Artificial Contraception

Dear N.,

Thank you so very much for the article on artificial contraception and its reference to the infamous 1930 Lambeth Conference, which was the first ecclesiastical congress or body in modern history to authorise the use of artificial contraception - within the bonds of Holy Matrimony of course. But nevertheless, the Lambeth declaration was the first statement of any Church, and certainly of any branch of the Apostolic Catholic Church, which at that time the entire Anglican Communion certainly was, to permit the use of 'birth control.' The controversy of that decision is still felt acutely today, and the moral and social consequences have been manifest for all to see, as the statement eventually, directly or indirectly, gave rise to the widespread use of artificial contraception (and abortion) throughout Western societies, causing populations to plummet and unleashing a new era of selective sex and reproductive technologies. Some even draw a connexion between 'birth control' and the modern eugenics movement promulgated by certain well-known abortion and contraception advocacy groups.

Your question about the Continuing Churches and artificial contraception is a profound and delicate one, and certainly complex. I would state as a matter of fact that the Continuing Anglican Churches have no official doctrine or moral teaching on the liceity or impermissibility of the use of artificial contraception, and are very much like the Eastern Orthodox Churches, which do not expressly forbid the use of 'birth control,' but allow the use of it to married couples under the direction, guidance and counsel of a spiritual father and confessor. Only rarely would our own people seek spiritual direction on this subject. The closest statement we have to anything directly related to artificial contraception is the Affirmation of Saint Louis (1977), which does affirm the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death, and which explicitly condemns abortion: Every human being, from the time of his conception, is a creature and child of God, made in His image and likeness, an infinitely precious soul; the unjustifiable or inexcusable taking of life is always sinful. and this - The God-given sacramental bond in marriage between one man and one woman is God's loving provision for procreation and family life, and sexual activity is to be practiced only within the bonds of Holy Matrimony. These teachings are dogmatic and binding for orthodox Anglicanism, and I believe we should use them to draw from them the proper moral inferences regarding such questions as artificial contraception and modern fertilisation technologies.

My personal view, and it is my view representing my own understanding of and formation in the Catholic Faith, is that artificial contraception has been generally destructive to family life and marital relationships, has enabled and promoted fornication and adultery, and has given rise to the 'culture of death' described by the Bishop of Rome John Paul II, in which abortion and euthanasia are now all but universal. There seems to be, to my mind at least, a direct philosophical and moral line and correlation between artificial contraception and abortion. The one has, I think it is fair to say, given rise to the other, as the demand for the one has originated the other - when artificial contraception inevitably fails, abortion is the next step to eliminating the 'problem' of pregnancy. In this respect, I believe another Bishop of Rome, Paul VI, is utterly prophetic in his magisterial encyclical Humanae Vitae (1968), in which he projected and prophesied that the unrestrained availability and use of artificial contraception would inescapably generate an 'abortive mentality,' and thus create a world in which procured abortion would be used as 'birth control.' In this prophecy, he was absolutely right, and so I affirm personally my greatest respect and affinity for the position of the Latin Church on this subject. Again, orthodox Anglo-Catholics are not morally bound to the dogmatic teaching of the Roman Communion on artificial contraception, but they are, of course, bound to the Sixth and Seventh Commandments. The hedge around those Commandments erected by Humanae Vitae safeguards the faithful from falling into a potentially devastating trap.

Another grave difficulty is that most modern oral contraceptives often can and do function, intentionally or not, as abortifacients, which permit a human embryo to be fertilised but prevent implantation of the embryo in the uterine wall: although it is impossible to determine exactly when and if such procured abortions occur with the use of conventional contraceptives, there is always the risk that artificial contraception of any kind can cause an abortion of a fertilised human embryo, which the Church teaches is a human being, ensouled and potentially capable of full human life if permitted to grow in the womb.

So, as you see, this is a serious and sensitive issue indeed. Were a couple to ask for my pastoral direction on this subject, I would counsel them to find natural alternative means to artificial contraception if possible and to avoid the moral quagmire artificial contraception creates. Historically, the Anglican Communion up until 1930 had always strenuously opposed artificial contraception, and in particular Anglo-Catholics, loyal sons of the Anglican Tradition, were most intensely opposed, long before the issue became prevalent in popular discourse and behaviour.