The Vatican’s position on birth control is clear, but I’m not clear if that stance is simply a moral admonition for Catholics or if it is one of legality. In other words, does the Vatican position advocate that governments make birth control illegal?
Also, the subject of birth control and legality brings up a variety of peripheral issues - should tax money fund organizations that dispense birth control (viz, Planned Parenthood); or should insurance companies be mandated to provide coverage for it - but I’m not asking about that. I’m asking about the issue at its most basic level - that is, should the very product itself be legally banned?
They certainly used to advocate making it illegal. When I got married and lived for three months in Connecticutt still banned birth controls (condoms, diaphrams and jelly, pills) and I assume this was motivated by the Catholic church. Nowadays, the push seems to have shifted to evangelicals. I don’t think the state made any attempt to enforce the law, but it was still on the books.
The use of those types of birth control that they perceive as being damaging for the people involved (either as individuals or as a group). There’s other types which people are encouraged to use (“natural methods”).
The RCC opposes the legality of those methods it perceives as damaging, but that opposition always has to go through legal channels (no picketing clinics etc).
The Catholic Church has never been that powerful in the U.S., and certainly not in Connecticut, a bastion of WASP elitism with many relics of Puritan moral philosophy. Both the Puritans and the Catholics have a long history of enacting morality legislation when they had the power to do so.
The US Conference of Catholic Bishops does not openly oppose legal birth control, but their legislative agenda certainly includes opposition to public funding and insurance mandates for birth control, as well as to introduction of potentially abortifacient new methods of birth control. This does not mean that they wouldn’t hold such a position if it had any possibility of success.
In Ireland, where the church was more powerful, they were prime movers in keeping contraceptives illegal until the 1980s.
IIRC since I haven’t bothered with Catholic dogma for 40 years…
The use of birth control to thwart God’s will for your bodily emissions is sinful. You can sin in this way whether you are Catholic or not. It’s not like “go to Mass on Sunday” which does not apply to the unenlightened heathens, who have to learn the True Way yet. (Or like kosher/non-kosher or Sabbath rules - which does not apply as a violation to those who are not of the Hebraic persuasion)
I suppose it falls into the same category as anti-abortion rhetoric. You do not have to be Catholic to be committing a sin by “killing unborn babies”.
So if there is by their view no legitimate use for birth control for anyone, why should it be legal? The only question left is, how hard do they push for laws banning such options? Which I guess boils down to the question, what are the priorities of the church?
Of course, that’s the more facetious answer - but the doctrinal answers are more obvious. First, birth control thwarts God’s will by stopping the process of creation of life, interfering with the natural course of God’s will.
Second, there’s the whole puritanical aspect. Sex outside of marriage has been traditionally frowned upon by many societies for the consequences - the need to support children conceived, the social unrest when men fight over women, etc. (this seems to be the major thrust, so to speak, of the old testament prohibitions) Add to this the attitude of the fanatical that anything fun must distract you from contemplating God and His works, therefore must be bad and should be forbidden. With an attitude like that, would it be any surprise that sex is top of the “forbidden” list?
Only recently have I seen discussion of Catholic doctrine that says that a healthy sexual relationship (in marriage) can encourage the love that will help keep couples together and provide a loving environment for families - quite a step up from “only do it for procreation”.
Birth control, by removing the consequences of sex, “obviously” encourages ex outside of marriage and the temptation to use sex for recreation. (A point of view held by a lot of more conservative types, not just Catholics).
Also, some forms of birth control - the morning after pill, possibly IUD’s - cause the lining of the uterus to prevent a fertilized egg from attaching, which could be seen as a form of “killing” a life that was created by fertilization.
Unlike diet or rituals defined for believers only, these sorts of “transgressions” are considered wrong whether the person is a believer or not. Therefore, it is fair game in heir eyes to suggest that society ban this action for all.