Ep. 154: Were Christians against birth control for centuries?

Is it okay to use the pill? Why do some Christians and denominations have issues with birth control while others don't? There was one MAJOR EVENT that caused a shift in the perspective of many Christians on the issue of contraception and, if you're a Christian deciding about birth control use, you deserve to know about it! This episode dives into the longstanding Christian stance on birth control and how it changed.

NOTE: While it discusses themes of family planning, contraception, and abortion, this episode is appropriate for most audiences. 

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction to Contraception
03:02 Historical Context of Contraception in Christianity
05:57 The 1930 Lambeth Conference and Its Impact
09:14 Moral Obligations and Natural Family Planning
12:03 Examining Motivations Behind Contraceptive Use
14:48 Conclusion and Reflection on Christian Principles

Other relevant episodes you may enjoy: 

• Episode 6: The Pill -- Facts about Birth Control
• Episode 34: Is Contraception a faithful choice for Christians?
• Episode 141: Grace's Story -- healing after birth control
• Episode 140: Isn't Natural Family Planning a Catholic thing?

Keywords: natural fertility, contraception, Christian faith, moral obligation, family planning, Lambeth Conference, fertility awareness, historical context, Christian principles, family size

Transcript

Caitlin Estes (00:26)
Welcome back to the Woven Well podcast. As you know, we talk about all things natural fertility care here on the show, but we do so through the lens of the Christian faith. And a common question among Christians thinking deeply about fertility is what role does contraception play? Is it okay to take the pill? Why do some Christians and denominations and leaders have issues with hormonal contraception of any kind while others do not?

So I thought it may be worth talking about the major event that changed the Christian landscape when it comes to contraception. But before we start, maybe we should first define contraception. The word itself actually means against conception and it includes any device or act or process that would prevent a pregnancy from occurring when it could have otherwise. Now, when most people think of contraception, the thing that comes to mind is the birth control pill.

It was developed through some actually pretty questionable methods back in the 1950s and released for use to a very specific subset of women in 1960. So was originally intended only for married women of a certain age who had completed their families.

So that's changed. Now there's a lot that can be and has been said about how this original pill changed the fabric of our culture and our families. Within five years of hitting the market in the United States, 1.5 million women were on it, but now it's likely over 100 million women globally. But contraception of course is not limited to the pill. There are other forms like IUDs which are incredibly popular,

And the thing is, coming up with ways to prevent pregnancy began long before the invention of an IUD or even the birth control pill that we so often think of. Early versions of condoms were used as early as 3000 BC. So there were a wide variety of ways in which people tried to prevent pregnancy. Sometimes it was successful, sometimes it wasn't, but when unwanted pregnancies occurred,

there were also ancient forms of abortion. So issues like contraception and even abortion aren't really new. They've been around for centuries in one form or another. And during all that time, Christianity has held fast to a unified belief that both should be avoided. This may feel like news to you, or you may think that that only applies to the Catholic Church.

you're right that the Catholic Church believed that then and continue to believe it now, but even prominent reformers, Protestant reformers, emphasized the danger in using contraception. John Calvin. Let's think about him. In a published commentary on Genesis, he was writing about the story in Genesis when Onan refuses to complete an act of intercourse to provide children for his widowed sister-in-law. It's complicated story.

But listen to how he describes his concerns and how he ends his message.

When a woman in some way drives away the seed out of the womb through aids, then this is rightly seen as an unforgivable crime.

unforgivable.

felt very strongly that contraception of any kind was an evil to be avoided.

and it was seen as a crime against women, against the child who would have otherwise been conceived, and against the entire human race who would miss out on their existence.

Whoa! Like that is so foreign to us now, but it wasn't a foreign idea until 1930. Before 1930, the entire Christian church was in solid agreement. You simply did not do something that would prevent a pregnancy when it would otherwise occur or could otherwise occur. You did not take actions against conception. So what happened in 1930?

Almost 100 years ago now, what changed? Well, at that time, there was a great emphasis on a booming world population. So they were getting the stats in, the population was just growing at an exponentially fast rate. So I imagine knowing the world population would have been impossible before this time. That's just a guess. But they were discovering that there were a lot of people on the planet.

And so there were some vocal leaders who were concerned about how responsible it was to continue having large families. And what was the church going to do about it? What moral obligation did Christians have to this anticipated explosion of family size? Well, in response, when a large gathering of Anglican leaders came together for the Lambeth Conference in 1930, they passed a resolution on the use of contraception.

Now, did they say all couples should be able to prevent pregnancy as they like? Did they say couples should have no more than 2.1 children forevermore? Did they say contraception has no moral concerns whatsoever? They did not. Let me actually read you what they did say. 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 for methods of selfishness, luxury, or mere convenience. So that was the statement, but it's not really a massive show of support for contraception, is it?

But it was enough to crack the door open to something that had previously been definitively sealed shut. And the reality is this did change things. Contraception and the role that it's developed in our world, in our lives, as women and families in the last hundred years, it has been revolutionary. And this is true for Christians just as much as it is for anyone else.

And be honest, Christians are still sorting out the lasting effects and whether they're more good than bad or more vice than virtue. And we've talked about this in previous episodes and I'll be sure to link a few in the show notes, but I don't want us to miss taking a closer look at this resolution that changed so much. Because do you notice the extreme hesitation with which they write this resolution?

Anglicans sometimes get a bad rap for being the Christian denomination who abandoned ship on what was once that rock-solid agreement among Christians across the world. And yeah, that's true. But I think it's important that we pay attention to the care they took to emphasize how rarely it should be done and how prayerfully it should be considered. So they focus a lot on moral obligation. That term keeps coming up.

Well, first and foremost, the only reason for considering the limiting or avoiding of pregnancy had to be a moral obligation for them. And both of those words stand out to me. So it had to be for moral reasons, not personal ones. And they make it explicitly clear that it must be out of an obligation, not luxury or preference, as they'll go on to clarify. And then did you notice?

they pointed out that there is a primary and obvious method of honoring this moral obligation, abstinence. So if you found yourself in a moral conundrum where you had to avoid pregnancy, there was a way to do it that was fully supported by the church, abstinence. And in case you're tempted to think that this is total and complete abstinence, meaning a couple can never again have intercourse,

There is an aside included that shares that it's only needed as far as it may be necessary. So how could that be possible? How could a couple need to avoid pregnancy but not have to abstain in order to do that without contraception, right? Does that even exist? Well, to me, that is clearly referring to the practice now referred to as fertility awareness or natural family planning. There are

absolutely ways to naturally avoid pregnancy which do not separate procreation or the ability to have children from the act of intercourse. It also doesn't alter the physical, mental, or emotional makeup of a woman, and it doesn't lead us to believe that we have more control over the outcome than God does. That is natural family planning. It's the strategic abstinence during a woman's fertile window

So on the days when she could conceive, you would abstain, and then strategic intercourse during that same fertile window if you're trying to conceive a pregnancy. So it's all about that fertility-focused intercourse based on what your particular goal is. And this suggestion is not only from the Anglican Conference, but it's still practiced and supported today by the Catholic Church and many Christian denominations.

We at Woven Natural Fertility Care, the organization behind this podcast, work with all sorts of Christians and the spiritually curious to help them understand how their cycles work and how they can naturally avoid or conceive a pregnancy. Now, this approach is not necessarily as easy as taking birth control. So as mentioned, choosing abstinence, even for a few days each month, is going to develop discipline and self-control, which can

only be gained through the power of the Holy Spirit. And that's probably why they mention that. It does take the involvement of the Spirit in order to be able to do this well and in a way that still honors marriage and supports marriage to see it thriving. But what gifts do we get from the Holy Spirit that aren't worth the effort, right? You know, if the Spirit's involved, it's got to be a good thing.

So the reality is that God has already built in this way for us to avoid pregnancy that honors the act, the marriage and the person. But that isn't where they stop. This conference resolution kept going and with the next section, which starts out, nevertheless, okay. So nevertheless goes on to have these words that open the door to something new.

It goes on to say that when there are cases where there is a morally sound reason for avoiding abstinence, then other methods may be used, provided that it's done in the light of the same Christian principles. So I wonder what we would say are the morally sound reasons for needing to avoid abstinence. Because I think that this often gets confused in our minds with morally sound reasons for avoiding pregnancy.

And those are two different things. There are all sorts of serious reasons that may cause a couple to need to avoid pregnancy, life-threatening medical conditions, mental health crises, severe financial limitations. But what are the reasons in which a couple should need to avoid abstinence? I think it's worth thinking about and really discerning together as a couple. And especially now, there are incredibly accurate ways of identifying that

unique window of fertility for a couple when they could possibly conceive. Even in the most complex situations, and trust me, I have seen them in my eight plus years as a certified fertility care practitioner, okay, even in the most complex situations, there are still readily accessible ways to at least narrow it down if not accurately identify it. And I hope that that's encouraging if you feel like you are disqualified because of the cycle

But continue on, the resolution ends with a strong condemnation of the use of any methods for motives of selfishness, luxury, or even mere convenience. This word stands good today. Even for those who are using forms of natural family planning or fertility awareness previously emphasized by the Anglican leaders, they still must guard against preventing pregnancy for any reason that may be

from selfishness, luxury, or even mere convenience. And what a great call to examine our hearts and our motivations. Whether we're avoiding pregnancy naturally or through the use of contraception, we must ask ourselves and on a continual basis, why are we avoiding pregnancy?

Is it out of a moral obligation? Is it for a grave or serious reason? Or is it possibly out of convenience? Now I can't answer that question. I'm certainly not saying that it is out of convenience. We can trust the Holy Spirit for that work and to provide that answer, but I do think that our contraceptive mentality in the world makes it really easy to just start from a perspective of convenience.

instead of the other way

And I think that this resolution challenges us to start instead from a Christian or a Christ-centered mentality, regardless of our method, and see where it takes us. By the way, this doesn't mean that every Christian couple should have vans full of children, okay? God is still going to guide, and every family is going to look different, every couple is going to be led in a different direction.

but we can examine our hearts and our motivations and open them up to God, be very open-handed with what our family looks like. So yes, the Anglican church was the first to break the long-standing Christian rejection of contraception,

But let's acknowledge the hesitancy, the care, the intentionality with which they set the boundaries of what they felt was acceptable use. Can we hold ourselves to these same standards? Does our contraceptive use hold up in light of these same Christian principles? I think it's something worth pondering. Now these are the types of faith-focused topics that we talk about each week through our Substack email reflections. So if you'd like to...

Think more deeply or explore more deeply how faith and fertility work together. Click the link in the show notes to receive those for free. As always, thanks for listening as we continue to explore together what it means to be woven well.