What, indeed, could possibly be wrong with contraception?

Apparently, nothing, in the eyes of the 80 percent of Catholics who reportedly practice it, despite the Church's teaching against it.

Opposing this resounding vote of approval, Dr. Janet Smith, an associate professor in the Philosophy Department of the University of Dallas, has offered eloquent and thought-provoking argument both in speeches and writing.

The following is a summary of her taped talk, 'Contraception -- Why Not?'

We live in a culture that thinks that contraceptives are one of the greatest inventions of mankind; yet this 'archaic' Roman Catholic Church says it's one of the worst things!

I'm here to tell you that the Church's teaching deserves serious consideration.

Prior to 1930 all Christian churches taught that contraception was wrong. Protestant legislators enacted laws against contraceptives because they were considered to be the source of sexual license.

In 1930, however, the Anglican Church approved contraception within marriage for serious reasons. A year later, Pope Pius XI reiterated the constant teaching of the Church on it.

In 1960, 66 percent of Catholics were compliant with the Church's teachings on contraception, and within the Church there was virtually no debate on the subject.

But in the 1960s 'the Pill' became available, and the contraceptive revolution began. The Pill was considered to be a great salvation of mankind, due the prevalent fear of overpopulation. Today demographers such as Julian Simon and Ben Wattenberg say there is good reason to doubt the overpopulation scare.

The world's population has increased enormously, but modern agricultural techniques have exponentially increased the food supply. Starving children around the world have little to do with overpopulation and a great deal to do with tribal or ethnic warfare, corrupt governments and natural disasters.

The second reason people thought that contraceptives were wonderful was the rapid growth of feminism. Women couldn't take their rightful place in the work force unless they had fewer babies. Contraceptive would also improve marriage; wives would be happier if they weren't afraid of getting pregnant all the time.

I was a teen-ager in the 'Sixties. The wisdom of the times was that you should have sex before marriage the same way you tried out a car before you bought it. With contraceptives, we thought there would be an enormous decrease in the number of unwanted pregnancies, and in abortions.

On the surface these were plausible expectations. But in 1968 Pope Paul VI issued Humanae Vitae, which restated the Church's teaching against contraception. He predicted that four things would result if contraception became widespread:

1. A general lowering of morality.
2. A disregard for the physical and psychological well-being of women.
3. Coercive government family planning programs used in connection with helping the poor.
4. The treatment of our bodies as though they were mere machines.

When we consider the moral level of society today, reflected in our TV shows and movies; the proliferation of pornography; the illegitimacy rate and resultant poverty; the coercive population control programs in Third World countries; and mechanistic practices such as surrogate motherhood and in vitro fertilization, the accuracy of Pope Paul VI's predictions is all too apparent.

What of the secular world's prediction that contraception would improve marriage? From 1965 to 1975 -- the same time that the use of the Pill became widespread -- the divorce rate doubled, from 25 percent to 50 percent.

Robert Michaels, a demographer at Stanford University, discovered that the divorce rate was parallel to contraceptive use. He attributes 45 percent of the increase in the divorce rate to the increase in the use of contraceptives, for these reasons:

1. Contraceptive users have fewer children later in marriage, resulting in weaker marriages.
2. Adultery is more common.
3. Women are more financially independent.

When difficulties arise in marriage, it's easier for them to walk out.

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