FAMILY PLANNING: AN APPRAISAL FROM A MORAL AND CATHOLIC CHURCH PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

The world is witnessing a tremendous growth in population. Countries are gradually becoming afraid of being over populated without corresponding increase in basic infrastructures and food production. Increasing migration occasioned by overpopulation of some parts of the world has become an international crisis. Consequently, the call for birth control and family planning has become loud and indispensable. This work examines the controversy surrounding family planning in all its aspects. From the moral and Catholic Church perspective the work basically considered the artificial means of birth control and natural family planning with regard to their goals, aim and end products as well the consequences, benefits and challenges of their use. The work adopts the qualitative research method, with secondary data collected from written literature and internet sources. In conclusion the work holds that any family planning method which disregards the sacredness of human life is morally reprehensible and must be rejected.

Headnote

Abstract: The world is witnessing a tremendous growth in population. Countries are gradually becoming afraid of being over populated without corresponding increase in basic infrastructures and food production. Increasing migration occasioned by overpopulation of some parts of the world has become an international crisis. Consequently, the call for birth control and family planning has become loud and indispensable. This work examines the controversy surrounding family planning in all its aspects. From the moral and Catholic Church perspective the work basically considered the artificial means of birth control and natural family planning with regard to their goals, aim and end products as well the consequences, benefits and challenges of their use. The work adopts the qualitative research method, with secondary data collected from written literature and internet sources. In conclusion the work holds that any family planning method which disregards the sacredness of human life is morally reprehensible and must be rejected.

Keywords: Family Planning, Population, Natural family Planning, Artificial family Planning, Birth Control, Abortion, Catholic Church, Moral

Introduction

The rate of population growth after World War II and the unequal increase in food production brought the fear that available resources may not be sufficient to support the needs of society. This alarm led to a frantic call for birth control to checkmate the danger of population explosion. This call popularized the practice of what is now known as family planning. To assuage the fears of an imminent population explosion, family planning became an indispensable tool recommended to all nations and societies. In the words of the World Health Organisation,

Family planning allows individuals and couples to anticipate and attain their desired number of children and the spacing and timing of their birth, it is achieved through use of contraceptive methods and the treatment of involuntary infertility. A woman's ability to space and limit her pregnancies has a direct impact on her health and wellbeing as well as on the outcome of each pregnancy.1

Family planning is not without controversy. Many with insufficient knowledge of it have rejected it while many equipped with proper knowledge of it have accepted a good version of it while rejecting some aspects of it as immoral. There are also those who disregarding the moral and religious consequences of it accept anything called means of birth control as long as it stops pregnancy. Major organisations over time have supported efforts at family planning. The United Nations Population Fund works to support family planning by ensuring a steady, reliable supply of quality contraceptives, strengthening nation's health system, advocating for policies supportive of family planning, and gathering data to support this work.2The Catholic Church too has over time supported the call for family planning, but she believes and teaches that this planning must be within a framework that is moral and ethical. This work looks at family planning and its two major parts, artificial birth control and natural family planning. It reviews the means, methods and devices employed by them. The work then appraises both artificial and natural family planning from a moral and Catholic Church perspective. In conclusion the work rejected any method of family planning which does not respect the sacredness of human life in all its stages of development.

Family Planning and Birth Control: A Brief Overview. The concepts of family planning and birth control are usually confused for one another and in most instances are used interchangeably irrespective of their sharp difference. According to World Health Organization, Family planning allows individuals and couples to anticipate and attain their desired number of children and the spacing and timing of their birth; it is achieved through use of contraceptive methods and the treatment of involuntary infertility.3 Hence family planning refers to the factors that may be considered by a couple in deciding if and when to have children. On the other hand birth control consists of contraceptive methods employed in preventing pregnancy. Hence birth control rather than being a synonym of family planning is only an aspect or component of it. Jellife defines family planning as 'a way of spacing pregnancies at the best intervals and when desired to limit the number of children to what the family can afford.'4. It means that families must cut their coat to their size to maintain human poise. Family planning may involve consideration of the number of children a couple wish to have, as well as how to space them. Birth control is therefore under the large umbrella of family planning which encompasses other aspects of reproductive health as well as making informed decisions with regard to what is generally called responsible parenthood. Whereas birth control refers to short term contraceptive methods and devices, family planning is more comprehensive and generally considers a couple's long term goals and overall wellbeing such as economic, physical and mental wellbeing. For the United Nations Population Fund,

Access to safe, voluntary family planning is a human right. Family planning is central to gender equality and women empowerment, and it is key factor in reducing poverty, yet some 225 million women who want to avoid pregnancy are not using safe and effective family planning method.5

Advances in medical sciences in recent times have made it highly imperative to bring human fertility under rational control. This is so because as Iwe avers,

gone are the days when uncontrolled fertility and irrational procreation, and domestic planlessness were permitted through ignorance or pious illusion to shatter domestic comfort, to debase family standard of living, to jeopardise the future of children and the health of the mothers, to escalate feminine mortality rate, and compromise domestic harmony.6

Thus making family planning expedient in order to cope with the vital social problem of the ever-increasing growth rate of the world's population is a welcome development. Population explosion poses a major threat to food supplies and even distribution of essential amenities thus making the need to plan families urgent. In as much as there is urgent need to regulate population growth, it must be done in complete adherence to moral guidelines and consideration with the religious and cultural beliefs of those involved.

Methods of Family Planning/Birth Control:

Broadly speaking family planning methods are divided into two major kinds, namely, artificial family planning methods also referred to as artificial birth control and natural family planning (NFP)methods also referred as the 'rhythm method.'7

Artificial Family Planning Methods:

Artificial family planning also referred to as artificial means of birth control is a complex concept which involves 'the use in the sexual act of any mechanical instrument, chemical substance or bodily action (withdrawal) which has as its purpose the prevention of conception. These artificial means of birth control can be termed by the general term, 'contraception.'8 Birth control or artificial family planning therefore means the obstruction of either the conjugal act or the biological factors of fertility in a couple in order to prevent conception. Artificial family planning according to Belleza, is 'the process used to prevent pregnancy and plan for the birth of children at the most optimum time.9 Commonly referred to as artificial means of birth control, this aspect of family planning can be accomplished using a variety of methods or means. These different means employed by artificial birth control according to various purposes is what gives it different names and thus groups artificial birth control into three major kinds. If the purpose is only to prevent conception (pregnancy), they are called 'contraceptives.' If their aim or purpose is to destroy the procreative capacity of the couple, they are called 'sterilization.' And finally if, instead of preventing conception, they rather destroy the fertilized ovum and terminate life already begun, they are called 'abortifacients'10 or 'abortive.'11Hence artificial family planning or birth control consist of methods, means or devices use to prevent conception, destroy the procreative capacity of an individual or to destroy an already fertilized ovum thereby terminating life already begin in the womb.

Following from the above submissions, artificial family planning methods or artificial means of birth control are classified into three groups namely: (a) contraceptives, (b) sterilization and (c) abortifacients.

A. Contraceptives

According to Michael Golden,

The word "contraception" means against conception. It has been defined as the intentional prevention of the fertilisation of the human ovum by special devices, drugs and techniques. Basically whatever is used to prevent conception following sexual intercourse is called a contraceptive.12

The Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary defines contraceptive as 'the deliberate use of artificial methods or other techniques to prevent pregnancy as a consequence of sexual intercourse.'13 According to the United Kingdom Health Insurance (NHS),

A woman can get pregnant if a man's sperm reaches one of her eggs (ova). Contraception tries to stop this happening by keeping the egg and sperm apart, or by stopping egg production, or by stopping the combined sperm and egg (fertilised egg) attaching to the lining of the womb.14

In all these there is a wilful and deliberate effort to interfere with the natural flow of the generative process through the use of contraceptive. Hence every means, method or technique employed to prevent conception or fertilization and which succeeds in doing so is a contraceptive. There are different types of contraceptives and each acts in a different way.

Types of Contraceptives

The family planning handbooks, especially Global Handbook for Providers,15 listed the following among others as artificial contraceptive methods: combined oral contraceptive, progestin-only pills, emergency contraceptive pills, progestin-only injectables, monthly injectables, combined patch, combined vaginal ring, implants, intrauterine devices, condoms, cervical cap, spermicides, diaphragms, withdrawal method, etc.

a. Hormonal Contraceptive Methods. This includes oral contraceptives pills, injectables, and implants. They all prevent pregnancy mainly by stopping a woman's ovaries from releasing eggs.

b. Combined Oral Contraceptive Pills (COCs). Also called 'the Pill' or Oral contraceptive Pills (OCPs) or Oral Contraceptives (OCs), these contain two low doses of hormones progestin and oestrogen which primarily work by preventing the release of eggs from the ovaries 16 . These pillsare taken daily. Their effectiveness is better when no pills are missed, and they are to be taken at the same time every day, and each new pack of pills to start with no delay.

c. Injectable Contraceptives. These are injections given to a woman in her arm or buttocks. They are taken once every 1, 2, or 3 months depending on the type. Injectables are most effective when women remember to return for another injection on time.

d. Contraceptive Implants. These are small plastic rods or capsules about the size of a matchstick which are inserted under the skin of a woman's upper arm. They release a progestin like the natural hormone progesterone in a woman's body 17 and provide continuous, highly effective protection against pregnancy for 3 to 5 years depending on the type of implant used. At the expiration of the period, a new implant can be inserted at the removal of the old one.

e. Emergency Contraceptive Pills (ECPs). These contraceptives, also called 'morning after' pills or postcoital contraceptives are those that can help prevent pregnancy if taken within 5 days after unprotected sex. Their effectiveness is dependent on how early they are taken. They are not meant to be used for ongoing contraception, in place of a regular method.18

f. Intrauterine Contraceptive Devices (IUDs, OFR, IUCDs). These are inserted into the woman's uterus. The most common IUDs are made of copper, and they work by preventing sperm from reaching an egg. IUDs can provide protection for 5 to 12 years depending on the type.

g. Spermicides. These are creams or foams which kill or interfere with the sperm so that they are made inactive. Sometimes the pill can also act in this way rendering the female mucus inimical to sperms.

h. Barrier Methods. These are contraceptives which set up barriers to prevent the sperms from reaching the egg during ovulation. The condom or rubber sheath for the penis is one of these, so also is the diaphragm or cap placed over the cervix of the woman, and of recent the female condom. The effectiveness of this method greatly depends on the people's ability to use them correctly.

B. Sterilization

Unlike other birth control or contraceptive means, methods or devices which are employed daily or periodically to prevent conception/fertilization and which can be discontinued, sterilization is permanent and is intended to provide lifelong and very effective prevention of pregnancy without any possibility of discontinuation or reversal. Sterilization is an extreme form contraception which involves a simple surgical procedure conducted by a medical professional. There are female and male sterilisations. Female sterilization is also called tubal ligation, surgical contraception, tubectomy, bi-tubal ligation, etc. in this procedure the tubes are tied or cut so that eggs released by the ovaries cannot move down the tubes to meet the sperm, leaving no hope of fertilization.19 A sterilized woman can never get pregnant naturally. For men the surgical procedure is call vasectomy, male sterilization or male surgical contraception. It involves a simple surgical procedure which cuts or blocks the two tubes that carries sperm from the scrotum to the penis.20 With no sperm in the semen ejaculated during intercourse, there can be no fertilization or pregnancy. A sterilized man can never pregnant a woman. These are permanent methods of contraception which are irreversible. Unlike other contraceptive means sterilized couples can never have children naturally.

C. Abortifacients

Some artificial means of birth control also involve the destruction of life already begun by effecting an abortion. This can be through silent abortion or direct abortion. Many contraceptive tools such as the pills, injectable hormones, IUDs, etc., also act as instruments of silent abortion whereby when they fail as contraceptives they effect an abortion in the very early days of the pregnancy without the woman even knowing she ever conceived. Some of the birth control devices or tools have double or triple effects which include prevention of conception and termination of pregnancy already begun in the early days. Hence, as the name indicates, these forms of family planning do not prevent conception. They do allow conception to occur in many instances and then prevent the foetus from growing in the womb. Abortifacient simply means 'to make an abortion.' 21 According to Michael Golden, many of the so called contraceptive pills and devices end up functioning as abortifacients when they fail in their contraceptive purpose. The pills for instance has a triple action,

They first act on the cervical mucus making it inimical to sperms. Secondly, they trigger the brain to prevent ovulation. Thirdly, if both of these actions fail and the woman ovulates and conceives, then the pill effects an abortion by altering the lining of the womb so that the baby cannot rest there and is aborted.22

Silent abortion therefore, is an abortion that occurs without any direct intervention; an abortion that is not primarily desired. It is also called a miscarriage or spontaneous abortion. By using means of birth control with abortifacient effects a couple has indirectly permitted one of its consequences which is termination of life.

Another extreme form of artificial birth control is direct abortion. Direct abortion is an abortion which is either as an end or a means. According to Pope John Paul II, 'abortion is the deliberate and direct killing, by whatever means it is carried out, of a human being in the initial phase of his or her existence, extending from conception to birth.'23 He further avers that, 'abortion willed as an end or as a means always constitutes a grave moral disorder, since it is the deliberate killing of an innocent human being.'24 Abortion is willed as an end (that is, as a goal) if one's goal is to end the pregnancy. Abortion is willed as a means if ending the pregnancy is the instrument one uses to obtain some other goal. Whether as a goal or a means abortion constitutes a termination of life at the initial stage and is never to be accepted as a means of birth control.

Natural Family Planning (NFP)

Natural family planning (NFP) also referred to as the rhythm method or 'fertility awareness methods' 25 consists of the practice of planning pregnancy based on in-built indicator of fertility and infertility in a woman's body.26 This is based on the discovery by the physicians Ogino from Japan (1930) and Knaus from Austria (1929) that the woman is not equally fertile at all times, but has fertile and infertile periods and that an ovum matures for fertilization only once during a menstrual cycle. In discovering that the lifespan of a mature ovum is only 12 hours to two days at most while the lifespan of a sperm is 12hours or at most three days this short period is seen as the 'fertile period' of the woman during which she can conceive if there is unprotected sexual intercourse. Outside this period a woman cannot conceive, she is free to have conjugal act without fear of pregnancy. The infertile period is called 'safe period.' Natural family planning, therefore, involves abstaining from any sexual act during the short 'fertile period' if a couple does not want pregnancy and resuming intercourse during the 'safe period.' According to the United States Catholic Bishop Conference, family planning is the 'general title for the scientific natural and moral methods of family planning that can help married couple, either achieve or postpone pregnancies.' 27 Family Planning Victoria, the Australian organisation responsible for family planning describe natural family planning as that which,

refers to noticing the physical changes that happen during your menstrual cycle so you know when to avoid having sex and can reduce your risk of becoming pregnant. You can also use it to find out the best time to have sex to maximise your chances of becoming pregnant.28

These methods are based simply on the observation of the naturally occurring signs and symptoms of a woman's menstrual cycle. No drugs or surgical procedures are used to avoid pregnancy. Natural family planning therefore refers to a variety of methods used to plan or prevent pregnancy, based on identifying the woman's fertile days. For all natural methods, avoiding unprotected intercourse during the fertile days is what prevents pregnancy. Consequently,

Natural family planning reflects the dignity of the human person within the context of marriage and family life. It promotes openness to life and recognises the value of a child. By respecting the 'love-giving' (unitive) and 'life giving' (procreative) nature of marriage, natural family planning enriches bond between husband and wife.29

Natural family planning methods do not include the use of any chemical, or the introduction of foreign elements into the human body. Most people who are very conscious of their religious beliefs are more inclined to use the natural method of birth control. 30 The philosophy behind natural family planning is the conviction that life 'is sacred, mysterious and unending. It does not belong to man, but comes to him each day as a free giftfrom God so that no man has the right to take his own life or that of another. Neither can man show disrespect for life.'31

Methods of Natural Family Planning (NFP)

Each Natural Family Planning (NFP) method is focused on one or more signs of female fertility. They can be grouped into the following:

a. Calendar Method also called the rhythm method. This method involves refraining from coitus during the days that the woman is fertile.32 Therefore, starting from the first fertile day, she should avoid intercourse to avoid conception. This method involves a proper calculation of the fertile and infertile periods during a menstrual cycle and acting accordingly.

b. Basal Body Temperature (BBT) method is based on the fact that BBT falls at 0.5OF before the day of ovulation and during ovulation, it rises to a full degree because of progesterone and maintains its level throughout the menstrual cycle. The woman takes her temperature early every morning, when she notices a slight decrease and then an increase in her temperature, it signify she has ovulated. She is to abstain from sex for the next 3 to 4 days.

c. Cervical Mucus Methods (CMM). This method which observes mucus sign is commonly called 'ovulation method'(OM). In natural family planning education, a woman learns how to identify the everyday ever present mucus which signifies infertile days and then the abnormal cervical mucus which only appears for few days within a menstrual cycle. This second type of cervical mucus which lasts only for few days are called ovulation mucus and they indicate the fertile days when sexual intercourse is most likely to result in pregnancy. The basis of this method is the changes in the cervical mucus during ovulation. To know if the woman is ovulating, the cervical mucus must be copious, thin and watery, it can be stretched up until at least 1 inch and feels slippery. According to Leonie McSweeney, the most important sign of the ovulation mucus which indicates the presence of the mature ovum is the 'very slippery' nature of the mucus and its 'stretching nearly always' without breaking.33 To avoid pregnancy a couple must avoid intercourse when this mucus appears.

d. Symptom-thermal Method (STM) is the method that observes several signs of fertility and cross-checks two or more of the signs to pinpoint ovulation. Symptom-thermal method typically combines charting of the basal body temperature (BBT) and cervical mucus with other optional indicators like changes in the cervix and secondary fertility signs.

e. Sympto-Hormonal Method (SHM) observes several signs of fertility and adds the use of an ovulation predictor kit (OPK) or fertility monitor that can predict ovulation through the surge of luteinizing hormone that happens 12-24 hours before ovulation. Similar to the symptom-thermal method (STM), this approach add the self-detection of reproductive hormone in the woman's urine with the assistance of an OPK or fertility monitor (Marquette University Institute of Natural Family Planning promotes this method). The kit is 98% to 99% accurate and is fast becoming the method of choice by women.

f. Lactation Amenorrhea Method or LAM is the contraceptive protection provided by exclusive breastfeeding of the infant the first 6 months after delivery. This helps suppress ovulation.

g. Coitus Interruptus. This is one of the oldest methods of contraception. Here the man withdraws during sex and ejaculates outside the vagina. The disadvantage of this according to Belleza is that the pre-ejaculation fluid that contains a few spermatozoa may cause fertilisation.34

How Does Natural Family Planning Work

Natural family planning has instructors across most Dioceses in the Catholic World. These instructions helps married couples learn how to observe, interpret and chart a woman's signs of fertility. It enables married couples to identify the fertile and infertile periods in the wife's menstrual cycle. By getting both involved, it brings unity in marriage.

When husband and wife wish to attempt pregnancy, they will understand that intercourse during the fertile period of the wife's menstrual cycle will likely result in pregnancy. When they wish to postpone pregnancy, husband and wife would abstain from sexual intercourse and any genital contact during the fertile period. No artificial methods are used during the fertile period.

Natural family planning (NFP) is unique among methods of family planning because it helps its users to work with the body rather than against it. For NFP users 'fertility is viewed as a giftand a reality to be live, not a problem to be solved.' 35 Natural family planning methods respect God's design for married love, and represent a unique approach to responsible parenthood. Being a product of scientific research about the signs of fertility, it maximizes the possibility of achieving pregnancy when intercourse takes place during the fertile period of a woman's menstrual cycle and is effective in avoiding pregnancy by abstaining during the fertile period. This method also promotes and respects the unitive and procreative nature of conjugal love, calls for shared responsibility by husband and wife and has no harmful side effects.

Family Planning Appraised from a Moral Perspective

Family planning or birth control has been critically view from various perspectives such as religious perspective, legal perspective, socio-cultural perspective, economic perspective as well as moral perspective. Several conspiracy theories have also been put forward to incite a rejection of birth control just as many theories have emerged in defence and propagation of it. Morally speaking it has been argued from a relativistic, consequentialist, objectivistic and deontological biases. The arguments with regard to the morality of family planning will be considered from two broad approaches namely: the concept of morality being employed and secondly the methods of family planning being considered.

The words morals, morality and ethics are interchangeably used because of their Latin and Greek etymological origins. The Latin word mos (plural mores) translated 'custom' or 'habit' is equivalent to the Greek word ethos which also means 'custom' or 'habit'. According to Fagothey, ethics and morality deals with human conducts which are not merely habitual or customary but principally are considered as right or wrong. Hence ethics or moral philosophy is the study of right and wrong, of good and evil in human conduct.36 In this light Iwuagwu sees morality as

a system of principles and values in regards to standards of right or wrong behaviour which has as its constituents, moral standard with regard to proper behaviour, moral responsibility referring to our consciences and a moral identity with regard to every right thinking moral agent.37

Going further Iwuagwu insists that a proper understanding of morality requires that it be considered from two distinct broad senses, namely the descriptive and normative senses. From the descriptive sense morality refers to certain personal or cultural values, codes of conduct or social mores held by a society or group (be it cultural, religious, philosophical or political group) or accepted by an individual to regulate human behaviour in their society. In this descriptive sense morality only refers to that which is considered right or wrong without any objective connotation. On the other hand, morality in the normative sense refers to whatever is actually right or wrong universally independent of the values or customs held by any particular people or cultures. Morality in the normative sense is objective and refers to a code of conduct that would be acceptable everywhere by anyone who is rationally and volitionally stable.38 The above assertions notwithstanding, moral judgements do give consideration to the subjective, relative, consequential and cultural dispositions of the moral agents.

A proper assessment of the morality of family planning will therefore approach it from the understanding of morality as that which is behaviours, that is to say, whether such actions ought to be performed or ought not to be performed. The actions that man ought to perform are considered right or good actions while those that he ought not to perform are considered wrong or bad actions.39

With regard to the morality of family planning, when family planning is considered strictly as that practice which allows individuals and couples to anticipate and attain their desired number of children and the spacing and timing of their birth...through use of contraceptive methods and the treatment of involuntary infertility,40 when it strictly refers to the factors that may be considered by a couple in deciding if and when to have children, it is morally unobjectionable. When family planning gives a prime place to the dignity of the human person and the sanctity of human life in all its stages, when it employs the natural family planning methods, it is morally praise worthy. But when family planning employs artificial means or methods of birth control which shows an open disregard for the dignity of the human person and the sanctity of human life, it is considered as morally reprehensible. Family planning is not evil in itself, but some means, methods or devices used in family planning are morally unacceptable.

The moral burden of family planning accrues mainly from the various artificial means of birth control it employs. These artificial family planning methods are both unnatural and immoral. Since no artificial method of family planning, except sterilization, is 100 percent effective and since none is foolproof, there is always the possibility of continuing to achieve the expected goal through an immoral means, notably silent abortion or induced abortion. It is known that the hormonal contraceptives such as the oral pills, the implants, the injectable hormones, the combined patches, the vaginal rings, the IUDs, etc., have triple actions which enable them to effect an abortion when they fail to prevent conception. This aspect of their working as abortifacients, in many instances, makes them morally reprehensible.

Abortion is the destruction or expulsion of a fertilized ovum or foetus from the womb before it can survive outside the mother. Unlike miscarriage which is nobody's fault, induced abortion is a voluntary act. When this is carried out with the intention of terminating the life of a foetus for family planning purpose, it is direct killing and is morally evil and unacceptable. According to Iwuagwu,

a directly willed and procured abortion has been rejected as intrinsically evil and wrong. Therapeutic abortions are merely permitted since the danger to the life of the mother is also a danger to the life of the child. Hence operations, treatments, and medications during pregnancy having as its immediate purpose the cure of a proportionately serious pathological condition of the mother are permitted when they cannot be safely postponed until the fetus is viable, although they indirectly cause an abortion.... Hence since abortion is the direct taking of the life of an unborn child, directly willed and procured abortion is a fragrant violation of the right of a child to life and this action cannot but be intrinsically wrong.41

Hence the whole abortion argument is principally premised on whether the foetus is a human person or not as well the right of the woman. However one argues, the fact that life has started after fertilization and as expected is gradually developing, that life is not the life of any other thing than a human person who has a right to live irrespective of the fact that it is at the initial stage of its existence.

When family planning is considered from the moral perspective therefore, natural family planning is morally acceptable since it is purely contraceptive and does not in any way do any harm to the life of the woman nor does it in any way terminate the life of a foetus. On the other hand, artificial family planning with its various artificial means of birth control is morally reprehensible and unacceptable because its methods, devices and goals voluntarily and explicitly promote the termination of

human life at its initial stages through direct and indirect induced abortion. This flagrant disregard for the dignity of the human person and the sanctity of human life makes this component of family planning morally unacceptable.

Family Planning Appraised from the Perspective of the Catholic Church

There is a wrong impression that the Catholic Church is against family planning. This is not correct and is clearly a misinformation. The Catholic Church is not against family planning in the correct understanding of it but is only against the artificial means of birth control. This rejection of artificial family planning is on moral and religious grounds premised on the fact that the various means, methods and devices it employs are not only unnatural but also act as abortifacients.

The Catholic Church accepts, upholds and promotes natural family planning which is morally praiseworthy and does not go against the will of God. It is the position of the Church that natural family planning is sinless and by its rejection of directly induced abortion as well sterilization natural family planning manifest utmost respect for the dignity of the human person and the sanctity of human life both of the foetus and the mother. Natural family planning is cheap and without any adverse side effects. It is easily accessible and simply require the couple to abstain for the few fertile days of the menstrual cycle. In consenting to the use of natural family planning Pope Paul VI wrote:

If then there are serious motives to space out births, which derive from the physical or psychological conditions of husband and wife, or from external conditions, the church teaches that it is then licit to take into account the natural rhythms immanent in the generative functions, for the use of marriage in the infecund periods only, and in this way to regulate birth without offending the moral principles....42

The Catholic church promotes natural family planning methods because of its many benefits which include: teaching couples to understand and live God's design for married love; promoting a holistic approach to family planning which both respects procreation and deepen the intimacy of husband and wife; supporting reproductive health as it is devoid of the harmful side effects associated with artificial contraceptives such as the pills, implants and chemical substances; helping in pre-sex selection of the baby with its ability to pinpoint the actual ovulation peak and finally, fostering intimacy, communication as well as cooperation among husband and wife in the most intimate area of their life. Husbands are encouraged to "tune into" their wife's cycles, and both spouses speak openly and frankly about their sexual desires, hope for the number of children, and God's will in their marriage. 43 The church also exhorts natural family planning because

Natural family planning more than a mere method, is a way of life that is highly praiseworthy. It enhances and intensifies the relationship between the spouses; it promotes marital harmony and equality; it educates for continence and demands a continual effort through which husband and wife develop their personalities and are enriched with spiritual values.44

Consequently, human life is to be allowed to develop to its full potential and its mystery respected. The Holy Koran expresses this conviction too, it says, 'Do not kill your children from fear of poverty. We provide for you and for them; killing them is a great sin .... Do not kill anyone, except in the course of justice, for God has made human life sacred.'45

Christianity and Islam share the conviction that the entire universe was created by God for human kind to live in as children of God and forever. The Koran expresses this when it said 'whoever kills a single person except for manslaughter has equivalently killed all mankind, and whoever saves the life of a sinful person has equivalently saved the life of all mankind.'46 The Holy Bible is very conscious of this sacred origin of human life, the Prophet Jeremiah expresses it thus 'before I formed you in the womb, I knew you before you were born, I consecrated you.'47 In the incarnation, God choose the same medium of human birth. He was born of a woman 'and the word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us.'48 Natural family planning is supported by great religious organisations of the world for whom, God is alive and very real and to whom all are accountable.49

Natural family planning is based on the cardinal principle of the dignity and sacredness of human life. Pope John XXII in the encyclical Mater Magistra put it thus, 'Human life is sacred .... From its very inception it reveals the creating hand of God.'50 Since it is sacred, the Catholic Church teaches that it should not be interrupted. Pope Paul VI in the Encyclical letter Humanae Vitae states,

The direct interruption of the generative process already begun and above all, directly willed and procured abortion, even if for the therapeutic reasons, are to be absolutely excluded as licit means of regulating birth .... Equally to be excluded ... is direct sterilisation, whether perpetual or temporary, whether of the man or of the woman.51

The Catholic Church therefore supports the methods of natural family planning because they respect God's design for married love. The second Vatican Council in Guadium et Spes puts it thus, 'Marriage is oriented to the good of the spouses and to the creation and nurture of new human life.'52 Making decisions therefore, about when and how many children to have in marriage is a sacred responsibility that God has entrusted to husband and wife. This call to discern God's will for your marriage while respecting His design for life and love is the foundation of what the Catholic Church calls 'responsible parenthood.'53

The Catholic Church explicitly and unequivocally rejects artificial means of birth control. It is the position of the Catholic Church that life begins at conception when the ovum is fertilized by the sperm after sexual intercourse. Artificial means of birth control, because they permit the termination of life already begun after fertilization, are considered by the Church as unacceptable and against the moral order and the will of God. The Church holds that God is the creator of life and only God has the right to take life. It is not right, therefore, for man to usurp the place of God by taking human life even at the initial stage of its development in the womb.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in the document - Instruction on Respect for Human Life in its origin and on the dignity of procreation writes,

From the moment of conception the life of every human being is to be respected in an absolute way because man is the only creature on earth that God has 'wished for himself' and the spiritual soul of each man 'is immediately created' by God; his whole being bears the image of the creator. Human life is sacred because from its beginning it involves 'the creative action of God' and it remains forever in a special relationship with the creator, who is its sole end: no one can, in any circumstance, claim for himself the right to destroy directly an innocent human being.54

In strongly rejecting any form of family planning which tampers with human life and in promoting the inviolable sanctity of human life which must be safeguarded by all men of goodwill the Second Vatican Council document Gaudium Et Spes avers,

For God, the Lord of life, has conferred on men the surpassing ministry of safeguarding life in a manner which is worthy of man. Therefore, from the moment of its conception life must be guarded with the greatest care while abortion and infanticide are unspeakable crime .... All should be persuaded that human life and the task of transmitting it are not realities bound with this world alone ... but always have a bearing on the eternal destiny of men.55

The Catholic Church through numerous pronouncements of the popes has out rightly condemned artificial birth control as intrinsically evil. Pope Pius XI in the encyclical Casti Connubii (1930) while upholding the ovulation method of natural family planning rejected artificial birth control for not conforming to the demands of the law of nature. In the encyclical Humane Vitae Pope Paul VI condemned all artificial means of birth control as intrinsically evil regarding them as an error and insists that every conjugal act in marriage must be open to the transmission of life and retain its essential relationship to procreation. 56 Reiterating the position of his predecessors, Pope John Paul II in his apostolic exhortation Familiaris Consortio (1981) and his encyclical Evangelium Vitae (1995) condemned artificial birth control as a 'moral disorder'57 which offend against the procreative significance of conjugal act and which compromise the value of a total safe-giving. From the above and many other documents of the Catholic Church it is clear that the Church approves natural family planning and condemns and rejects artificial birth control.

Conclusion

This work not oblivious of the visible challenges of population explosion in some parts of the world occasioned by cultural and religious beliefs, irresponsible parenting and juvenile unplanned pregnancies; also very much aware of the corresponding pressure the ever increasing population growth puts on the available resources, insists that the dignity of human life must not be sacrificed on the altar of population growth. The fear of inadequate resources to cater for the increasing world population is unfounded. The world's uncultivated arable land is far more than the cultivated ones. The world's untapped natural resources are far more than the ones already explored. Industrial revolution occasioned by advancement in science and technology makes available to humanity abundant means of survival. Employing the principles of subsidiarity and participation as advocated by Iwuagwu58 will address this fear Poverty and lack witnessed in the present day world is nothing but a consequence of man's inhumanity to man. Poverty abounds because of the uneven distribution of the world's resources, a structure which makes the rich richer and the poor poorer. Poverty is a consequence of greed, selfishness and corruption. Further in addressing the imbalance in the society Iwuagwu advocates for solidarity towards the less privileged strata of the society by engaging them on what they can do better. 59 When these anomalies are addressed, the complaint about population explosion will cease and the complaint will be that the world is underpopulated. Even in the prevalent situation of addressing the problem stemming from the fear of having the world being overpopulated, family planning should be done in a way that the value and sacred character of human life from its conception to the conclusion at birth is not interrupted. Family planning must have a moral and religious face which respects the dignity of the human person and the sanctity of life in all its stages of development. This work submits, therefore, that any method of family planning or birth control which disregards the sacredness of human life, as artificial means of birth control does, is morally reprehensible and must be rejected. Natural family planning, however, which respects the dignity of the human person and the sanctity of life should be upheld and promoted for its moral and religious integrity.

References

REFERENCES:

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Iwuagwu, Emmanuel K., (2018), 'Privatization of Conscience vis-a-vis Objective Moral Norms', IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science, vol.23, no.7/4, pp.22-31.

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The Holy Koran, (2010)

UNPF, (2023), www.nufpa.org>family-planning, p. 2

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Footnote

1 World Health Organization, 15 June, 2020, https://www.publichealth.com.ng/who-definition-of-family-planning/

2 UNPF, www.nufpa.org>family-planning, 2023, p.2

3 World Health Organization, Loc.cit

4 D.B. Jellife, Child Health in the Tropics. Eduard Arnold, 1962, p. 4

5 United Nations Population Fund, op. cit., p.2

6 N.S.S. Iwe, Christianity, Culture and Colonialism in Africa, Calabar, Seaspring, 1979, p.3

7 K.H. Peschke, Christian Ethics: Moral Theology in the Light of Vatican II, Bangalore, Theological Publications in India, 1996, p.502.

8 T. Pazhayampallil, Pastoral Guide Vol. II, Sacraments and Bioethics, Bangalore, Kristu Jyoti, 1997, p.1103

9 M. Belleza, Family Planning Methods. Retrieved from, https://Nurseslab.com. June 15, 2023, p.1

10 M. Golden, All Kinds of Family Planning, Ibadan, Claverianum Press, 1986, p.3

11 T. Pazhayampallil, Loc.cit

12 M. Golden, op. cit., p.1.

13 S. Wehmeier, Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Oxford University Press, 2020, p.203.

14 NHS. What is Contraception - Contraception Guide NHS Choices. http://www.nhs.org.conditions/contraception On June 22, 2023, p.4

15 World Health Organization Family PlanningDepartment of Reproductive Health and Research, Family Planning: A Global Handbook for Providers, USAID, 2011, p.ii

16 Ibid, p.1

17 Ibid, p.109

18 Ibid, p.45

19 Ibid, p.165

20 Ibid, p.183

21 M. Golden, op. cit., p.3

22 Ibid, p.2

23 Pope John Paul II, Encyclical, Evangelium Vitae, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 5 April 1995, p.xi

24 Ibid, p.62.

25 World Health Organization Family Planning Department of Reproductive Health and Research, Op. cit., p. 239

26 T. Pazhayampallil, op. cit., p. 1079

27 USA Catholic Bishops (USCBC), Natural Family Planning, https://www.usccb.org/issues.and.actions/marriageandfamily, June 20, 2023, p.1

28 Family Planning Victoria. Contraception, https://www.fpv.org.au/foryou/contraception, June 22, 2023, p.5

29 USCBC, op. cit., p.4

30 M. Belleza, op. cit., p.4

31 M. Golden, op. cit., p.9

32 M. Belleza, op. cit., p.2

33 L. McSweeney, Love and Life: Natural Family Planning, 10th Edition, Ibadan, African Universities Press, 2012, p.67

34 M. Belleza, op. cit., p.3

35 USBC, op. cit., p.7

36 A. Fagothey, Right and Reason: Ethics in Theory and Practice, St. Louis, The C.V. Mosby Company, 1976.

37 E.K. Iwuagwu, Privatization of Conscience Vis-a-Vis Objective Moral Norms, IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science, vol. 23, no.7/4, 2018, p. 23.

38 Ibid.

39 E.K. Iwuagwu, 'The Relationship Between Religion and Morality: On Whether the Multiplicity of Religious Denominations have Impacted Positively on Socio-Ethical Behaviour', Global Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, vol.6, no.9, 2018, p.45.

40 World Health Organization, Loc.cit

41 E.K. Iwuagwu, 'Kant's Absolute Goodwill and its Implications for some Current Ethical Issues like Suicide, War and Abortion,' Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Science, vol.7, no.8, 2019, p.12

42 Pope Paul VI, Humane Vitae, Vatican City, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, no.16.

43 Family Planning Victoria, Loc. cit.

44 T. Pazhayampallil, op. cit., p.1088.

45 The Holy Koran, 17:31.31

46 Op. cit., 5:32

47 The Holy Bible, Jeremiah, Chapter 1, verse 5

48 The Holy Bible, John, Chapter 1, verse 14

49 M. Golden, op., cit., p.10

50 John XXII Pope. Mater et Magista, Vatican City, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1961, Liii

51 Paul VI Pope. Humanae Vitae. Vatican City, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1968, no.14.

52 'Gaudium Et Spes', Vatican II. The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents. Austin Flannery, (Ed.), Ireland Dominican, 1975, no.7

53 USBC, op. cit., p.2

54 The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, ( ), Instruction on Respect for Human Life in its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation, no.10

55 Gaudium Et Spes, op. cit., no.9

56 Pope Paul VI, op. cit., no.11

57 Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation, Familiaris Consortio, Vatican City, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, no.32

58 E.K. Iwuagwu, 'Employing the Principles of Subsidiarity and Participation as Veritable Catalysts for Africa's Socio-Political and Economic Development', International Journal of Research in Arts and Social Sciences, vol. 9, no.1, 2016, p. 150

59 E.K. Iwuagwu, 'The Socio-Ethical Principle of Subsidiarity: A Philosophical Appraisal of its Relevance in the Contemporary World', 'Research on Humanities and Social Sciences', vol. 6, no.12, 2016, p. 182.