The Moral Impact of the Birth Control Pill

The Moral Impact of Birth Control

Summary

Birth control was sold as a tool of freedom and empowerment for women, but it has instead led to moral decay, weakened relationships, and a rejection of God’s Divine Will. By separating the marital act from its life-giving purpose, it has fostered selfishness, encouraged promiscuity, and devalued human dignity and marriage. Instead of true liberation, contraception turns the soul away from God’s creative plan, transforming marital intimacy from a sacred sign of the sacrament of marriage into something that all too often resists its natural fruitfulness.

These deeper spiritual and moral consequences are rarely acknowledged—and certainly never listed on the drug’s packaging label, but they are all too real. Sixty years after the introduction of hormonal Birth Control, we know that it:

Distorts the Purpose of Sex

Birth control separates the unitive and procreative aspects of sex, turning it into mere pleasure rather than an act of love and life-giving union.

“When couples, by means of recourse to contraception, separate [what] God the Creator has inscribed in the being of man and woman and in the dynamism of their sexual communion, they act as ‘arbiters’ of the Divine plan and they ‘manipulate’ and degrade human sexuality.” ~ St. John Paul II

Leads to Moral Decay

As predicted by Pope Paul VI, widespread contraception use has led to increased infidelity, promiscuity, and a general decline in morality.

“Let them first consider how easily this course of action could open wide the way for marital infidelity…” ~ Humanae Vitae, paragraph 17

Encourages Irresponsibility

By eliminating natural consequences, contraception promotes reckless sexual behavior and irresponsibility, including extramarital affairs and casual sex.

“[In contracepting couples] Life and love [are] reduced to an epidermic content and contact without any fruit or purpose.” ~ Fulton Sheen*

The epidermis is the outer layer of skin. Archbishop Sheen was suggesting that the relationship between contracepting couples is only “skin-deep.”

Devalues Human Life

Children are seen as a burden or punishment rather than the natural fruit of love and God’s plan for marriage.

“When sex becomes a mere act of gratification, it ceases to be an act of love and becomes an act of selfishness.” ~ Christopher West

Erodes Human Dignity & Mutual Respect

By separating sex from its life-giving purpose, contraception encourages a mindset where individuals are treated as objects of pleasure rather than persons made in God’s image. This loss of meaning fosters a culture where men may lose respect for women, seeing them as means of gratification rather than equal partners in love and life.

“… a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires, no longer considering her as his partner whom he should surround with care and affection.” ~ Humanae Vitae, paragraph 17

Corrupts the Sacred Meaning of Marital Love

Contraception disrupts the sacramental nature of marriage by turning an act meant to be open, faithful, and fruitful into one that is closed off and sterile. Rather than a prophetic sign of God’s love, a sterilized sexual act becomes a rejection of His life-giving power, diminishing the sacredness of marriage.

“Rendering the sexual acts sterile actually changes the matter of the sacrament of marriage, rendering that great sacrament into a kind of anti-sign or anti-sacrament.” ~ Christopher West

Weakens the Family Unit

By undermining the connection between sex and procreation, birth control contributes to the breakdown of stable marriages and family life.

“The Church…teaches that each and every marital act must of necessity retain its intrinsic relationship to the procreation of human life.” ~ Humanae Vitae, paragraph 12

Attempts to Play God

The use of contraception seizes a power meant for God alone, placing it in human hands as if His timing were insufficient and they could dictate the creation of life better than the Creator Himself.

“When, therefore, through contraception, married couples remove from the exercise of their conjugal sexuality its potential procreative capacity, they claim a power which belongs solely to God: the power to decide in a final analysis the coming into existence of a human person.” ~ St. John Paul II

Conclusion

Far from being a path to freedom, birth control has ushered in a host of moral consequences that society can no longer afford to ignore. By rejecting the procreative purpose of sex, contraception distorts human love, undermines the sanctity of marriage, and weakens our reverence for life itself. In seeking to control life, we risk losing sight of its sacredness. True dignity and fulfillment are found not in resisting God’s design, but in embracing it with faith, love, and trust in His Divine plan.

References:

Christopher West. (n.d.). Can contraception hurt my marriage? | Catholic teaching on contraception. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvTIs-tPSiA

Fulton Sheen. (n.d.). Birth control. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mw9wHdX1OGI

St. John Paul II. (1978–1996). Statements on birth control. Catholics Against Contraception. https://www.catholicsagainstcontraception.com/statements_by_john_paul_ii_1978_1996.htm

The Catholic Talk Show. (n.d.). 4 prophecies on birth control from Pope Paul VI | The Catholic Talk Show. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4brKn35Qsk

Pope Paul VI. (1968). Humanae Vitae. Vatican.