Family planning in Fiji, 1966.

Date:
[1966]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Family planning in Fiji, 1966. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    deal Ъг1еГ1у with what is known as the Natural Law, The natural law is what the Chtirch calls that basic sense of right and wrong which everybody has regardless of reli¬ gion, race or cultural hackground. It is also the nattiral result of a normal act. Thus nourishment is the natural result of eat¬ ing. Deliberately to tamper with this natural and God-given law is, the Church teaches, wrong and sinful. According to the natural law the natural resTilt of sexual intercourse is the deposit of male spermatazoa in the female genital tract. The Catholic Church therefore believes that any unnatural interference with this normal result of a nattiral act is tampering with the natural law and is on that account morally wrong and sinful. Consequently it forbids the use of mechanical con¬ traceptives, such as condoms, diaphragms, intra-uterine devices or even spermacides all of which interfere with this normal restilt. Coitus interruptus or withdrawal by the male is also forbidden for the same reason. Sterilisation of either partner also interferes with this natural law and is forbidden. It should be noted here, however, that sterilisation may be the natural result of an operation carried out for another purpose such as a hysterectomy for a proper surgical reason. In such a case it is not performed purely or even mainly to prevent childbirth and so is not a transgression of the natural law and is not forbidden. How then can Catholics regulate the size of their families? I have said that the natural result of sexual inter¬ course is the deposit of spermatazoa in the female genital tract. Well, it is ;)ust that and nothing more. The natural result is not always pregnancy. It is only pregnancy if a sperm happens to fertilise an ovum. This, in fact, can only happen once in the monthly cycle of the female. Therefore, at other times of the month, although conception cannot occur, sexual intercourse is still in accordance with the natural law and is not in any way sin¬ ful. So long as a married couple avoid having intercourse during the fertile period, and provided that their reasons for doing so are justifiable, they commit no sin. This, of course, is the rhythm method of family planning, otheirwise known as the use of the safe period, and it is perfectly acceptable to the Catholic Church, It is commonly said that the use of the safe period is a very inefficient method of family planning but this is not true. So long as the method for working out the wife's fertile period is properly explained and so long as the partners stick to the safe period, it is a surprisingly safe method. In nearly all cases of conception occurring among partners using this method, questioning will elicit the fact that, on that particular month, they took a chance. Naturally it is not 100 per cent effective but no other method of birth control except the contraceptive pill is either. Of course it does mean periodic abstinence and this requires a certain amo\int of self control. But abstinence does no one any harm. It is no great hardship to go for ten days or