Why is artificial birth control an option for Catholics who are willing to use contraceptives? On the occasions I have presented the possibility of using natural family planning (NFP) to Catholic couples who use contraception to avoid pregnancy, the usual response has been: “It’s too hard.”

What is sought, therefore, is a quick and easy solution to a problem. But can problems really be solved with quick and easy remedies? To think so is to reduce the problem of birth to a partial reality which necessarily implies leaving aside the deeper meaning of life and of personhood. Paul VI was very aware of this when in his Encyclical Humanae Vitae he said the following: More…