Letters

Causal connection

Francis Young

Contents - Sep 2013 - Buy a copy now Editorial: Catholic voters and the 2013 Federal Election Hobart's new Archbishop ready for the challenges of leadership - Michael Gilchrist News: The Church Around the World Cardinal Burke: What is good liturgy? World Youth Day 2013: Pope Francis inspires Rio - Peter Westmore Oasis: Finding rapprochement and peace among the Abrahamic religions - Patrick Byrne The Church's crises old and new - Bishop James D. Conley A covenant: essence of true marriage - Anne Lastman Frassati: The Holy Terror: a model for young Catholic men - Br Barry Coldrey Letters: Natural law - Fr Bernard McGrath Letters: Anniversary of Humanae Vitae - Ken Bayliss Letters: Year of Faith - John Frey Letters: Contraception is harmful - Anne Lastman Letters: Anti-life values - Andrew Foong Letters: Abortion link - George Simpson Letters: Inconsistency - John H. Cooney Letters: Causal connection - Francis Young Books: A PILGRIM'S JOURNEY: Autobiography of Ignatius of Loyola, Joseph N. Tylenda SJ - Michael E Daniel (reviewer) Books: WAYS OF PRAYING, by Father John Edwards SJ - Br Barry Coldrey (reviewer) Books: MYSTICS IN THE MAKING: Laywomen in Today's Church, by Carolyn Humphreys - Br Barry Coldrey (reviewer) Books: Order books from www.freedompublishing.com.au Reflection: Put on Christ: Pope Francis' World Youth Day homily - Pope Francis

Dr Frank Mobbs' astonishing letter in August AD2000 criticises Anne Lastman for having not "shown any causal connection between the number of abortions and the practice of contraception". He continues, "Indeed, one can suppose that the number of unwanted pregnancies due to failure to use contraceptives would have led to a greater number of abortions, that is, contraception could have reduced the abortion rate."

It floored me to see this assertion from an academically capable observer of Catholic teaching and the world since well before the 1960s.

Paul VI in Humanae Vitae predicted in 1968, among many other negatives, that the use of contraceptives would diminish the sense that every sexual act might produce a child, and consequently would see unplanned pregnancy as a failure that could be redressed with abortion. An abortion epidemic has indeed occurred as predicted, due to exactly this mentality arising from the promotion of sex without responsibility thanks to the availability of contraceptives.

FRANCIS YOUNG
Lorn NSW

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 26 No 8 (September 2013), p. 17