Isn't NFP just "Catholic Contraception"?

A Biblical case against contraception, the Church as the pillar and bulwark of truth, and the importance of self-control

I've heard this claim floating around amongst non-Catholics, so naturally, I knew I needed to write up a deep dive. The Catholic Church's teachings on sexual morality are consistent, Biblical, and uphold the dignity of the person. They are good, true, and beautiful.

Let's start at the very beginning…

A Biblical Case Against Contraception

Have you heard of “Onanism”? It refers to this passage from Genesis:

Judah got a wife named Tamar for his firstborn, Er. But Er, Judah’s firstborn, greatly offended the LORD; so the LORD took his life. Then Judah said to Onan, “Have intercourse with your brother’s wife, in fulfillment of your duty as brother-in-law, and thus preserve your brother’s line.” Onan, however, knew that the offspring would not be his; so whenever he had intercourse with his brother’s wife, he wasted his seed on the ground, to avoid giving offspring to his brother. What he did greatly offended the LORD, and the LORD took his life too. -Genesis 38:6-10

Onan was punished with death for spilling his seed. One can see how this is similar to contraception today (specifically in regards to condoms and the pull-out method). A common retort to this interpretation of this passage is that Onan was punished because he wasn't fulfilling the Levirate Law of preserving his brother's line of descendants, not for spilling his seed. Let's look at what the consequences were for breaking this law to see if this is true:

When brothers live together and one of them dies without a son, the widow of the deceased shall not marry anyone outside the family; but her husband’s brother shall come to her, marrying her and performing the duty of a brother-in-law. The firstborn son she bears shall continue the name of the deceased brother, that his name may not be blotted out from Israel. But if a man does not want to marry his brother’s wife, she shall go up to the elders at the gate and say, “My brother-in-law refuses to perpetuate his brother’s name in Israel and does not intend to perform his duty toward me.” Thereupon the elders of his city shall summon him and speak to him. If he persists in saying, “I do not want to marry her,” his sister-in-law, in the presence of the elders, shall go up to him and strip his sandal from his foot and spit in his face, declaring, “This is how one should be treated who will not build up his brother’s family!” And his name shall be called in Israel, “the house of the man stripped of his sandal.” - Deuteronomy 25:5-10

Onan's punishment was more extreme than the punishment prescribed to a man who refused to continue is brother's line. It seems fair to say that Onan did something worse by spilling his seed, leading to his being put to death.

The Pillar and Bulwark of Truth…

The Catholic Church continues to uphold the belief “that each and every marital act must of necessity retain its intrinsic relationship to the procreation of human life.”¹ This means that contraceptives are never a moral option. All major Christian denominations agreed on the immorality of contraceptives, but the Anglican Church made some exceptions in the 1930s.²

Amidst societal pressures, only the Catholic Church has remained firm in the stance against contraception. It isn’t to have as many Catholics as possible.³ It isn’t because the Pope isn’t married and doesn’t understand the hardships of family life. It is because “of laws written into the actual nature of man and of woman”.⁴ Marital love must be both procreative and unitive. “When the conjugal⁵ act is deprived of its inner truth because it is deprived artificially of its procreative capacity, it also ceases to be an act of love.”⁶

One undeniable piece of the conjugal act is that it can produce human life. When we intentionally prevent this, we are failing to uphold the dignity of our bodies in the way they have been created by God.

It's About Time…

Contrary to what many seem to think, a woman will not always be pregnant if contraception is not used. God has created women with a cycle where she is infertile more often than she is fertile.⁷ There is a small part of the month where conception is possible. Catholics are asked, when spacing children is discerned for serious reasons, to abstain during the fertile times of the woman’s cycle, rather than using contraception. “As a rational and free being, man can and should reread with insight the biological rhythm that belongs to the natural order. He can and should conform himself to it for the sake of exercising ‘responsible fatherhood and motherhood,’ which is inscribed according to the Creator’s plan in the natural order of human fruitfulness.”⁸ If God wanted each conjugal act to result in a child, He would have made women constantly fertile.

Even with these details, the claim that “time” is being used as the “contraception” has persisted. These claims misunderstand Church teaching. Contraception is “deliberate prevention of conception or impregnation (as by the use of birth control pills, IUDs, condoms, coitus interruptus, vasectomy, or tubal ligation)”.⁹ These are all artificial methods. There is nothing artificial about Natural Family Planning (NFP).

Ask someone who practices NFP. NFP is not something we do, it is a way we live. Jen Fulwiler articulates this in her book One Beautiful Dream:

“I had discovered that NFP was more of an alternative lifestyle than just another way to avoid pregnancy. It strengthened my marriage, made me rely on my faith more than I ever would have otherwise, and it had given me another gift as well, one that I never expected to receive.” (page 35)

She goes on to explain how uncomfortable she had been with her body all her life, and her “revulsion for all of those odd female things [her] body did”. Later on she mentions how she “felt at war with [her] body”. Learning the intimate details of her cycle led her to freedom, recognizing the beauty of her body the way God created it.

Cooperation, Not Manipulation

We are called to “cooperate with God in the generation and rearing of new lives.”¹⁰ This concept is brought forward by Stratford Caldecott in Renaissance Through the Family:

The whole supernatural dimension of sex is cut off by contraception, for in the end it is God who is the target of the contraceptive. By using it, the couple intends to prevent God’s creating the child he would otherwise create. After all, if God were not going to create a child, and they knew so for sure, they would not resort to contraception. They think he might and they intend to prevent his doing so. Whether they realize it or not, this couple is trying to have sex without God, to ‘push God out of the bed.’”

We shouldn't limit God's action in our lives to the times when it is desirable. Even though scientific advances may permit us to have more control in our lives, like in the case of contraception, we should recognize that there are areas of our life that should not be manipulated. We should trust in God when it comes to His plan for our families, even if He calls us to have a large number of children.

When considering family size, a couple “…will fulfil their task with human and Christian responsibility, and, with docile reverence toward God, will make decisions by common counsel and effort….The parents themselves and no one else should ultimately make this judgment in the sight of God. But in their manner of acting, spouses should be aware that they cannot proceed arbitrarily, but must always be governed according to a conscience dutifully conformed to the divine law itself”¹¹ Forming our conscience is an integral part of discernment. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “The education of the conscience is a lifelong task.”¹² We can continue the formation of our conscience through prayer, receiving the Sacraments of the Eucharist and Reconciliation, and regulating what we consume (for example: media).

Even “those who make use of contraceptive practices…inspired by ‘plausible reasons,’” must recognize that their actions do “not change the moral qualifications founded on the very structure of the conjugal act.”¹³ Good intentions do not justify the means.

The Fire that Burns

“…but if they cannot exercise self-control they should marry, for it is better to marry than to be on fire.” - 1 Corinthians 7:9

I have heard this verse applied in support of contraception, as if abstinence is harmful or those struggling with self-control should just give up. Jason Evert gives a response to the meaning of this verse in this episode of Catholic Answers Live (skip to minute 28). To summarize: St. Paul is expressing a way that is better, but not the best.

Some Christians will claim that periodic abstinence is harmful to marriage. Contrary to this claim, paragraph 21 of Humanae Vitae says:

“Self-discipline of this kind is a shining witness to the chastity of husband and wife and, far from being a hindrance to their love of one another, transforms it by giving it a more truly human character. And if this self-discipline does demand that they persevere in their purpose and efforts, it has at the same time the salutary effect of enabling husband and wife to develop to their personalities and to be enriched with spiritual blessings. For it brings to family life abundant fruits of tranquility and peace. It helps in solving difficulties of other kinds. It fosters in husband and wife thoughtfulness and loving consideration for one another. It helps them to repel inordinate self-love, which is the opposite of charity. It arouses in them a consciousness of their responsibilities. And finally, it confers upon parents a deeper and more effective influence in the education of their children. As their children grow up, they develop a right sense of values and achieve a serene and harmonious use of their mental and physical powers.”

If one does not have possession of themself (self-control), can one truly give themselves as a gift to their spouse? One must possess what is being given. St. John Paul II talks about “the mutual freedom of the gift”. He states that “[r]everence for what God has created frees one from [the] constraint [of concupiscence], frees one from all that reduces the other ‘I’ to a simple object: it strengthens the interior freedom of the gift.”¹⁴ “This freedom presupposes that one is able to direct sensual and emotive reactions in order to allow the gift of self to the other “I” on the basis of the mature possession if one's own “I” in its bodily and emotive subjectivity.”¹⁵ Using NFP as a Catholic is not “a mechanical application of biological laws”.¹⁶ It involves interior growth.

Concluding Thoughts

The Catholic Church is the only Christian denomination to uphold the teaching against contraception.

Contraception turns man “into an object of manipulation”¹⁷.

There is a fundamental difference between NFP and contraception. NFP cooperates with God's design, while contraceptives intentionally frustrate God's design.

“God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control.” (2 Timothy 1:7) He has equipped us with what we need to conquer the desires of our flesh.

Thanks for taking the time to read this essay! What is your experience with this topic? Did anything I shared spark insights? I'd love to hear from you!

I recognize that there is so much more that could be said on this topic, as entire books have been devoted to it. People spend their entire careers teaching on the Theology of the Body. If you want to keep learning, explore the resources in the footnotes of this post. An encyclical I did not reference, but is also a good resource, is Casti Connubii. Additionally, two individuals doing work in this area are Christopher West and Jason Evert. Check out their podcasts— Ask Christopher West and Lust is Boring— or books to learn even more. :)

1. Humanae Vitae, 11

2. Resolution 15 - The Life and Witness of the Christian Community - Marriage “Where there is clearly felt moral obligation to limit or avoid parenthood, the method must be decided on Christian principles. The primary and obvious method is complete abstinence from intercourse (as far as may be necessary) in a life of discipline and self-control lived in the power of the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless in those cases where there is such a clearly felt moral obligation to limit or avoid parenthood, and where there is a morally sound reason for avoiding complete abstinence, the Conference agrees that other methods may be used, provided that this is done in the light of the same Christian principles. The Conference records its strong condemnation of the use of any methods of conception control from motives of selfishness, luxury, or mere convenience.”

3. The Church never says that Catholics should have large families, but encourages prayerful discernment. We need to be open to God's call for our family.

4. Humanae Vitae, 12

5. Conjugal: of or relating to the married state or to married persons and their relations (Conjugal Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster)

6. A Theology of the Body 123.6

7. To learn more about a woman's cycle, here's a resource. I'm not talking about the “rhythm method”.

8. A Theology of the Body 125.1

9. Contraception Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

10. Humanae Vitae, 8

11. Gaudium Et Spes, 50

12. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1784

13. A Theology of the Body 122.2

14. A Theology of the Body 132.3

15. A Theology of the Body 130.4

16. Ibid.

17. A Theology of the Body 123.1