← Contraception
Romans 2:14-15
Catholic Perspective
Paul teaches that even though the Gentiles don’t have God’s revealed law in the Decalogue, they still have the capacity by the natural light of human reason to know what is right and wrong. The law that is “written on their hearts” to which Paul refers is the natural moral law, a moral law inscribed within the very fabric of our human nature that is accessible to reason alone. This is why Paul says that the Gentiles “do by nature what the law requires.”
Contraception is one of those acts that a person is able to judge as wrong by appealing to this law “written on our hearts.” How do we come to such a judgment? In short, we judge contraception to be wrong because it rejects the order of our human good.
In general, the good for human beings is determined by the ends inherent in human nature. So, for example, humans are ordered toward the end of self-preservation. Therefore, it’s good for humans to preserve their own existence. Humans are ordered to know the truth; thus it’s good to have knowledge of the truth. Humans are ordered toward peaceful living in society. Therefore, it’s good to avoid harming each other unnecessarily.
From this it follows that what is good for us in the sexual arena is the achievement of the ends of our sexual faculties. What is bad for us is the use of these faculties in a way that actively frustrates their ends.
Since the ends that nature ordains our sexual faculties toward are procreation and unitive love, what is good for us with regard to our sexual faculties is to use them only in a way that is consistent with these ends. This necessarily follows from the metaphysics of the good sketched above. To use our sexual powers in any way that is contrary to their natural ends (e.g., masturbation, contraception, sexual activity among members of the same sex, pornography, fornication, adultery, etc.) is no more good for us than it is good for an oak tree to fail to sink its roots deep into the ground and take in nutrients.
And since it belongs to human beings as moral agents to pursue the good and avoid evil, and contraception violates our human good, it is immoral (morally wrong) to use any form of contraception.
