Skip to main content

Doubling down on the Catholic focus on contraception

Janet E. Smith, Chair of Life Ethics at Sacred Heart Seminary and defender of Humanae Vitae, thinks that part of the gap between Catholics and the Church on contraception has to do with not enough discussion of the topic during the homily.

Smith thinks that more Catholics would turn against contraception (beyond 'natural family planning') if the seamless nature of the Church's life views and its social justice views were emphasized. She also asserts that Catholics would find a renewed emphasis on "moral issues" strange at first but ultimately admirable and refreshing. 

Are you skeptical? 

It seems implausible that the reason why most Catholics reject the Church's teaching on contraception is ignorance of the theological argument against it. 

Links:

Essay in the National Catholic Register (October 7, 2012): Contraception, the Election and the New Evangelization


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Medically necessary abortions: The battle of the experts

Apparently, Representative Joe Walsh is not entirely alone! The assertion that an abortion is never medically necessary has been floating around in the pro-life universe for at least a little while. We are now witnessing a battle of the experts. One the one side is Joe Walsh and friends. Walsh himself released a pdf document with quotations from several doctors-- including some historically prominent pro-choice doctors, like Alan Guttmacher-- making the 'never medically necessary' claim seem quite reasonable. Also on Walsh's side are several doctors  who particpated in a recent "International Symposium on Maternal Health" in Dublin. Ireland, despite a European Court of Human Rights ruling in 1992 , has a total ban on abortion. Irish pro-lifers want the country's politicians to resist pressure to implement even a life exception, so the question of medical necessity is directly relevant there. The "Dublin Declaration," released after the S...

North Dakota State University, Planned Parenthood, and academic freedom

Apparently, having Planned Parenthood linked to your university research is not a good idea. An article in  Insidehighered.com  indicates that North Dakota State University bowed to political pressure in killing a $1.2 million federal grant to scientifically study comprehensive sex education programs-- in other words, sex education programs that would include information about contraception. Two NDSU professors won the grant after state government officials declined to apply for it: The professors, Brandy Randall and Molly Secor-Turner,   planned to use the three-year grant for a sexual education program for at-risk teens in the Fargo area, programming developed in partnership with the region’s Planned Parenthood office. North Dakota State's president froze the grant for legal review-- but telegraphed the eventual outcome, which would be to kill the grant-- after conservatives got wind of it and started complaining, arguing that it violated state law: The state’s ...