To the Editor:
There are probably very few of us who as children never heard our mothers say: “If Timmy jumped off a bridge, would you?” or “Just because everyone else is doing it doesn’t mean you have to.” I recently read an article that stated that 98 percent of Catholics use artificial contraception. It saddens me that so many Catholics, good Catholics, have made a life choice that is so contrary to the Church’s teaching.
There are several reasons that the Catholic Church opposes contraception, but a real eye-opener is that artificial birth control has the potential to abort human life (which begins at the moment of conception) since it prevents the fertilized egg from attaching itself to the wall of the uterus. Of that 98 percent of Catholics using contraception, how many women believe that abortion is wrong? And how many of these women are responsible for aborting their own child by the use of birth control?
Are we using artificial contraception because “everyone else is doing it” so it must be OK? This statistic tells me that we Catholics have set aside our faith and picked up and embraced what society is telling us about birth control.
I challenge married couples to wholeheartedly put their trust in God and accept that he will never give you more than you can handle. Natural Family Planning (NFP) is the only method accepted by the Catholic Church for family planning. Trying NFP is a leap of faith that puts aside the secular world’s acceptance and promotion of birth control. NFP isn’t as easy as taking a pill, getting a shot or even putting a sticky patch on your arm every so often. But it’s like I tell my children: “Just because it is a difficult thing to do doesn’t mean it isn’t the right thing to do.”
Rachel Santos
St. Mary’s, Iowa City
