What is the Moral Objection to Contraception?

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A major controversy presently gestating over America's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is the requirement that health-insurance companies provide coverage for contraception.

Roman Catholics, who regard contraception as a sin, have been most vocal in their whining.

Catholics aren't alone: Mormons, some Jews, some Moslems, and some Evangelicals also eschew contraception.

My question is: What exactly is the moral objection to contraception?

I believe the stock Catholic answer is either "Because the Pope says so" or "Because our Catechism Book says so", often with some reference to what happened to Onan.

I would really like a deeper explanation than that.

Is it really necessary, for every sexual act, for semen to be enter a vagina, and for nothing to block pregnancy?

I remember reading about some Catholic couples who got around the prohibition against contraception by practising anal sodomy. But, wouldn't this also be a form of Onanism?

Do Catholics (or members of other religious groups) regard masturbation as immoral?

For the purpose of the poll, assume that the sexual act (other than masturbation) involves two people whom you feel morally entitled to engage in coitus, such as a heterosexual married couple, for example.

For the purpose of the poll (and discussion), let us assume that Onanism refers to a sexual act between two persons (whom you regard as morally entitled to participate in coitus with each other), where the sexual act involves intended orgasm, which results in anything other than a vaginal creampie (for example, fellatio, hand job, cunnilingus, coitus interruptus, etc.)

If morality isn't about caring for other people, I have no idea what it's about.

How does it harm other people to do any of these three acts?

I was raised Roman Catholic, so I know a bit about their teaching. Catholic doctrine is that human sexuality is intended for procreation within the context of marriage only. They oppose premarital sex, adultery, open marriage, non-vaginal intercourse, masturbation, etc. I don't know how they feel about the elderly and infertile.

Taboos against contraception and non-procreative sex stem from times when two out of five children died before they reached puberty, and many women died during and after birth (partially because of the Christian contempt for the "heathen" Middle Eastern practice of sterilizing obstetric tools in boiling water). Religious sexual "morals" helped ensure a steady population growth back then, and that is still their aim today.

Considering the rampant overpopulation, this is of course utter madness. The global population has tripled during the last century and continues to grow exponentially. Especially in impoverished Third World countries, where children are dying of starvation, it is a crime against humanity to preach against the use of birth control. This shows that there is little logic or reason involved in traditional Abrahamic religions. If we continue to allow ourselves to be governed by religious dogma, we will pay a heavy price for it.

I don't object to paying for coitus, but I do find immoral the religious restrictions which require orthodox Jews who hire prostitutes to have full vaginal coitus without condoms.

Haredin Who Crowd Brothels


Just because your religion requires it doesn't mean its right.

Do the Catholics state that their goal is rampant population growth? As in the Philippines?

Or, is there some moral idea concerning sexual arousal? If so, what is their logic?

I find it pathetic that this is a controversy in the US in the first place.
People are truly frightening animals.

The moral objection to contraception revolves the idea of sex should only occur for the purpose of having children.

It's an outdated and idiotic viewpoint held mostly by those who can't see past their owns noses to glance at reality.