It’s Time to Stop Calling Natural Family Planning ‘Contraceptive’

The phrase “contraceptive mentality” can confuse Catholic couples trying to discern family size faithfully and live the Church’s call to responsible parenthood.

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By Elizabeth Timpe

It has been 58 years since the publication of Humanae Vitae, the pro-life encyclical by Pope St. Paul VI. In the decades since, the Catholic Church has promoted methods of Natural Family Planning (NFP) to help couples live out this teaching. Notably, the Couple to Couple League (CCL) has been around since 1971 and is celebrating 55 years of educating Catholics on how to naturally plan their families and supporting couples through a lifetime of fertility.

I have been teaching NFP for CCL with my husband for nearly 12 years. Together, we have taught hundreds of couples this Church-approved method for planning their families. Recently, however, I have noticed an increasing trend among young Catholics: The reigning question is no longer “Contraception, why not?” but rather, “Can NFP be used with a ‘contraceptive mentality’?”

Many young Catholic married couples are struggling to understand the teaching in Humanae Vitae that permits the use of NFP to avoid pregnancy when reasons exist for spacing births or limiting family size. The conundrum is what exactly iustae causae, mentioned in the encyclical and often interpreted as “just” or “serious reasons,” means for their own discernment.

I have even encountered some couples who have altogether shunned the use of NFP except in life-or-death situations for fear of having what is deemed a “contraceptive mentality.” Some couples come to me after having many children in a row, overwhelmed and in survival mode, as they struggle to understand what exactly is being asked of them by being open to life. They think that “traditional” Catholic teaching does not allow the use of NFP.

One can imagine their relief when I explain that NFP is not the same as contraception  (“contra” literally means against) and that, yes, NFP can be used to space children.

NFP is not Contraception

The phrase “contraceptive mentality” was used by Pope St. John Paul II in Familiaris Consortio in reference to a broader cultural mentality surrounding artificial contraception and abortion. He was addressing an increasingly prevalent cultural mentality that was literally opposed to human life. He was not talking about faithful Catholics using NFP, but about a mentality that rejects openness to human life.

Contraception is intrinsically evil because its object is to block the natural process of fertility in the body (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2370). Using contraception within the marital act is grave matter and, when accompanied by full knowledge and deliberate consent, can constitute mortal sin (CCC 1857).

Unfortunately, the phrase “contraceptive mentality” has been picked up by some Catholic faithful and has become associated with the mindset of a couple using NFP to avoid pregnancy in their marriage.

Hearing this phrase, a couple seeking to be faithful to Church teaching may rightfully wonder: If both contraception and NFP can have the same end or goal of avoiding pregnancy, how can one be wrong and the other be acceptable?

The difference is found in what the couple actually does.

Couples using NFP do not introduce anything into the marital act to block the natural process of fertility. When they do come together, the marital act remains open to life, regardless of whether it occurs during a fertile or infertile time of the month. When they choose to abstain during the fertile period, meanwhile, no marital act is taking place.

Simply stated, it is not immoral to abstain from intercourse, whether a couple is fertile or infertile on any given day (CCC 2370).

NFP itself is intrinsically neutral, which means that it requires discernment by the couple. Openness to life is not merely a state of mind; it manifests itself in the marital act. The marital act is meant to be both procreative and unitive, not just one or the other.

The Call to Responsible Parenthood

Couples can use the knowledge gained from NFP charting to determine whether they are fertile or infertile and then discern what to do with that knowledge.

The discernment about having children, spacing children and limiting overall family size is part of what Humanae Vitae calls “responsible parenthood.” The encyclical teaches couples to consider their physical, economic, psychological and social conditions (all “just reasons”) as they discern parenthood.

A couple should examine their motives and contemplate their unique circumstances to discern whether God is calling them to expand their family. A couple could act selfishly by refusing God’s call to have more children, but even in this case, I do not believe describing their use of NFP as a “contraceptive mentality” accurately reflects what Pope St. John Paul II intended by the phrase.

A great blessing of NFP is that even when using it to avoid pregnancy, the couple is still allowing God to make the final decision, since they do not introduce a technical inhibitor to conception.

No matter the circumstances, their discernment should remain open to God’s will. Couples should seek spiritual direction, receive the sacraments and pray for the grace to remain open to that will. They should also remember that God is their judge, not others — even when they are constantly bombarded with statements like “you sure have your hands full” or “when will you have another one?” from the grocery store aisle to the church pews.

Building up Catholic couples

As for the use of the phrase “contraceptive mentality” in discussions of NFP, my soapbox when meeting with couples is that this association should be banished from Catholic circles. Too often, it confuses and disheartens couples who are sincerely trying to discern God’s will and live according to the Church’s teaching.

In the marriage preparation world, it is my hope that we continue to build up and encourage couples as they contemplate the gravitas of being part of God’s plan to bring life into the world.