Religious Opinions

The Ministry’s Philosophy on Birth Control

It is the goal of the ministry to provide information regarding all forms of birth control and permanent sterilization in order to prevent an unwanted pregnancy which reduces the emotional and religious conflicts of considering an elective termination of pregnancy or abortion.

As patient advocates and faith leaders, the ministry believes that all persons should be free to make personal decisions about their contraceptive choices. These should be based a conscience decision after properly considering about the history, culture and the beliefs of your faith as well as community and legal issues regarding on this very personal subject.

As a religious person, father, husband and physician specializing in Women’s Healthcare, I support responsible reproductive choices.

Although God has provided an abundant history of religious tradition, he has also given us free will. As such, we are often challenged to avoid temptation as a desire to participate in short-term urges of enjoyment which could have unexpected or undesired long-term effects. In the context of faith and religion, temptation is often a precursor to sin and the lack of self-control as a form of sexual expression or conduct is very often considered a sin.

As humans, we often have admirations of ideal goals and as humans we often fall short of them. Unintended pregnancy in a situation where abortion is being considered as a solution is an example where temptation and the fulfillment of a short-term urge falls short of ideal with life changing consequences.

Although abstinence until marriage (and desired pregnancy) is often promoted as the ideal in regards to sexual behavior, it is unrealistic as a general social, religious or marital rule. Even in marriage, pregnancy is more often than not an unexpected although joyous surprise even when birth control is used. Abstinence until marriage where both partners are virgins at the time of marriage is a rarity in today’s society even in the most religious family sects.

Interval abstinence, such as Natural Family Planning, is the most commonly accepted form of natural birth control. Unfortunately, it also has relatively high failure rates leading to unwanted pregnancy as compared to other forms of birth control. On the contrary, the failure rate of Natural Family Planning leading to pregnancy are often as high as if no birth control had been used.

It is for this reason that the ministry advocates the use of a combination of birth control options and provides counseling on the use of all available forms of birth control from abstinence to permanent sterilization.

What does the Bible Say?

Judaism

There are a number of different views within the Jewish community regarding birth control among the three major branches of Judaism (Orthodox, Conservative and Reform). In Orthodox Judaism, the use of birth control is accepted in limited situations. In Conservative Judaism, while encouraging its members to follow traditional beliefs concerning birth control, has been more open to allowing greater flexibility regarding birth control more in line with modern beliefs. In Reform Judaism, values regarding birth control are the most liberal and flexible allowing individual members to decide for themselves what, if any, type of birth control they wish to use.

Those that follow a strict adherence to Jewish law and Halakhah are more conservative or ultra-orthodox as compared to many modern thinking Jews who do not follow a strict interpretation of Halakhah. Many liberal or modern thinking Jews belief that there is significant benefit to birth control as part of female health, the prevention of sexually transmitted disease, family stability and upholding the commandment in Judaism to “choose life” which is more important that the commandment to “be fruitful and multiply.”

The Bible has several passages that seem to oppose the use of birth control.

“Be Fruitful and Multiply”

So God created man in His image; in the image of God He created Man; male and female He created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that moves and crawls upon the earth.

Genesis 1:27-8

Bring out every kind of living creature that are with you--birds, livestock, and everything that crawls or moves upon the ground--so that they can spread out and multiple over the earth and be fruitful and increase in number upon it.

Genesis 8:17

And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and increase in number and fill the earth.”

Genesis 9:1

But as for you, be fruitful and multiply and increase in number; spread out across the earth and multiply upon it.

Genesis 9:7

I will turn toward you and look in your favor and make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will fulfill My covenant with you.

Leviticus 26:9

However, in closer review and taken in context, Genesis tells how God identifies “man” and “woman” as his ultimate creation and gives mankind the responsibility of supervising the world that he has created. “Be Fruitful and Multiply” does not say anything about birth control in the sense that as long as Adam and his descendants were not intentionally trying to avoid having any children to stop the presence of mankind on the earth then the practice of birth control would not be considered a sin.

Levirate Marriage

In Old Testament law of levirate marriage as described in Genesis 38:8-10 and Deuteronomy 25:5-10, If a married man died childless, his brother or nearest relative was expected to marry his widow and father a child to carry on the deceased man’s name and inherit his property. Onan refused to fulfill his duty and used a form of birth control called coitus interruptus to prevent pregnancy:

Then Judah said unto Onan, Go and marry thy brother’s wife, lay with her and fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law to produce offspring for your brother. But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; and it came to pass that whenever he laid with his brother's wife, he would spilled his semen on the ground to keep from producing children for his brother. What he did displeased the Lord and was wicked in the LORD's sight; so he put him to death.

Genesis 38:8-10

If brothers are living together and one of them dies without having a son, his widow must not marry a stranger or outside the family. Her husband’s brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her. The first born son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be put out from Israel.

However, if a man does not want to marry his brother’s wife, she shall go unto the elders and say, My husband’s brother refuses to raise up and carry on his brother’s name in Israel. He will not fulfill the duty of my husband’s brother and as my brother-in-law. Then the elders of his town shall call him and speak to him. And if the brother stands in saying, “I do not want to marry her,” his brother’s widow shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, take off one of his sandals, spit in his face and shall say, “This is what shall be done to this man who will not build up his brother’s house.” That man’s house and family line shall be known in Israel as The Family of the Unsandaled.

Deuteronomy 25:5-10

Most experts say that Onan was condemned by God for using his brother's widow for sexual pleasure while refusing to provide offspring to his widow on his behalf. The passage is not meant to condemn or raise any fault with the use of birth control.

Islam

The Qur'an does not make any explicit references to birth control or morality of contraception, but contains statements encouraging procreation.

Similar to the Jewish commandment of “be fruitful and multiply,” the Islamic prophet Muhammad is said to have encourage his followers to marry and procreate.

Coitus interruptus, which is the withdrawal of the penis from the vagina prior to ejaculation, was a known practice of birth control as the time of Muhammad and he did not object to its use such as to benefit the family or appropriate planning of pregnancy.

When there are no specific teachings in the Qur’an, most Muslims follow the consensus of Islamic scholars. Conservative Islamic scholars object to the use of birth control, while the majority of scholars agree to exceptions in the case of the health of the mother and when there is a mutual agreement between husband and wife. As such, a general consensus on birth control are as followed:

Having children is the right of both husband and wife and therefore the use and form of birth control should be determined with the consent of both the husband and wife
The form of birth control should not cause permanent sterilization
The form of birth control should not harm the body

Judeo-Christian Doctrine

Traditionally, most Christian faiths opposed birth control. This was partly based on the aforementioned interpretation of the Bible as well as historical disapproval of sexual pleasure without the intent of procreation and the myth that the male sperm was the only factor responsible for reproduction with humans in miniature held within sperm. Therefore, the spilling of sperm was considered to be a form of abortion.

It is now known that sperm cells carry only half of the genetic information for procreation and that the sperm does not carry humans in miniature form. It is also known that sperm cells which are not expelled from the body are continuously replaced as they die within the male testes.

Today, most Christian churches are supportive of the reproductive decision made by members and that birth control is a private matter between a husband and wife.

The Roman Catholic Church is an obvious exception. The official position of the Roman Catholic Church is that all forms of birth control except abstinence and Natural Family Planning are unacceptable supporting the position that intercourse should only be practiced during marriage and only for the purpose of procreation. Nevertheless, the vast majority of practicing Catholics view birth control as morally acceptable. However, most Christians and their churches continue to oppose premarital sex and abortion as a form of birth control and morally wrong.

The Position of the Ministry

The Bible gives no clear or direct opinion on the subject of birth control and, therefore, any comments on the subject are based on the opinion of the reader and not on any Biblical evidence. As such, we believe that prevention of unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease is paramount and we therefore offer condoms and referral for evaluation of all types of reversible and permanent forms of birth control to our members.