Contraception & Logical Consistency
GUEST COLUMN
— Washington Post (editorial, March 22, 1931)
— G.E.M. Anscombe, Contraception & Chastity (1979)
Recent statistics indicate that contraception is widely practiced, even by up to 80 percent of Catholics, in spite of its clear and constant condemnation by the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. Does this figure include practicing Catholics? Whether they are practicing or not would presumably be the subject of a different poll. Regardless, we are talking about self-identified Catholics who have most likely received the Sacrament of Baptism. Some implications, therefore, suggest themselves.
Many Christian couples, Catholics and non-Catholics, who practice contraception are also against “gay” sex and/or premarital or extramarital sex. Such positions, for such persons, are logically inconsistent. I would even argue that an anti-abortion position is likewise inconsistent.
You May Also Enjoy
Miller's exposé hails from the front lines of the war on babies; it is packed with heart-wrenching drama that follows pro-life battles on the ground and in the courtroom.
"'Person' is not a generic term," writes Robert Spaemann, "it is the way in which individuals of the human genus exist." One's neighbor is unique and non-fungible.
A police car glides slowly, quietly onto our street. Conversations cease, and my neighbors watch, poised, as if knowing that lives will be changed tonight, prices paid.