Who Should We Follow on Matters of Family Planning?

On my way to work today, I heard a certain preacher in the bus I had boarded discouraging women from using any kind of family planning method, reason being, the Bible is against it, and this kept me thinking, who should we listen to? Or rather, who is telling the truth? The church or the government/NGOs?

In the past, family planning was a nightmare, in fact, it never existed. Men used to marry as many wives as they could. The reason behind having many wives was so that they could get as many children as possible. Children were considered to be gifts from God and the ancestors. The more children one had, the more respect he could get from the society. Another reason was so that they could get people to inherit their possessions, be it land or livestock. Why then could they even thing of controlling child birth?

As time went by, a number of things started changing. Family planning campaigns were all over. Whenever you could visit a hospital, family planning posters could be seen all over, asking women to embrace child birth control methods.

The Roman Catholic Church has been opposed to contraception since at least the second century. Its position on contraception was formally explained and expressed by Pope Paul VI‘s Humanae vitae in 1968. Artificial contraception is considered intrinsically evil, but methods of natural family planning are morally permissible in some circumstances, as they do not seize the natural way of conception.

In justification of this position, Pope Paul VI said the following, “Responsible men can become more deeply convinced of the truth of the doctrine laid down by the Church on this issue if they reflect on the consequences of methods and plans for artificial birth control. Let them first consider how easily this course of action could open wide the way for marital infidelity and a general lowering of moral standards. Not much experience is needed to be fully aware of human weakness and to understand that human beings and especially the young, who are so exposed to temptation—need incentives to keep the moral law, and it is an evil thing to make it easy for them to break that law.

Read: Rehabilitation Center for Street Children in Nairobi County

Another 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.”

The United Nations Population Fund (UNPFA) states that access to safe, voluntary family planning is a human right. It goes ahead to say that Family planning is central to gender equality and women’s empowerment, and it is a key factor in reducing poverty. Yet some 225 million women who want to avoid pregnancy are not using safe and effective family planning methods, for reasons ranging from lack of access to information or services to lack of support from their partners or communities. Most of these women with an unmet need for contraceptives live in 69 of the poorest countries on earth.

Contraceptives have so much been campaigned for by a number of non-governmental organizations, especially in Africa as they are said to prevent unintended pregnancies, reduce the number of abortions, and lower the incidence of death and disability related to complications of pregnancy and childbirth.

Other advantages that have been connected to family planning included women empowerment. Access to contraceptive information is said to be central to achieving gender equality. When women and couples are empowered to plan whether and when to have children, women are better enabled to complete their education; women’s autonomy within their households is increased; and their earning power is improved. This strengthens their economic security and well-being and that of their families.

Since all the sectors supporting and those against family planning are key in our society, who then should be followed?