And, in my own normal words: Any action that prevents fertilization is considered contraception. We believe that the moment an egg is fertilized, it has a soul. It is a human. Even if you don’t believe it has a soul, there is no way we can attach its human identity to any other milestone outside of conception because it would be arbitrary and subjective. When a baby is born, is it human? Five minutes before a baby is born, is it human? Five days before a baby is born, is it human? Five months before a baby is born is it human? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. It is always a human, and it has been since conception – even before implantation.
I Still Don’t Buy It
We’ve become a culture of acting on what feels right instead of what is right. We say that there is no moral code that is an absolute truth. But, if we believe that, then we cannot condemn the actions of Hitler, Stalin, Koni, Manson or the like because they were simply acting on what they felt was right. Now you’re saying, “Whoa, Jenna. That’s a bit extreme.” And, yes, it is. But that doesn’t make it untrue. So what does this mean then? It means that there is such a thing as a moral absolute. We hold things to be innately right or wrong…unless of course it gets in the way of our own quest for pleasure. (Thank you Relevant Radio for that one!)
Choosing to use NFP in place of contraception says that you value the lives of others as much or even more than your own. It says you value yourself as you were designed. It says you value human rights. It says you are a true feminist. It says you buy into the radical idea that all life is important, not just life outside the womb.
So, does that answer your questions? I hope so. If not, please leave me a comment telling me what else you would like to know. I love talking about this to you! And, side note, while I was finishing this post, the Michigan Pro-Life movement called me to ask if they still had my support. Um yeah! If that isn’t a sign that I was supposed to write this, what is?
**Update: I have been receiving a lot more comments and questions as the day goes on. Instead of replying to each individually, I will do another post addressing all of your thoughts. Thank you for continuing to comment and keeping the conversation going.**

excellent, sharing :)
This is great, but I do think i tis hard not to get into that ‘contraceptive mindset’ even with NFP. For example, one of your pictures is about bragging that all your children were ‘planned’. I do not oppose using NFP in a prudent, prayerful way, but I think what a lot of people don’t realize is that NFP is NOT supposed to be the default state. Accepting children is, and if you have a serious reason to avoid, THEN you use NFP. Ideally, we’re not supposed to be ‘planning’ our children if we don’t have to.
Also, while I don’t belive that we are supposed to all be the Duggars, there is nothing wrong with that either – there are, shock and awe, Catholics that don’t even use NFP. So I think your graphic insulting her is not at all charitable.
Hello! I enjoyed reading your perspective. Though, I noticed you failed to mention the use of condoms as contraception. What is your viewpoint on that? With condoms an egg is never fertilized or becomes “human” and there are no harmful effects to te body or environment.
As a
feminist, I believe you have the feminist view all wrong. I use contraception
because I work full time and want to enjoy married life with my husband before
we decide it’s time to have children.
Further, I do not see my ultimate purpose in life as a baby-maker nor would
I be honored to think of myself as a walking vessel. I
am so much more. Yes, I think that that reproduction is an
amazing and sacred thing! I look forward to one day use my body to
create life– but when it’s best for me. I believe I’m equipped to influence
that decision. However, I also I take Aspirin when I have a headache, messing
with god’s plan for me to be in pain. Sometimes I color and straighten my hair,
so I’m messing with her plan in a lot of ways, I suppose.
I see your
view and appreciate that you’re passionate. However, you use the slippery slope
fallacy way too much here: “women who WANT birth control are going to be able
to have access to it, and next time you know, they’re going to be forced to cut
off their hands!” Come on. And of course you bring Hilter into it! Why not?!
Really, at
the end of the day, this fight against women is insane and dangerous. It’s
harmful to a woman’s place in society and ability to operate in the workplace/marketplace
and for her to have a voice in their health way they live their lives.
Shouldn’t
Catholics be worrying less about their neighbors “vessels” and more time/mental
space/blog content fighting social injustices that birthed humans are facing?
Fantastic discussion!! One of the most concise and thoughtful summaries I’ve read! Thanks for your time and thought put into this! I believe God was speaking through you with this!
**Update:
I have been receiving a lot more comments and questions as the day goes
on. Instead of replying to each individually, I will do another post
addressing all of your thoughts. Thank you for continuing to comment and
keeping the conversation going.**
In my opinion, I think the biggest hurdle is agreeing life begins at conception. If that ever happens (and I pray that it does) I doubt this HHS mandate would even be an issue.
Also, thoughts on “free abortions” yet to purchase private maternity insurance it could cost $500 or more a month on top of health insurance costs.
I think this is an excellent post, and I don’t think I could have
explained it better myself. I am looking forward to reading the next.
Your thought process was so clear and concise Jenna and I applaud your courage in standing up for what you believe in as well as putting an often misunderstood value of the Catholic faith into “regular” language. There are so many additional topics that I think you could spin off of this one that I hope to see in the future – namely religious freedom for all to include Catholics and over population vs. overconsumption. Well done Jenna!
Ha! I posted this to my fb wall, and I saw that several of my friends hit ‘share’ so…hopefully it is okay that I sent some traffic this way :)
If you understand the HHS mandate, you would know, nobody is trying to take away birth control. As Catholics, because it is against our religious beliefs, we just don’t want to have to pay for it. It’s already readily available. We are trying to protect our religious freedom and as a woman, my right to live my life the way I want to.
Oh dear, I hope this doesn’t hurt our friendship but I do not agree at all. First I would like to know where you got your information about birth control pills causing abortion. I actually wrote about this topic for my senior thesis and it’s not true. Birth control and Plan B stop a fertilized egg from attaching, it will not detach an already attached embryo. I was still on the pill when I got pregnant and no issues whatsoever. I use birth control because I cannot financially or emotionally handle more babies right now. I also cannot handle no sex. I am personally very pro life but I vote pro choice bc I do not have the right to force my beliefs on others. Do catholic organizations have the right to deny birth control coverage for their employees? Absolutely. It’s their right as a private organization. But I should not have to subject myself to one religion’s beliefs to live in a free country that claims to support all religions.
Let’s still be friends but just promise not to talk about religion or politics when we meet for lunch, ok. :)
Great post. I hope this helps people understand how beautiful and freeing NFP is.
facebooking…twittering….(and I am not ‘into’ zombies- but I LOVE that IUSENFP button!)
Jenna
Thanks for standing up and choosing to write about such a difficult topic. It’s very well done. I wish more people knew the true Catholic views on this stuff, and I also wish that non-Catholics would be more understanding of our perspective. I don’t see people arguing Muslims or Jewish people for their beliefs, so I just can’t understand why it’s so cool to pick on Carholics. This article should help!
Love
Mike
And by Carholics I mean Catholics. :)
Mike
A fertilized egg has all of the building blocks of a 25-year-old accountant who likes to hike on the weekends and goes to dancing class on Thursday nights. When the pill and Plan B unnaturally evict those embryos from the womb, they are aborting a human being.
Also, it’s a free country, but you don’t have to work for a Catholic organization if you know their beliefs would prevent them from paying for your birth control. If you want people to stay away from your body, why do you think you can then force them to pay for a choice you make with it?
I love this post!! My daughter is in grad school and she wanted to do a research paper on the side effects of birth control pill…the professors discouraged this and then disallowed it…we were discussing this at the dinner table and my 7th grade son informed us they learned in health class how good the pill is for girls…even makes them prettier by keeping their face acne free…can you even believe it?!!!!! and it doesn’t stop…in another grad course the topic of the paper was why the health care mandate is good for our country!!!! what? most of these young professionals have never thought this stuff through and so believe as Gospel what they are being taught, and then adopt these beliefs.
They are brainwashing our kids to think that their bodies don’t work correctly. And then they are marketing it as human rights. It’s sick. That is why hubs and I are going to a home school conference tonight. We just want to keep our options open if things keep going in this direction.