Contraception Preamble

Catchy title huh?

I recently read and then listened to a 1994 presentation by Professor Janet E. Smith regarding Contraception titled “Contraception: Why not?”.  I have spent a fair amount of time over the last few years researching the issue and so even though I am not Catholic, I was not really surprised by the Catholic perspective in this presentation.   But there was something about this presentation that grabbed me.  I am not entirely sure I fully know what it was or is, but I do find this presentation to be very thought provoking.  So much so that I requested (and was granted) the right to present the entire presentation on my blog.  However, Professor Smith requested that I use the current, updated and revised edition which I have gladly agreed to.

So here’s how it’s going to work.  I did not want to post this massive document in one single blog post so I requested and was granted the ability to break the presentation up into multiply entries.  I will not directly add commentary into the presentation so the post will be Professor Smith’s presentation directly from the transcript she sent me (the referanced slides were not sent to me).  If I have commentary I will probably make that a comment to the post or a separate post.  This will help make sure you know the post you are reading is not my take or commentary but the actual presentation of Professor Smith.  It is my hope that you might find this interesting and even thought provoking.  Please feel free to comment on these posts, I look forward to reading them and hopefully having a dialog regarding the issues that will be brought up.

My only request is that this does not turn into anti-Catholic commentary.  I am not asking for commentary or hoping to engage in a dialog about Catholic teaching in general.  Obviously there are areas in the presentation that very specifically references Catholic teaching, but on a whole I find this presentation to be less about Catholic teaching and more about the why.  I feel the “why” has value for Catholics AND non-Catholics.  Today almost no one actually discusses fertility and contraception with their soon to be spouse.  I know my wife and I didn’t.  I assumed my wife would continue taking the pill and I think my wife accepted that the burden of birth control was the woman’s problem in the early years.  This is something that couples should discuss before being married and to be honest, if they are Christian couples this discussion should include some prayer and study to bring a more spiritual element into the discussion as well.

At the end of this series of blog posts I will try to include a copy of the transcript as well as some links to where you can get other media if interested.

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