Birth prevention

Birth control
Prevention of conception
Reduction of births

Nature

The use of physical or chemical means to prevent sexual intercourse from resulting in the conception of a child.

Incidence

One study estimated that roughly a third of the decline in fertility in the USA between 2007 and 2016 was due to the decline in unintended births.

Claim

The only certain and acceptable means of birth control is abstinence. The use of artificial birth control means that people arrogate to themselves the divine right to determine which actions will have the power to generate life.

Counter-claim

By divorcing sexuality from reproduction, the birth control pill has revolutionized human behaviour. For the first time in history it is possible to have sexual relationship without worrying about pregnancy.

Any use whatsoever of matrimony exercised in such a way that the act is deliberately frustrated in its natural power to generate life is an offense against the law of God and of nature, and those who indulge in such are branded with the guilt of a grave sin. (Papal Encyclical, Casti Connubii, 31 December 1930).