question about prolife &religion

[kimba1]

Idea came to me from a ealy post
if a family has 7 kids
is it a sin for the father to have a vasectomy?
or to use birth control?
would the prolife people or the church object?

[Amianthus]

would the prolife people or the church object?

Pro-life does not extend prior to conception.

And it depends on which church you're talking about.

[kimba1]

Pro-life does not extend prior to conception.

it doesn`t??
I`ve been to many pro-life rallys and everysingle one of them frown upon birth-control.
I had a large impression that abortion was never the only subject .
I know not all pro-lifers are against birth-control
but the organization itself is another matter
I`m just asking would having a ton of kids be a exemption

[Seamus]

Pro-life does not extend prior to conception.

it doesn`t??
I`ve been to many pro-life rallys and everysingle one of them frown upon birth-control.
I had a large impression that abortion was never the only subject .
I know not all pro-lifers are against birth-control
but the organization itself is another matter
I`m just asking would having a ton of kids be a exemption

Very interesting question...  I've never heard, myself, of a pro-lifer being against contraception.  But OTOH I can certainly believe it.  Considering I would imagine most pro-lifers are religious, and I know that Catholics are against birth control, aren't they?

I'm currently waffling somewhere between pro-life and pro-choice, so I've yet to firm up my position, but I'd NEVER be against someone using any form of birth control.  That seems like the very responsible thing to do if you're going to have sex and don't want kids.

I may google and see if there is a pro-life organization I could mail your question to!

[Xavier_Onassis]

The largest part of the anti-choice movement (they call themselves pro-life) are members of the Roman Catholic Church, and the Church is against any form of birth control other than the so-called "rhythm method".

The Holy Mother Church does not favor any sexual activity that does not have the potential of producing a baby.

If they managed to get an absolute national ban on abortion tomorrow, by the following Tuesday, many would be trying to ban contraceptives and even information about contraception, as they have done in the past.

Father John used to warn the boys in catechism class about urination: "It you shake it more than three times, lads, that's masturbation", he said.

[Richpo64]

>>Father John used to warn the boys in catechism class about urination: "It you shake it more than three times, lads, that's masturbation", he said.<<

Sure he did.

Anyway, It's true, Catholicism preaches against birth control because God created sex for procreation. To remove the chance of procreation you deny God's will. As for denying birth control, it's ridiculous religious bigotry to suggest such a thing.

[BT]

It is true that the Catholic Church preaches against birth control. But it is also true that most communicants in the US disregard those teachings and practice one form of birth control or the other.

[sirs]

<<Pro-life does not extend prior to conception.>>

it doesn`t??

No, it doesn't

[Lanya]

http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/matthew-balan/2007/10/18/cnn-s-cafferty-slams-bush-s-anti-birth-control-twilight-zone-appointe

[BT]

http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/matthew-balan/2007/10/18/cnn-s-cafferty-slams-bush-s-anti-birth-control-twilight-zone-appointe

relevance?

[Plane]

There are a lot of Pro -life prodestants , and for us it is no issue .

Is there a stigma attached to having a large family?
Does a multi para mother of a father of seven deserve social opprobrium?
 

[sirs]

http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/matthew-balan/2007/10/18/cnn-s-cafferty-slams-bush-s-anti-birth-control-twilight-zone-appointe

relevance?

Looking forward to this revelation.  Should I not hold my breath?

[Seamus]

kimba1, I randomly selected a pro-life organization from google. You will read that they also turned out to be religiously based.  I visited http://www.prolifeaction.org/ and asked them your question.

Here is their reply:

Thanks for writing.

As for the questions this blogger raises, some parsing is required.  Let me preface my responses by saying that they reflect the Catholic Church's teaching, which is also that of our organization, the Pro-Life Action League, as well as my own personal beliefs.

I'll give the short answers first.


> if a family has 7 kids
> is it a sin for the father to have a vasectomy?


Yes.


> or to use birth control?


If by "birth control" she means contraception (condoms, the pill, an IUD, other forms of hormonal birth control, withdrawal, etc.), then the answer is also "yes".  (See further clarification below.)


> would the prolife people [object?]


Some would.  Some wouldn't.  Sadly -- nay, tragically, I would say -- pro-lifers are divided on this question.


> or the church object?


It depends on what is meant by "the church".  The Catholic Church has always condemned contraception.  So too did every Protestant denomination until 1930.

Since then, most every Protestant denomination has changed its teaching to accept it.  However, in more recent years, many individual Protestants have begun to "return", if you will, to the traditional Christian teaching that contraception is sinful, although as far as I can tell, it's rather rare to see an entire Protestant church as a whole take such a strong stand against the sinfulness of contraception.


> Later on she clarified to someone that her question was based on; if 
> a family had numerous children, would that be a factor.  For her sake,
> her actual statement is:
>
> "I`m just asking would having a ton of kids be a exemption"


The short answer is no.  It's wrong for a couple to use contraception if they have no kids or if they have 7, or 10, or 15, or however many, as contraception is absolutely antithetical to the self-giving nature of sex.

The sexual act - or, the marital act or one-flesh union - is a physical expression of a couple's marriage commitment. In a very real sense, when a couple engages in one-flesh union, they are renewing their wedding vows, an essential component of which is to accept children lovingly from God (cf.
Gen. 1:28, 2:24; Luke 1:38).

Just as it it wrong for a couple to claim that they can be "faithful" to each other throughout their marriage without each and every sexual act to be with each other, so it is also wrong for a couple to claim that their marriage is open to the possibility of children without each and every sexual act being so.

For a more detailed explanation of why this is, see this post from my personal blog, in which I informally debated with another pro-lifer who saw nothing wrong with contraception:


http://jdjansen.blogspot.com/2007/04/contraception-debate.html


Let me qualify this by saying, however, that this does *not* mean that a married couple is not morally permitted to use natural family planning (which is often erroneously, and regrettably, referred to as "the rhythm method" or "calendar rhythm") to monitor a woman's fertility and elect to make love when she is not fertile.  There is a crucial distinction between NFP and contraception; that NFP is morally acceptable is explained in more detail in a few articles I link to here:

http://tinyurl.com/ypz7ay


For what it's worth, you might also be interested in this write-up of a conference we sponsored last year on contraception:


http://prolifeaction.org/home/2006/cinta3.htm


I hope my responses have been helpful.  Please let me know if you have any further questions.


Yours for Life,

John Jansen
Co-Director
Generations for Life
Youth Outreach of the Pro-Life Action League http://generationsforlife.org http://prolifeaction.org http://familiesagainstplannedparenthood.org
http://facebook.com/group.php?gid=6365972046

[Plane]

http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/matthew-balan/2007/10/18/cnn-s-cafferty-slams-bush-s-anti-birth-control-twilight-zone-appointe

relevance?

It was only just over a year ago, during the summer of 2006, that the FDA under Bush approved "the morning-after pill" for over-the-counter dispensing, a move that many social conservatives criticized at the time.

[Plane]

kimba1, I randomly selected a pro-life organization from google. http://www.prolifeaction.org/ and asked them your question.

A lot depends on who you ask.