Societal side effects of contraceptive pill
Last month was the 50th anniversary of the "pill". In the 1960s the pill was heralded as a development that would liberate women from male dominance and lead to fewer divorces, fewer unwanted pregnancies and fewer abortions. It is now clear, however, that things did not turn out that way.
As the pill became more widespread the number of divorces and abortions soared. We saw a lowering of moral standards and a rise in infidelity and promiscuity. In addition, the well-being of children declined by a variety of measures, from depression, to diet, to the number living in poverty and the number experiencing child abuse or neglect.
Though women now have access to places and positions that once belonged to men, they have never been seen more as sex objects than they are today.
The major disconnect caused by the arrival of the pill has been a loss of the idea that men and women make babies. As technological advances in artificial reproduction are made, the idea that God plays a role in procreation has increasingly been lost.
Sadly, the horizon does not look promising for the family. With the rapid increase of activist judges with a proclivity to elitist social engineering we will soon be seeing countless forms of sexually bonded groups that are not only unstable but seriously harmful to children.
May God help us.
Popular Stories
In Discussion
36 Comments
Post comment
Please sign in or create your Account to post comments.
Tanja Cilia
Jun 20th 2010, 11:40
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2010/jun/15/newspapers-local-newspapers
But why did he choose to go this way? Why are some people sio reluctant to sign their name to what they write, especially if they believe they are right?
Joe Zammit
Jun 14th 2010, 11:30
Steve, sex can be done any time you want but it has to be always open to life. If one excludes procreation by any act against nature one commits a mortal sin. We must follow the laws of God also in marital life.
The safe period is natural and according to the law of God. The Catholic Church speaks also of responsible parenthood. But this does not include sins, does not include anything unnatural. Responsible parenthood yes, contraception no.
Married couples must not run away with the idea of making the sexual act whenever they want if they have enough children and decide not to have any more children. They have the safe period which can be used without offending God.
We must remember that any sinful act is never love but lust. Love comes from God; lust comes from the devil.
Steve Pace
Jun 13th 2010, 17:32
@ Joe Zammit - Part 2 - "In other words they bless sexual acts within marriage."
Not all kinds of sex is blessed in marriage . Marriage does not give you an open season license on sex Joe. Sex without love is lust and is still a mortal sin.
Steve Pace
Jun 13th 2010, 16:46
@ Joe Zammit - "God has planned for us the save period. The safe period is completely natural. "
"God has planned for us the safe period."
Wrong . Its the catholic church who decided that the safe period should be used and just to clarify , this is known as NFP.
"The safe period is completely natural."
With all due respect to you Joe. I don't know you, but your knowledge on the subject is very little.
The so called safe period depends on the use of a thermometer to determine the temperature of the woman to establish the best time to concieve. The so called NFP states that sex can be done anytime apart from this period.
Calling it completely natural when you are using an instrument to make sure you don't conceive has nothing natural in it.
Secondely it reduces sexuality to a very digrading level, since it promotes diary sex and not allowing the couple free to make love anytime they feel the need to express themselves to each other.
I urge you to scroll down the blog and read again through S.Calleja's comment . You may Learn something or two !
Joe Zammit
Jun 13th 2010, 10:53
The rules of the morality of our actions do not depend on us but only on God. God has made us and, out of his infinite love for us, has given us his Ten Commandments for our own good. He wanted to redeem us and so sent his only Son to save us. This Son knew that it would be necessary to set up his one Church to tell us directly what we must do and avoid to attain eternal life and joy. So this is the mission of his Catholic Church.
Among the Ten Commandments there are the Sixth and Ninth. These prohibit any sexual act outside marriage. In other words they bless sexual acts within marriage. The sexual act is intended for love and procreation. So it must always be open to life. Notwithstanding how you feel, the pill goes against one of the purposes of the sexual act. So the pill is evil and must be avoided. The pill in unnatural. Instead of the pill, God has planned for us the save period. The safe period is completely natural.
Joe Xuereb
Jun 10th 2010, 15:12
@ Joe Zammit. You sound quite the expert on feminine bits and pieces and other caveats (wrong word I know but eating caves and cakes makes sense in this context).....like not! It's all textbook stuff. And no ruffling of little hairs either. It leaves you icey cold, like the princess in Turandot. Ah! the power of sexual guilt, whatever the orientation.
I don't know about the woman but by the time the guy-turned-Einstein has worked out the figures, Mr.Droopy will have come a-knockin'. And THAT is the best pregnancy prevention since the garden of eden. Don't do it! Fat chance! Oh Joe! You inspire me, ever so!
Why not lunch with Renald Williams Joe? You have so much in common, you two!
Veronica Young
Jun 10th 2010, 10:19
I Cannot believe my eyes. Honestly; I really don't see the connection between taking the pill and being unfaithful. In my opinion, you are unfaithful even if in your heart you DESIRE another man or woman other than your husband; so just because the pill does not get you pregnant when you are fulfilling your fantasy does not mean that it is what in fact initiated the unfaithfulness. Plus most of u failed to mention that the pill has many other advantages; most women cannot in fact lead a normal life without the pill. It shows that a man wrote this article.
victor rodenas
Jun 10th 2010, 09:02
Sur.S.Vella,do you know that by not getting married you are disobeying God` wish.........`go and multiply`........You will tell that God made us free to choose,He did not order.........Suppose all the people of the world choose as you did,not to marry any more and so no more children will be born............do you think God will be happy......I know that this will never happen,but I mentioned it to push my point.......~go and multiply~............in my opinion is the most issue that has been obeyed by almost all the people of the World.I wonder why?..........
Joe Zammit
Jun 10th 2010, 08:12
The two purposes of marriage are love and procreation. This means that every sexual act must always be an act of conjugal love, but not necessarily reproductive.
Responsible parenthood is an act of love as well. Responsible parenthood guides the married couple on how many children they can get and when to get them.
Notwithstanding this, every sexual act of love must be open to life, so no contraceptives, no condoms, nothing that prevents procreation, which is contrary to God's loving plan on marriage. The safe period is there planned by God himself.
So it is possible to make love without excluding procreation and including parental responsibility.
Joe Xuereb
Jun 10th 2010, 01:25
Oh dear! Yet again the Human Condition rears its ugly head (pun intended).
Assuming that a loving god created - what else? - this dilemma (procreation), lovingly he gave us a veritable cross. A tortuous route to travel; but we have free will., right!! Very sadistic to my mind.
Nature, whatever, evolved male and female to procreate. Monogamy was not its plan (would have curtailed numbers too much, too hit-and-miss, too many missed opportunities). So, monogamy is not a fact of life; at best, it's an aspiration with horrendous implications (if you don't believe me, ask any healthy hot-blooded male or female). Sure, unbridled sexuality (like animalistic) has dire consequences. Animals are full of 'stuff' they've become immune/accustomed to. Humans couldn't survive this. So the solution is - find a mate, stay faithful, do as I say, I will reward you. Sublimation is necessary. But sublimation without true insights will lead to sexual neurosis, the basis of most ills both psychological and behavioural. Research any of the psychoanalysts and it makes interesting if terrifying, reading.
Sorry! I think I have a handle on what the problem is. Don't look at me for answers. We're on our own on this matter.
Joe Zammit
Jun 10th 2010, 01:05
The following is the best & safe method to avoid pregnancy:-
First, one should know the duration of the cycle, i.e. first day of the last menstrual bleeding to the first day of the present menstrual bleeding. This is the duration of the menstrual cycle.
This duration varies from person to person & is usually between 26 to 31 days.
Ovulation approximately occurs in the middle of the cycle, i.e. duration of the cycle - (minus) 14 days (this also varies).
A week before and a week after the approximate day of ovulation is considered to be Fertile period.
The days apart from this is called the safe periods, where the fertilization does not takes place.
So, to calculate the safe period you must know the fertile period.
Calculation of fertile period: The shortest cycle minus 18 days=1st day of fertile period. The longest cycle minus 10 days= last day of fertile period.
S. Calleja
Jun 11th 2010, 10:05
LOL and you just said "God made women fertile a couple of days a month (28 days). " Now you say: "A week before and a week after the approximate day of ovulation is considered to be Fertile period." You're so confused dear Joe!
Where did you copy this from? Do you know that copying something without reference to where you got it from is plagiarism? :-)
Plus, if you're married, you would know that the natural method is not very reliable, not to mention that the women will have to limit herself to the times when she feels less desire to have sex (the best time for a woman is during ovulation, because nature intended it to be that way).
Gerry Cowie
Jun 9th 2010, 20:09
Frank Henderson does make a fair point about the down sides of the contraceptive pill. There is no doubt that, as with any medication, there can be side effects. But here the writer points out the societal side effects.
And because he seeks to defend the concept of the family and dared to say "May God help us" he is pounced upon by those who are only interested in secularism and freedom without any thought of the responsibilities involved.
Not surprisingly, William P Flynn writes with an anti Catholic Church angle. But the people of Malta can see through his sarcasm and will not succomb to his long-distance campaign to secularise Malta and deny its Catholicity!
Ramon Casha joins in with Mr Flynn using his usual sarcastic approach. Gentlemen, such sarcasm does not help your cause, but merely galvanises Maltese public opinion against you!
victor rodenas
Jun 9th 2010, 16:17
Before 1960 all the evil of the world was, because Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit.Then after that date the evil of the World is, because of the PILL..............Soon, somebody like Frank Henderson will tell us that the evil of the World is,CLONING and we will forget about the PILL. Now-a-days very few people beleive this...............The truth is that the birth rate in Malta is getting lower and lower ,if somebody believes that contraceptives are not the order of the day,then these persons are very naive .The contaceptive pill is just another pill which a fertile woman takes with her other pills in the morning..........Unmarried people are a personification of a contraceptive pill (because they never had children) No offence meant.
renald williams
Jun 9th 2010, 14:16
contraceptive (not abortive) pills, can be used in responsable marriages,
instead of safe period...
Madankollu, biex naharbu z-zina, halli kull ragel ikollu ‘l martu, u kull mara jkollha ‘l zewgha. Ha jaghti r-ragel lil martu dak li jisthoqqilha: u l-istess ukoll il-mara li zewgha. Il-mara m’ghandhiex setgha fuq gisimha, izda r-ragel: u l-istess ukoll ir-ragel m’ghandux setgha fuq gismu, izda l-mara. La ticcahdux minn xulxin, hlief biss bi ftehim ghal xi zmien, biex taghtu ruhkom ghas-sawm u t-talb; imbaghad tergghu ghal flimkien, biex Satana ma jittantakomx minhabba li ma tkunux tifilhu zzommu. 1 Korintin 7:2-5.
Chris Reiff
Jun 9th 2010, 19:32
Isn't the whole purpose, in the eyes of the Church, of marriage reproduction? Then why wait for safe periods, and why should they be allowed to use the pill? Hypocrisy at its best.
Dawn Cummings
Jun 9th 2010, 21:35
Renald, better stick with your copy and paste. This was a big foul.
The use of condoms for the primary purpose of preventing pregnancy is condemned by the catholic church, along with all other forms of artificial birth control, in- or outside marriage.
And now you are saying "contraceptive (not abortive) pills, can be used in responsable marriages". Do you have a link or document about this? Because this is quite new to me.
Thanks in advance.
lara aquilina
Jun 9th 2010, 14:02
If used correctly, the pill IS an excellent way in controlling fertility/ procreation. Afterall, our religion acknowledges natural birth CONTROL, itself a control of having sex without leading to pregnancy. So our God does allow us to control procreation. The only difference is that the pill is a more reliable method to avoid unwanted pregnancies. But the element of control is present in both measures - one being more reliable than the other of course.
The only issue lies on the person, not the pill. One may have been taking the pill for years and have stuck to one partner meanwhile. The pill does not need to entice one to wander around. It is not the pill that rules one's behavior but maturity and respect to one's self and to one's relationship.
Promiscuity is high with young people mainly anyhow! I doubt how many young teens have access to the pill and how much they would bother to responsibly swallow a pill each day. Promiscuity, adultery and whatever else have always been. They may seem to have increased only due to the lifestyle we nowadays are enjoined to adopt, media exposure and social pressures to live up to.
Joe Zammit
Jun 9th 2010, 13:07
God has created the man and the woman, the father and the mother, and is keeping them in existence. He has given them free will, not to abuse of it, but to use it according to his will for their own benefit. So when they follow God's will in reproduction, they are doing what God has asked of them, i.e., cooperating with him in begetting children for the kingdom of heaven.
So God has given them the means, and told them how to use those means. But, they themselves and the means are God's!
If he wanted, God would create each one of us directly himself, but he wants the state of facts as they are. He is all-knowing and all-loving.
William P Flynn
Jun 9th 2010, 13:59
So MrZammit have you used the means of procreation or not? Your ideas would make a woman a brood hen, forever pregnant and nursing like a breeding sow. Women won't have that any more; nor would any reasonable man.
I think you are tal-Mużew and have never been within a barge pole of a woman; but if I'm wrong, since you are my age, if you practised what you preach you would have fathered 30 or so children; and killed your wife in the process.
Get real and catch up with the world.
Chris Reiff
Jun 9th 2010, 14:30
"He has given them free will, not to abuse of it, but to use it according to his will for their own benefit. So when they follow God's will in reproduction, they are doing what God has asked of them, i.e., cooperating with him in begetting children for the kingdom of heaven. "
You can't possibly imagine how contradictory that sentence is.
Chris Reiff
Jun 9th 2010, 14:30
"He has given them free will, not to abuse of it, but to use it according to his will for their own benefit. So when they follow God's will in reproduction, they are doing what God has asked of them, i.e., cooperating with him in begetting children for the kingdom of heaven. "
You can't possibly imagine how contradictory that sentence is.
Joe Zammit
Jun 10th 2010, 00:57
William, you are used to jump to illogical conclusions. No brooding hens, but responsible parenthood. In his infinite love and knowledge, God made women fertile a couple of days a month (28 days). There is absolutely NO NEED of the pill!
S. Calleja
Jun 10th 2010, 19:39
Joe, you've never been married have you? Let me teach you a few things:
1. Fertile period is under normal conditions can be between 5-7 days, not 2.
2. A good percentage of women are not regular, hence timing is the most unreliable system of contraception known in existence.
3. A more reliable system is temperature monitoring, which can be combined with other natural ways to reduce the likelihood of conception, but none of these systems comes as close as the pill.
4. The pill is regularly prescribed by gynaecologists as a means of controlling heavy periods, making them regular and keeping the general female hormonal system in balance (women tend to have wide ups and downs along their cycle - which the period helps in dampening down).
Any medics feel free to correct and enhance this information - since I speak from experience rather than being a doctor.
To conclude, I think that this whole natural contraception thing is plainly ridiculous, since the intention is equally the same as the artificial one, so morally I see no distinction. If you want to be truly open for life, just give it a go whenever you feel like.
Pule' Carmel
Jun 9th 2010, 12:22
UNDER NORMAL (NOT SICK) CONDITIONS, What man and woman feel towards each other is so natural and pre-programmed through evolution. The sequence of natural events should be a continuous natural process where by this natural activity is not curtailed at the conception stage. If the activity is truncated and curtailed by any means, the woman does not go to the next natural state which evolve the gentleness, the preparation of the body, her soul and her mentality, to become a beautiful mother, during pregnancy all mothers to be, are so beautiful in many ways. If the sexual activity involves only the trunkated copulation without fertilization, then the action is purely mechanical like driving the same car a number of times or test driving different cars to check their top exciting speed, to park them in a garage till the next high speed test.
The unique natural relation between man and woman has no analogy to be compared with. The family formation sequence is “purament” holy and human all the way. Introduce calculations, brains, mechanical devices, and other artificialities and what remains is so MONOTONOUS AND REPETITIVE ROBOTIC. Too much Education and Science, in a way, is humbug in this case!!!!
S. Calleja
Jun 9th 2010, 20:35
One other side-effect of copulation is that the woman loses her sexual attraction to her man, at least temporarily. This is nature's way of making sure the woman focuses her energy on the child. Another side-effect visible after copulation is that the man loses sexual interest in the woman, and eventually over time all interest is usually lost. This ensures that the man copulates with as many females as possible to increase the chances of procreation.
Thank God we don't always behave according to our basic instincts, and in general do not behave as above. Arguments in favour of "as nature intended" never mention the above facts, but always stop at the no-condom / open for procreation stage, without extending further. No surprise here.
a muscat
Jun 9th 2010, 12:16
GET REAL!!
.....and read the medical facts before posting letters like this!!
Ramon Casha
Jun 9th 2010, 11:53
That's nothing. Do you know that, ever since the Bible was translated into Maltese, the crime rate is Malta has skyrocketed?
There is an expression, "correlation does not imply causation". Just because one thing (an increase in rape etc) happed more or less during the same period as something else (the availability of the pill) does not mean that the one caused the other. There are many other factors that can contribute, and the availability of the pill is near the bottom of that list.
Chris Reiff
Jun 9th 2010, 10:48
This shows that indeed God doesn't play a role in reproduction.
Joe Zammit
Jun 9th 2010, 10:38
Reflecting the teaching of Christ, the Catholic Church teaches that every action which, either in anticipation of the conjugal act, or in its accomplishment, or in the development of its natural consequences, proposes, whether as an end or as a means, to render procreation impossible (Humanae Vitae, 14).
Such unnatural forms include the Pill, the intrauterine device, foams, diaphragms, condoms, withdrawal, mutual or solitary masturbation and sodomistic practices.
William P Flynn
Jun 9th 2010, 12:04
The contraceptive pill has been an unqualified success for women and men and families. By the way did you know that a Catholic Doctor John Rock was a co-inventor of the pill?
If there is a god he sure has a sense of humour.
Please see poll:
http://www.fuse.com.au/wpf/Malta-Poll1.html
Joe Zammit
Jun 9th 2010, 15:05
William, Catholics can go to hell as well!
Joe Zammit
Jun 9th 2010, 10:28
The pill goes directly against procreation. It renders people slaves of their passions because they want to give vent to their lust without wanting one of the purposes intended by the sexual act, namely procreation.
Whenever we ignore God's law, only we will be the sufferers.
p.mallia
Jun 9th 2010, 11:23
Dear Joe Zammit. Are you married?
S. Vella
Jun 9th 2010, 19:50
As an unmarried male, I'm very happy to be a "slave to my passions". You should try it one day - might cheer you up.
Dawn Cummings
Jun 9th 2010, 21:29
Joe married? ...hilarious idea...
Please choose the reason of your report below: