Pope's Concerns

Pope Paul outlines several major consequences that may arise through the use of artificial birth control. According to Chapter 17 paragraph 21, in the Humanae Vitae, "An effect that gives cause for alarm is that 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.” Here he is reflecting on his thoughts as to why contraceptive use should be looked down upon. He argues that man will lose respect for the woman and no longer care for her mental state. Instead of seeing her value, he will perceive her as an entity; one as, “a mere instrument of selfish enjoyment.” In other words, when spouses exploit the intimate action, they do not act with dignity and thus they jeopardize their own happiness. By treating, "their bodies as mechanical instruments to be manipulated for their own purposes", they risk treating each other as articles to be easily disposed of. Yet, this is what our culture has currently become. From birth control pills to abortions, contraceptives are quite common. Contraceptives, in a sense, have become a social construct in our culture. Not present a century ago, we our society has given importance to the use/disuse of these 'unnatural' birth control methods. It may also be safe to assume that it has evolved, in a way, to become the 'natural law'. And although some men do view women as material objects, it may not necessarily be attributed to the rampant use of birth control. Contraceptives have helped in keeping global population down, as women are much more likely to advance their career before settling down with a family, a direct example of the change in the culture from merely decades ago.

Pope Paul also observed that the widespread acceptance of contraception would eliminate the parameters that are currently in place, as couples would have an abundance of contraceptives at their disposal. It is towards this point that he comments, “we must accept that there are certain limits, beyond which it is wrong to go, to the power of man over his own body and its natural functions -—limits, let it be said, which no one, whether as a private individual or as a public authority, can lawfully exceed.” The Pope feared that the wide use of contraceptives would give, “public authorities the power to intervene in the most personal and intimate responsibility of husband and wife.” In other words, he meant that the government would impose contraceptive methods on people, which would result in the loss of their autonomy.

However, the forced program to decrease the growth rate in China shows the stark extreme toward which governments will take population programs. As in China’s one-child policy, the government officially restricted married, urban couples to having only one child. In this case the government addressed the fact that China was becoming increasingly overpopulated. Yet through the policy, the government does not deter the intimate act between couples, as long as the proper precautions are taken (contraceptives) and only one child is produced. As a result of the law, the Chinese government estimated that it had three to four hundred million fewer people in as a result of the one-child policy, than it would have had otherwise. All in all, I disagree with the Pope. As is clearly shown by China’s one-child policy, the interference of the government benefited the country as the rapid rate of increase of the population declined significantly. The graph on the right proves this, as the population growth leveled out after the introduction of the law. The consequences of this law have helped China greatly. On a large scale, it decreased the risk of overpopulating the world as well as that of draining the Earth’s natural resources.