Moral case against contraception

Summary of the arguments against contraception

Those who say contraception is morally wrong do so for a variety of reasons.

Contraception is inherently wrong

• Contraception is unnatural
• Contraception is anti-life
• Contraception is a form of abortion
• Contraception separates sex from reproduction

Contraception brings bad consequences

These are consequentialist arguments against contraception.

• Contraception carries health risks
• The "contraceptive culture" is dangerous
• Contraception prevents potential human beings being conceived
• Contraception prevents people who might benefit humanity from being born
• Contraception can be used as a eugenic tool
• Contraception is often misused in mass population control programmes in a racist way
• Mass population control programmes can be a form of cultural imperialism or a misuse of power
• Contraception may lead to depopulation
  • This sounds odd to an age concerned about overpopulation but for substantial parts of the 1800s and 1900s this was a real fear.

Contraception leads to "immoral behaviour"

• Contraception makes it easier for people to have sex outside marriage
• Contraception leads to widespread sexual immorality
• Contraception allows people (even married people) to have sex purely for enjoyment

Arguments based on life and the natural order

Contraception is unnatural

Holders of this view argue something like this

• the natural consequence of having sexual intercourse is conceiving a child
• it is wrong to interfere with this
• therefore birth-control is intrinsically wrong

This argument depends on two other ideas:

• there is some purpose to the processes of the universe
  • Opponents say this is a religious idea rather than a secular one - most scientists regard the idea that there is a purpose to the universe as nonsense
• it is wrong to interfere with the natural order of the universe
  • Opponents say that human beings interfere with the natural order of the universe all the time (for example when doctors cure illnesses) - sometimes the results are good and sometimes bad
  • Therefore birth control is only a wrong interference with the natural order of the universe if it produces a bad result
  • so it's necessary to look at the consequences of contraception to assess whether it is good or bad
  • that is a different argument, which has nothing to do with the natural order of the universe

Contraception is anti-life

This argument is based on the premise that life is a good thing. Holders of this view argue that contraception is morally wrong because:

• life is a fundamental good - it is a good thing
• those who use contraception are engaged in an intentionally "anti-life" act
  • because they intend to prevent a new life coming into being
• they therefore have a bad intention
• it is always morally wrong to do something with a bad intention

Contraception is a form of abortion

Some birth control techniques can operate by preventing the implantation and development of a fertilised egg.

Those opposed to such methods say that this amounts to an abortion, and that if abortion is wrong then those forms of contraception must also be wrong.

The forms of contraception included in this objection are:

• some birth control pills
  • most modern birth control pills can prevent implantation of a fertilised egg, even though this is not the main way they work
  • there is no way for the user to know after any act of intercourse whether the pill prevented implantation (or worked in some other way)
  • therefore using such pills always runs the risk of causing an abortion
  • it is wrong to run the risk of causing an abortion
• the "morning-after" pill
  • this is also capable of operating by preventing implantation of a fertilised egg
• the IUD
  • this can operate by preventing implantation of a fertilised egg

Arguments based on sexual behaviour and health

The danger of the "contraceptive culture"

Some people are concerned that "the availability of contraceptives leads to promiscuity which then leads to abortion".

Contraception carries health risks

Contraception may damage the health of the individual using it in two ways; either through side effects of the contraceptive or because using contraception allows people to have more sexual partners and thus increases the possibility of catching a sexually transmitted disease.

Side effects

Some forms of contraception do have side effects that damage health while others have not been shown to have health risks.

Users considering a particular form of birth control should:

• make sure they are aware of its risks
• compare those risks to the risks of other forms of contraception
• compare those risks to the risks that go with having a baby
• take an informed decision based on that information

This is probably not an ethical objection to contraception itself, although it does involve the ethical issue of informed consent to medical treatment.

STDs

The second interpretation of this objection is that contraception increases health risks because it makes it more likely that people will have multiple sexual partners.

This increases the risk of individuals catching sexually transmitted diseases, and increases the opportunities for such diseases to spread in the population.

Contraception makes it easier for people to have sex outside marriage

This is certainly true, since sexual intercourse without contraception carries a significant risk of conceiving a child, which most of those having sex outside marriage would regard as a deterrent.

People think separating sex from marriage is wrong because:

• it makes immoral behaviour less risky
• it undermines public morality by making it more likely that people will have sex outside marriage
• it weakens the family