Though his thinking in general is deeply flawed, the philosopher Hegel is not far from the truth when he says in Philosophy of History that human history is one vast slaughterhouse. Despite repeated admonitions in God’s revelation that “thou shalt not kill,” the culture of death permeates society as never before. Pope John Paul II has issued countless warnings about this transcendent evil, as on February 14, 2001, when he said, “The promotion of the culture of life should be the highest priority in our societies. . . . If the right to life is not defended decisively as a condition for all other rights of the person, all other references to human rights remain deceitful and illusory.”
Two principal causes of the culture of death are abortion and contraception. Abortion means death to the unborn. Contraception has been described as “creeping death.” It is of paramount importance to assess the relationship between these two evils to formulate plans and strategies to promote the culture of life. Abortion and contraception are often intertwined in their intent. Abortifacients are often called contraceptives. Some comparisons can be made that indicate how the pro-life movement should proceed.
Abortion as Sin
Abortion is a grave sin against the Fifth Commandment of God: “Thou shalt not kill” (Ex. 20:13). “God alone is the Lord of life from the beginning until its end: No one can under any circumstances claim for himself the right directly to destroy an innocent human being” (Donum Vitae 5). The person murdered through abortion has the same right to life as those who conspire to kill him—his mother, the abortionist, and the politician who legislates the “right” to kill. To speak of one’s right over one’s body as justification for abortion is sophistry. There is not one body but two; not one person but two, both with an equal right to life. So the Church calls abortion an “unspeakable crime” (Gaudium et Spes 51). Since it is a grave sin, it carries with it, unless there is repentance, the frightful sanction of eternal death.
Abortion kills the body of the victim and mortally wounds the soul of the killer, but the soul of the victim is unharmed. That soul will live forever in God’s love, with the degree of happiness that God’s love and mercy bestows. The crime of abortion is nearly always a chain sin. A cluster of persons share the guilt—abortionist, assistants, office staff, hospital management, advertisers, politicians, and those who remained passive when they should have spoken or acted or prayed.
Contraception as Sin
Contraception is also a grave sin with the sanction of spiritual death. In this the Church’s teaching—speaking with Christ’s authority—has always been constant. Pope Pius XI, in the encyclical Casti Connubii (1930), wrote, “Any use of matrimony exercised in such a way that the act is deliberately frustrated in its natural power to generate life is an offense against the law of God and of nature, and those who indulge in such are branded with the guilt of grave sin” (31).
Numerous papal and episcopal statements underline the gravity of the sin of the contraceptive act. Here I quote only a few episcopal statements from the last century.
Contraception is “a vice against nature and a sin crying to heaven” (Bishops of Belgium, June 2, 1909).
Contraception is a “serious sin, a very serious sin, with whatever means and whatever way it occurs” (Bishops of Germany, August 20, 1913).
“The theories and practices which teach or encourage the restriction of birth are as disastrous as they are criminal” (Bishops of France, May 17, 1919).
“The selfishness which leads to race suicide with or without the pretext of bettering the species is, in God’s sight, a detestable thing. It is a crime for which, eventually, the nation must suffer” (Cardinal Gibbons on behalf of the U.S. hierarchy, September 20, 1919).
Contraception “whether within the married state or outside it, is an unnatural vice, sinning against the nature which the Creator bestowed upon us and therefore grievously displeasing in his sight”(Cardinal Bourne of Westminster, October 9, 1930).
“Contraceptive methods were, are, and always will be a sin. . . . It was reserved to our generation to glorify vice with the name of virtue” (Bishops of India, 1957).
Sanctions
Excommunication is the ecclesiastical sanction imposed by the Church on abortionists. In addition, “A person who actually procures an abortion incurs a latae sententiae [automatic] excommunication” (Code of Canon Law, canon 1397). It is within the authority of the Church to impose the penalty of excommunication on those who are cooperators in abortion in a more removed way, e.g., Catholic legislators who introduce, promote, or vote for laws whose primary purpose is pro-abortion.
In the matter of contraception, even abortifacient contraception, although there is no specific ecclesiastical penalty, there remains the supreme penalty of the loss of God’s grace. In some places and times there have been particular ecclesiastical penalties for contraception. In Spain in 1936, absolution from the sin of contraception was reserved to the bishop in eight dioceses (cf. Catholic Priests’ Association Newsletter, vol. III and IV [1972], 60). That there is an excommunication attached to abortion and not to contraception does not mean that the latter isn’t a grave sin. It means only that the good order of the Church as a visible society is more obviously disturbed by the former.
Numbers
Who can compute the number of abortions? God alone knows that tragic statistic. One report says that in 1995 there were approximately twenty-six million legal and twenty million illegal abortions performed worldwide (cf. Heritage House ’76: abortionfacts.com). The same source reports that in the U.S. there were 580,760 abortions in 1972 and 1,210,883 in 1995. In Statistics Canada, we read that Canadian women obtained 114,848 abortions in 1997, a 2.9 percent increase from 111,649 a year earlier. The national abortion rate for every one hundred live births in 1997 was thirty-three. Even worse are the Quebec numbers. The Quebec bureau of statistics reported that forty-one abortions were performed for every one hundred live births in 1998.
Reported abortions aren’t the whole story. One must add the lives terminated by abortifacient contraceptives. “Throughout the world, an estimated 250 million abortions are caused by the IUD and pill each year” (Faith and Facts, Emmaus Road Publishing, 114). Is it an exaggeration to describe the world as a slaughterhouse?
As large as are the numbers of those killed by abortion, much more numerous are those deprived of human life and spiritual growth by contraception. One must include in these tragic statistics those millions who should have been born and are not because of tubal ligations and vasectomies. To add to this disgrace, the contraceptive rate among Catholics is not lower than that of the general population.
Effects
The primary effect of abortion is the termination of a human life at the time of its greatest potentiality. When a baby is born there is rejoicing. The death of a single baby brings great sorrow. Even the stillborn child is the subject of mourning. Yet the aborted child is a pariah: Its tiny broken body is cast away in a garbage bag or incinerated. We are reminded of the words of Augustine in his Confessions, that, in this life, “the more they deserve tears, the less likely will men sorrow for them.”
There is a larger death occasioned by abortion: the spiritual death of the participants. All those who unrepentantly participate in the abortion—and that includes those who legalize abortion—suffer this death. The aborted child will live forever in God’s love; the unrepentant abortionist becomes a spiritual corpse.
Abortion places an especially heavy burden on the conscience of the aborting mother. She knows in her heart that she has killed her own child. “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?” (Is. 49:15).
Abortion kills countries. In Canada, the fertility rate has been below the replacement rate since the mid-seventies. As Fr. Paul Marx. O.S.B., wrote in a recent letter, the whole of Europe is dying except Albania. The average family size in Europe is 1.4 children. Even Ireland is down to 1.9 children per family.
It is true that through repentance and God’s mercy there can be complete forgiveness that sometimes even blossoms into a dedication to the pro-life cause. Abortion leaves great gaps in the family, the Church, and society. There are missing brothers and sisters, sons and daughters; gaps in productive citizens, gaps in vocations to the priesthood and religious life and the professions. There are great gaps in those who ought to be listening to the call to holiness. Abortion leads to euthanasia. When one examines the rationale behind euthanasia laws, one can see how heavily they rely on the deadly precedents set by laws allowing abortion.
Contraception causes a deformity of the marriage act, the act designed by God to people earth and heaven. Contraception transforms the marriage act from self-giving to mutual use. Even if contraception does not kill, it prevents life and so demonstrates a willingness to make self-gratification paramount.
Abortion is a single crime. Contraception is usually a habit that hardens the heart with the passage of time. Although the conscience may not suffer the trauma that accompanies abortion, contraceptive practice more likely sedates the conscience, with all the deadly consequences of the sinful state, including the loss of faith.
Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae, under the heading “Grave Consequences of Methods of Artificial Birth Control,” lists the most notable effects of contraception: “the wide and easy road opened to conjugal infidelity and general lowering of morality” the lowering of respect for the woman, who becomes an “instrument of selfish enjoyment” and no longer a respected and beloved companion; the placing of a dangerous weapon in the hands of evil authorities (cf. HV 17).
The Death Chain
Comparing contraception and abortion enables us to see that they are linked in a death chain. Contraception is at the top of the chain. Contraception gives birth to abortion and to the acceptance of sterile sodomy. Abortion gives birth to euthanasia. All of these factors divorce sex from procreation, resulting in the tolerance of pervasive pornography. When these are widespread, we have the culture of death.
The late Fr. John Hardon, S.J., summed up the effects of the contraceptive mentality: “It has been correctly said that Humanae Vitae divides the Catholic Church into two periods of history. The Church will survive only among those who believe that contraception is deadly both to Christianity and the promise of a heavenly reward. Contraception is fatal to the true faith and to eternal life.”
Recognition of the death chain has many implications. We consider two major ones.
Implications for the Pro-Life Movement
Considering the essential link between contraception and abortion, it follows that no pro-life group can truly be such if it does not repudiate contraception. Yet there are groups that propose “safe sex” through condom use as the solution to abortion; some “pro-life” groups accept members who uphold contraception as an alternative to abortion.
Most pro-life associations recognize that they must combat the contraceptive mentality if they are to succeed. Among these are Human Life International, founded by Fr. Paul Marx, and Priests for Life, now an international movement. The Church in Canada has St. Joseph’s Workers for Life and Family, an orthodox movement under the leadership of Sr. Lucille Durocher. Pharmacists for Life International says in its advertising brochure, “Contraception is the Achilles’ heel of the pro-life movement. If we do not take clear steps against contraception, it will destroy the pro-life movement just as assuredly as it destroys the smallest life.”
Not to recognize the evil of contraception while fighting abortion is like working to kill the termites on the roof of a house while the whole structure below is being eaten away. It is not enough to soft-pedal contraception in the interests of a so-called pro-life ecumenism. This is not a denominational issue pertaining to Catholics alone: The prohibition of contraception is founded on divine natural law.
Benefits flow when pro-life groups are in harmony with God’s truth. They have a right to unqualified support from all, including the Catholic hierarchy. They can readily network and support one another in organizing protests, demonstrations, conferences, letter-writing campaigns, and other projects. Their unity in truth will add to their strength and appeals for prayers and financial help. Their unity of purpose will inspire the formulation of greater projects and methods to help restore the culture of life.
The Nineveh Solution
The situation in many countries is desperate. Extrapolating from the statistics, the typical parish in Canada is dying. Its birth rate is suicidal. Most of the parents of childbearing age are either sterilized or contracepting. Even some children going to Catholic schools are educated in contraception in grade eight. Few go to Sunday Mass. Vocations in Canada to the priesthood and religious life are insufficient to sustain a flourishing, evangelizing Church.
The situation looks hopeless. Humanly speaking, it is hopeless. Yet there is hope.
The book of Jonah gives us a clue. God through Jonah threatened to destroy Nineveh: “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness has come up before me” (Jonah 1:2). Nineveh repented by prayer and penance, and it was spared.
A marvelous example of the power of prayer is given us in The Shadow of His Wings, the true story of Fr. Gereon Goldmann, O.F.M. (Ignatius Press [1999]). I suggest that every Catholic would benefit from reading this book. When Fr. Goldmann was a boy, he met a Franciscan missionary from Japan and yearned to go back to Japan with him. He was told by the missionary that if he said one Hail Mary a day he would one day himself be a missionary to Japan (19). He said those Hail Marys, and how he got to Japan is a remarkable—even miraculous—series of events that includes countless obstacles during World War II, even a death sentence.
Prayer and penance would save the Western Church. That is the Nineveh solution. Every Catholic in the U.S. and Canada saying one Hail Mary a day for life could do it. We are reminded of the words of Tertullian: “Prayer is the one thing that can conquer God.”
Prayer Suggestions
Prayer for life can take many forms. Here are a few suggestions.
It would surely be fruitful to pray that a pro-life oratio imperata (required oration) be added to the Mass, making every Mass a petition for life. (Those of a certain age will recall that many bishops during World War II ordered an added oration for peace.) The Prayer of the Faithful at Mass could always include a petition for an end to abortion and contraception. Pro-life prayer cards could be more widely distributed, especially by pro-life groups. The prayer could include a petition for an end to contraception. The daily prayers in every Catholic school could include a pro-life petition. Especially pleasing to God would be the prayer of all contemplative religious on behalf of human life.
Perpetual eucharistic adoration is spreading in many countries. This means having extended exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, either part-time or for twenty-four hours a day. It is the desire of the Holy Father that this devotion “be established in all parishes and Christian communities” (International Eucharistic Congress, 1993). More and more pastors are introducing this transforming devotion. All engaged in eucharistic adoration could spend more time remembering the cause of life.
Every Catholic could ask in daily prayer for an end to contraception and abortion. In our prayers, we ought to pray that qualified pro-life leaders would seek election to government. We ought also to pray for the conversion of abortionists and all those associated with abortion clinics. To his prayers every Catholic could add some acts of self-denial and penance.
We live in a new Nineveh. We can choose life or death. Is there enough faith left to choose life?