Every sperm still sacred
The opposition of the Catholic Church to "artificial" forms of contraception first reached crusade proportions when churchmen became concerned at the "sexual licentiousness" made possible by improved contraceptive technology in the 1920s and '30s. In those days, there was less need to clothe opposition to fertility control in human rights rhetoric.
The men of the church, then, felt free to say what they thought — that reliable contraception means sexual freedom, and the ability to decide when and even whether to have children. Such freedom, they correctly concluded, calls into question the raison d'etre of marriage and creates the preconditions for social, political and even economic freedom for women. These outcomes could be railed against with impunity, with opposition from only a handful of clearly deranged and immoral harlots in bicycle bloomers.
Casti Connubi (Of Chaste Marriage), the 1930 encyclical issued by Pope Pius XI, raised the opinion of churchmen to the status of God's word by declaring that the primary purpose of marriage and sex was to beget children, with the happiness of the people in the relationship of only secondary importance.
By the time of the 1968 encyclical of Paul VI, Humanae Vitae (Of Human Life) "sexual licentiousness" had reached plague proportions, assisted by the advent of the contraceptive pill. The political events of the '60s had also made support for women's rights more respectable. Debate within the Catholic Church on fertility control, especially on the issue of the pill, had become heated and widespread.
Nevertheless, on July 25, 1968, Humanae Vitae was issued, complete with its prohibition on "any action which, whether either in anticipation of the conjugal act, or in its accomplishment, or in the development of its natural consequences, proposes ... to render procreation impossible". Pope Paul
VI reportedly shrugged his shoulders when asked by a close confidant why he had chosen to ignore the advice of the advisory commission which had laboured for years on the question and had recommended a change in the policy.
Now comes Veritatis Splendor, the doctrinal encyclical of Pope John Paul II to be published in October. The Vatican has sprung a leak, and news is that the ban on contraception will be unequivocally restated in the latest word from God's representative on earth.
Much has changed since the 1960s, and many are predicting that the controversy and outcry which ripped through the Church following Humanae Vitae will look like a Sunday school picnic in comparison to the disunity which will be created by Veritatis Splendor. The Pope will have to come up with something a bit more convincing than a shrug of his shoulders if he wants to come out of this one with his infallibility intact.
By Karen Fredericks