Why Christians Should Be Against Contraception

Someone on Facebook asked me why I think contraception is immoral. This is what I wrote.

When asked, “Why think contraception is wrong” we should lay out what our metaethical theory is. What is it that makes a thing wrong in the first place? St. Paul employs the Natural Law approach to ethics in Romans 1:26-27 when he writes, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that when men and women exchange their natural desires for unnatural ones, they do something vile, and they commit a shameless error. So, St. Paul is using basic Natural Law to explain the condemnation of homosexuality. But St. Paul doesn’t explicate the underlying metaphysics, so, allow me to do so.

Why is it that when something is unnatural, it is wrong? It has to do with two metaphysical commitments within the Natural Law, first is essences, and the second is teleology. An essence is what makes a thing the kind of thing it is. It is in the essence, or definition, of a triangle to have three sides. It is in the essence of the eye to see. It is in the essence of the heart to pump blood. It is in the essence of scissors to cut. Now, since things have essences, they also have teleology, or that to which it finds an end, or function. Scissors which cut well are good scissors. Scissors which have dull blades and do not cut well are not good scissors. A heart which does not pump blood is a bad heart. We say someone who is blind has bad eyes. Someone who has 20/20 vision has good eyes. So, what makes a thing a good or bad instance of that thing depends on whether or not it does what it is designed to do.

With that brief sketch, we can understand that when St. Paul says that sexual relations between men and sexual relations between women are unnatural, he can also say they are incorrect because the design of the sex organs is to meet with the opposite sex, not the same sex. Further, since they are part of a moral agent, that is us humans, and that moral agent is making a choice about whether or not they are going to use their sexual organs and sexual powers correctly, they intentionally do something wrong with their bodies, which is to say, it is sin. That is why St. Paul calls homosexuality a sin: he is using Natural Law.

Now, having said that, we apply the same logic to contraception. Part of the design of sex and sexual powers is not only to meet with the opposite sex, but for a specific reason. That is, sex itself has a purpose or teleology. And that end, or design, is for procreation. But, contraception intentionally goes against that act. It’s literally in the name. Contra-against, ception-conception. Against conception. But since conception is the purpose of sex, and going against the purpose of sex is wrong, just like homosexuality is wrong, then contraception is just as wrong. It is no wonder that Roe v Wade used SCOTUS rulings on contraceptives as precedents. It’s all interconnected.

So, that’s the logic of Natural Law and Romans, but I also did mention Onan. So, let me unpack that a bit. Judah has two sons: Er and Onan. Er married, but didn’t have children when he died. Judah then commanded his son Onan to marry Er’s widow to perform the duty of a brother and have offspring. Onan refuses by having sex with her, but then pulling out and waste his semen on the ground. And the Bible says that what he did was wicked in God’s sight, and so God killed him. That, in my view, is sufficient evidence of God’s view of contraception. Onan pulled out, thus preventing conception, so God killed him.

A brief note, you mentioned Catholics believe this, and I am a Catholic, but as I have mentioned, this was the consensus view of Christians up until the early Anglican Lambeth Conference of 1930. Even the original Protestants like John Calvin understood God hating contraception based on Genesis 38. Puritans like Matthew Henry also held the same.

A few replies to objections and then I’ll leave it up to you. Some people have said that the sin of Onan was not fulfilling his oath, not the means by which he avoided that duty. In response, I would say that one can agree that part of the sin of Onan was that he didn’t fulfill his duty, but that wouldn’t contradict the means by which he did it. Both can be sinful. So, merely pointing that out wouldn’t be enough to disprove the historic Christian position. Further, the penalty for not fulfilling that obligation was not death, but public shame. Deuteronomy 25:5-6 actually tells you exactly what to do if you don't fulfill that duty. You go to the elders, and if you still refuse, you are spit on. That’s a far way from being struck down by Our Lord. Further, the swiftness of Our Lord’s reaction to Onan’s act strongly suggests it was the act itself and not his intention, which he would have had prior to the act anyway, which offended God. Furthermore, the explicit description of the act is also evidence that it was the act itself which offends God. When God approves of an intimate act, the writers of Scripture tend to use euphemisms like “Adam knew Eve” or “Adam went into his wife” but when the Bible wants to express disapproval, it will use explicit imagery, such as “uncover the nakedness” or describes the length of genitals as in Hosea. So, because the act it described in obscene detail, “spilled the semen on the ground”, it is disapproving of that act.

What then of abstinent people? Are they contracepting? No, because there is no act which they are engaging in which would result in conception anyway. So, there is no function or design to which they are going against. Not using something is not the same as going against the thing. Homosexuality is wrong because it goes against the nature of sex. Contraceptives are wrong for the same reason. But you can’t go against something you aren’t using. It’d be like saying I’m going against traffic while I sit on my couch. It’d be a simple category error. Now, having said that, if God is calling you to have children, and you refuse that call, then yes, you are sinning, but the sin here is refusing God’s call, or going against the design of God’s commands. Sometimes, God doesn’t call you to that. It’s rare, but it happens. But for regular people, God calls all of humanity to be fruitful and multiply.

Which, I am told, can be lots of fun.