Rejecting Humanae Vitae: The Social Costs of Denying the Obvious

Since contraceptives have been used to remove fertility from the conjugal act, the social consequences predicted in the encyclical Humanae vitae, such as the rise in cohabitation, decline of marriage, rise of divorce, and single parenthood, have exceeded expectations. The degradation of the sexual act from total mutual self-giving to momentary union has led to doubting the significance of the biological truth of the body and opened the door to gender fluidity. Promiscuity became normative, and the need for consent became eroded until women revolted with the #MeToo movement. Promiscuity, cohabitation, and divorce have resulted in 40 percent of children born to unmarried parents whose tenuous unions often leave the children in melded and dysfunctional families. Relation-free “hookups” have become the norm among young adults, leaving a flood of emotionally damaged women, an epidemic of sexually transmitted infections, and unplanned pregnancies, to which the healthcare industry has responded by doubling down on the means which caused the problem in the first place with near-coercive promotion of long-acting, reversible contraceptives (LARCs). LARCs must be inserted and removed professionally and make reproductive choice moot. Respecting the truth of the body is the precise counter measure. A woman’s cyclic fertility is easily observed with reliable biomarkers—natural family planning—which requires the whole person. Fertility awareness–based methods of family planning have no side effects, are easy to learn, and can be used to achieve as well as delay conception. The self-discovery inherent in learning fertility literacy has empowered adolescent girls and boys to understand and value their sexuality and fertility and avoid choosing harmful behaviors. Why does society continue to treat fertility as if it were a disease? Summary: Removing the idea of pregnancy from the sexual act as the result of readily available contraception has effectively limited choices about sexual behavior to the satisfaction of momentary desires. As Humanae vitae predicted, fewer marriages were contracted, divorce increased and now 40% of children are born out of wedlock despite extensive public education campaigns to promote contraception. Side effects of the hormonal pill have reduced their use so health care professionals have doubled down, providing long acting contraceptives which do not require the user to exercise choice before each act of intercourse, or of taking a pill. There is a much better way to regulate births–to learn to read the book of nature. Fertility is not a disease to be removed from the body. All that is needed is to understand the natural signs of fertility–natural family planning, now called FABM–Fertility Awareness-Based Methods. These have no side effects, enhance couple communication and offer effective choice for child spacing and demonstrably support premarital chastity for teens.