Catholic Church Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===={{anchor|Sex and contraception|contraception}}Contraception==== {{Main|Christian views on birth control#Catholicism}} {{see also|Catholic Church and HIV/AIDS|Religious response to assisted reproductive technology#Catholicism}} [[File:Paulaudenece1977.jpg|upright=0.8|thumb|[[Pope Paul VI]] issued ''[[Humanae vitae]]'' on 25 July 1968.]]<!--copied from [[Humanae vitae]] on 22 May 2016--> The church teaches that [[Human reproduction#Copulation|sexual intercourse]] should only take place between a man and woman who are married to each other, and should be without the use of [[birth control]] or [[contraception]]. In his encyclical ''[[Humanae vitae]]''<ref name="humanae">{{cite web|last=Paul VI|first=Pope|title=Humanae vitae|publisher=Vatican|year=1968|url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae_en.html|access-date=2 February 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110303114045/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae_en.html|archive-date=3 March 2011}}</ref> (1968), [[Pope Paul VI]] firmly rejected all contraception, thus contradicting dissenters in the church that saw the [[birth control pill]] as an ethically justifiable method of [[Birth control|contraception]], though he permitted the regulation of births by means of natural family planning. This teaching was continued especially by [[John Paul II]] in his encyclical ''[[Evangelium Vitae]]'', where he clarified the church's position on contraception, [[Catholic Church and abortion|abortion]] and [[euthanasia]] by condemning them as part of a "culture of death" and calling instead for a "[[culture of life]]".{{sfn|Bokenkotter|2004|pp=27, 154, 493–494}} Many Western Catholics have voiced significant disagreement with the church's teaching on contraception.<ref>A summary and restatement of the debate is available in Roderick Hindery. "The Evolution of Freedom as Catholicity in Catholic Ethics." ''Anxiety, Guilt, and Freedom''. Eds. Benjamin Hubbard and Brad Starr, UPA, 1990.</ref> Overturning the church's teaching on this point features high on progressive agendas.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Front Page |url=https://ten-commandments.org/ |access-date=8 November 2022 |website=Ten Commandments for Church Reform |language=en-US}}</ref> [[Catholics for Choice]], a political lobbyist group that is not associated with the Catholic Church, stated in 1998 that 96% of U.S. Catholic women had used contraceptives at some point in their lives and that 72% of Catholics believed that one could be a good Catholic without obeying the church's teaching on birth control.<ref name="cath_choice">{{cite web|url=http://www.catholicsforchoice.org/topics/prevention/documents/1998amatterofconsciece.pdf|title=A Matter of Conscience: Catholics on Contraception|access-date=1 October 2006|author=Catholics for a Choice|year=1998|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061011221417/http://www.catholicsforchoice.org/topics/prevention/documents/1998amatterofconsciece.pdf|archive-date=11 October 2006}}</ref> Use of natural family planning methods among United States Catholics purportedly is low, although the number cannot be known with certainty.{{refn|group=note|Regarding use of [[natural family planning]], in 2002, 24% of the U.S. population identified as Catholic,<ref name="adherents">[https://web.archive.org/web/19990508224844/http://www.adherents.com/rel_USA.html Largest Religious Groups in the USA]. Accessed 13 November 2005.</ref> but according to a 2002 study by the [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]], of sexually active Americans avoiding pregnancy, only 1.5% were using NFP.<ref name="cdc">{{cite journal|last=Chandra|first=A.|author2=Martinez G.M.|author3=Mosher W.D.|author4=Abma J.C.|author5=Jones J.|title=Fertility, Family Planning, and Reproductive Health of U.S. Women: Data From the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth|publisher=National Center for Health Statistics|journal=Vital and Health Statistics|volume=23|issue=25|year=2005|url=https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_23/sr23_025.pdf|access-date=20 May 2007}} See Table 56.</ref>|}} As Catholic health providers are among the largest providers of services to patients with [[HIV/AIDS]] worldwide, there is significant controversy within and outside the church regarding the use of condoms as a means of limiting new infections, as [[condom]] use ordinarily constitutes prohibited contraceptive use.<ref name="CNS.AIDS">{{cite news|title=Pope speaks out on condoms|work=The Catholic Leader|agency=CNS|url=http://catholicleader.com.au/news/pope-speaks-out-on-condoms_45117|date=29 March 2009|access-date=27 March 2017|quote=Pope Benedict XVI's declaration that distribution of condoms only increases the problem of AIDS is the latest and one of the strongest statements in a simmering debate inside the church... he was asked whether the church's approach to AIDS prevention—which focuses primarily on sexual responsibility and rejects condom campaigns—was unrealistic and ineffective... The pope did not get into the specific question of whether in certain circumstances condom use was morally licit or illicit in AIDS prevention, an issue that is still under study by Vatican theologians.}}</ref> Similarly, the Catholic Church opposes [[artificial insemination]] regardless of whether it is homologous (from the husband) or heterologous (from a [[Sperm donation|donor]]) and [[in vitro fertilization]] (IVF), saying that the artificial process replaces the love and conjugal act between a husband and wife.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Medical News Today|url=http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/38686.php|title=Pope Benedict XVI Declares Embryos Developed For In Vitro Fertilisation Have Right To Life|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081229164506/http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/38686.php|archive-date=29 December 2008}}</ref> In addition, it opposes IVF because it might cause disposal of embryos; Catholics believe an embryo is an individual with a [[soul]] who must be treated as such.<ref>Allen, John L., ''The Future Church: How Ten Trends are Revolutionising the Catholic Church'', p. 223.</ref> For this reason, the church also opposes abortion.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/abortion/respect-for-unborn-human-life|title=Respect for Unborn Human Life: The Church's Constant Teaching|publisher=[[United States Conference of Catholic Bishops]]|author=USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities|access-date=14 October 2021}}</ref> Due to the anti-abortion stance, some Catholics oppose receiving vaccines derived from fetal cells obtained via abortion. On 21 December 2020, and regarding [[COVID-19 vaccine|COVID-19 vaccination]], the [[Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith]] emitted a document stating that "it is morally acceptable to receive Covid-19 vaccines that have used cell lines from aborted fetuses in their research and production process" when no alternative vaccine is available, since "the moral duty to avoid such passive material cooperation is not obligatory if there is a grave danger, such as the otherwise uncontainable spread of a serious pathological agent."<ref>{{Cite journal|date=1 May 2019|title=Pontifical Academy for Life Statement: Moral Reflections on Vaccines Prepared from Cells Derived from Aborted Human Foetuses|journal=[[The Linacre Quarterly]]|language=en|volume=86|issue=2–3|pages=182–187|doi=10.1177/0024363919855896|issn=0024-3639|pmc=6699053|pmid=32431408}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|author=[[Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith]]|date=21 December 2020|title=Note on the morality of using some anti-Covid-19 vaccines (21 December 2020)|url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20201221_nota-vaccini-anticovid_en.html|access-date=23 June 2021|website=[[Holy See|Vatican]]}}</ref> The document states that receiving the vaccine does not constitute endorsement of the practice of abortion, and that "the morality of vaccination depends not only on the duty to protect one's own health, but also on the duty to pursue the common good."<ref name=":0" /> The document cautions further:{{blockquote|Those who, however, for reasons of conscience, refuse vaccines produced with cell lines from aborted fetuses, must do their utmost to avoid, by other prophylactic means and appropriate behavior, becoming vehicles for the transmission of the infectious agent. In particular, they must avoid any risk to the health of those who cannot be vaccinated for medical or other reasons, and who are the most vulnerable.<ref name=":0" />}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page