islam
● Strongly pro-family; Regard children as gifts from God
● Muslim sexual ethics forbid having sex outside of marriage
● Eight out of the nine traditional schools of Islamic law permit contraception
○ Conservative leaders campaign against the use of any birth control
○ Contributes to the ineffective population planning
○ Islams who were in favor of promoting contraceptives were reluctant to
make a declaration as they feared reprisals from conservative scholars

(BBC, 2009)
 Islam
● No direct reference/prohibition in the Qur'an
○ Many Muslim scholars approve of family planning
● Some believe birth control should be forbidden as the Qur’an contains the
command to “procreate and abound in number.”
○ Argue that only God can decide the number of children
● Supporters say that most Muslim authorities permit contraception if it will be for
preserving the health of the mother or the overall well-being of the family

(BBC, 2009), (Stacey, 2019).

 Islam
● Early Sunni Muslim literature discussed various contraceptive methods
○ Revealed that the practice of azl/withdrawal was morally acceptable
■ Practiced by the prophet Muhammed
○ Other contraceptive that does not produce sterility are morally similar to
azl and as such, they are accepted.
● Islam puts emphasis on procreation within the family as a religious duty
○ Unanimous rejection of sterilization and abortion

(Stacey, 2019)
 Islam
● Islamic traditions permit the usage of birth control
○ Maternal health is the issue
○ Well-being of the family will be compromised
● Islamic faith places high priority human life
○ Being able to space out the births allows the mother to have time to care
for each child
● Birth control is supported for economic reasons as it helps protect the mother’s
life and allows her to provide for her children.
● Muslims also have a belief that contraception helps in preserving the
attractiveness of the wife, thereby increasing the enjoyment of the marriage

(Stacey, 2019)
 Buddhism
● Believe that it is wrong to kill anyone for any reason.
○ It is acceptable if it helps in preventing the conception of a person
○ If it prevents the development of the fertilized egg, this act is seen as
morally wrong
■ Belief that life begins when the egg is fertilized
■ Birth controls that kill the fertilized egg and prevent implantation are
highly unacceptable as they harm the embodied consciousness.
● Not strongly pro-family; Having children is not a religious duty
● They have objections with the pursuit of sensual desire
○ Indicate that Buddhists who are actively seeking enlightenment should not
use contraception as a means to pursue sexual pleasure
(BBC, 2009)
 Buddhism
● Traditional Buddhist teachings favor fertility over birth control
● Some may accept all forms of contraception with varying degrees of hesitation
● Belief about the duties of the parent
○ Importance of parents in taking care of their offspring, so as they have a
good quality of life.
● It can be said that Buddhist teachings support appropriate family planning
○ When people begin to feel that more children would cause much burden
on themselves or their environment.
● Buddhists believe that family planning should be allowed and that the
government itself should provide support and services

(Stacey, 2019)
 Roman Catholic
● Only major religion in the United States that forbids the usage of contraception
● Teaches its people that sex should be both unitive and procreative
○ Reason why it is against chemical and barrier methods of contraception
○ Claim that artificial contraceptive methods would impede the procreative
aspect of sex, making it sinful.
● Natural family planning is the only contraceptive method that is officially
sanctioned by the Church.
● The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that sex has a twofold purpose
○ Good of the spouses and the transmission of life

(Stacey, 2019)
 Roman Catholic
● Most Catholics disagree with the prohibition of birth control
○ Surveys show that approx. 90% of sexually-active Catholic women would
use a birth control method that is forbidden by the Church
● Christian ideas mostly come from Church teachings rather than Scriptures
○ Teachings on birth control are based on the interpretations of marriage,
sex, and family
● For a Catholic couple to be faithful to the Church's teachings, they can only use
NFP
○ Many Catholics decided not to follow this which causes a substantial
breach between laity and the Church establishment

BBC (2009), (Stacey, 2019)

 Roman Catholic
● The Creation story is often cited to show that God disapproves of birth control
○ Mentions that God commanded the people to “Be fruitful and multiply,"
and contraception is seen as defiance to this instruction.
○ Supporters say that even if there is contraception, it has not prevented
people from being fruitful and multiplying
● The Bible never explicitly approves of contraception
○ Multiple passages in the Bible seem to accept that sex should be enjoyed
for other reasons than the production of children
■ Example: 1 Corinthians 7:3-5

BBC (2009)
 Roman Catholic
● The Church does not condemn the usage of pills or condoms by themselves
○ Morally wrong if these are used with the intention of preventing
conception
○ Using it for other purposes is acceptable
■ e.g. Using oral pills to regulate the menstrual periods of a woman who
is not in a sexual relationship

BBC (2009)
 Roman Catholic
● Church cites two reasons why they condemn contraceptives
○ Turns sex into a non-marital act
○ Gives humans the power to choose when a new life is to begin which is
supposedly only to be done by God
■ Church teaches that children are blessings from God, therefore,
married couples must always be open to God’s will for new life with
every act of marital intimacy.

BBC (2009)
 Roman Catholic
● NFP is the accepted method because it is not unethical or disobedient to God
○ Seen as a mechanism that God designed
○ Natural as it is based upon self-control which is a power God gave only to
human beings.
● NFP alone does not outrightly satisfy Catholic teaching about birth control
○ Motivation and purpose are also important
○ NFP must be used responsibly and not just for trivial reasons
■ E.g. It would be morally wrong to use family planning as an excuse for
a couple to spend their money elsewhere than caring for a child

BBC (2009)
 Roman Catholic
● Catholic arguments in favor of contraception reason out that contraception are
not based on sufficiently firm authority to be unchangeable
○ Most writings associated to contraception are actually about abortion or
infanticide
● Forbidding of contraception is only supported by the papal encyclicals and by
Church practice over a few hundred years
● Valid reasons as to why artificial contraception should be allowed
○ New medical developments and attitudes to women
○ New interpretation of the nature of sex within marriage
○ Danger of overpopulation

BBC (2009)
Conclusion
 Conclusion
● Contraceptive use is not morally wrong as long as the intentions and purposes
of its usage are inherently good.
● Many women decide on taking up contraceptives as a way to prevent
pregnancy-related health risks and to control their menstrual periods which by
nature have good intentions as they are only looking out for their health and
safety.
● Moreover, these kinds of usage do not violate any of the presented
perspectives about contraceptives