What is the Catholic Church's teaching on regulating births and contraception?
The Catholic Church teaches that every marital sexual act must remain open to the transmission of life. In God's design, marital intimacy has two essential aspects that may never be artificially separated: the unitive (deepening love and mutual bonding) and the procreative (openness to new human life).
For this reason, artificial contraception, direct sterilisation, or any action designed to prevent conception prior to, during, or after sexual intercourse is morally illicit.
At the same time, the Church encourages responsible parenthood. For serious reasons (health, financial, or family stability), spouses may legitimately regulate births by observing the natural fertile and infertile cycles of the woman's body (Natural Family Planning or NFP) and abstaining during fertile periods. NFP respects the moral order created by God and fosters mutual communication, self-mastery, and profound respect between husband and wife.
Sources
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2370
- Humanae Vitae, no. 14, 1968
Awaiting review by the chaplaincy. Written in our own words; the Church's own texts are the authority.