Secular liberalism and conservatism (2)

The Catholic Church's prohibition against contraception is irreversible despite Cardinal Carlo Martini's recent claim that condoms are the lesser evil in combating the spread of AIDS. According to Catholic teaching it is never licit to place a barrier between the unitive and procreative dimensions of marital love.

The proposal under study is itself disingenuous for it seeks to remove the legitimate choice of abstinence as a solution. Essentially, this is what is called in logic the "false dilemma" fallacy, whereby two choices are given, when, in fact, there are three.

Some theologians argue that total abstinence would deprive the couple of the marital relations to which they have a strict right according to what is called "the marriage debt". In this case, as in the case involving one's good "intent", the Church teaches that one cannot use an evil means to do good. An uninfected partner cannot invoke "self-defence" for the same reason and because of the option of abstinence. Further, condoms are designed specifically to prevent human fertility from being fully accomplished and so they cannot be considered a "medical intervention".

The Catholic Church teaches that all unnatural means of contraception are evil because they thwart the natural generation of life. They open up a wide and easy road towards conjugal infidelity and cause a general lowering of morality. This is an immutable principle as propounded by Pope Paul VI in his encyclical Humanae Vitae. The only foolproof and morally legitimate solution to preventing AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases is abstinence.