Opinion

Image

Who will prevent public authorities from favoring those contraceptive methods which they consider more effective? Should they regard this as necessary, they may even impose their use on everyone. It could well happen, therefore, that when people, either individually or in family or social life, experience the inherent difficulties of the divine law and are determined to avoid them, they may give into the hands of public authorities the power to intervene in the most personal and intimate responsibility of husband and wife (Humanae Vitae, 17).

The prophetic words of Pope Paul VI could not be more timely and important as the faithful around the world are struggling to protect their cultures, and indeed the very future of their societies, from the destructive contraceptive mentality being imposed on them by those with power. Since the publication of Humanae Vitae 44 years ago, we have seen and experienced that when the governments and people of nations around the world embrace contraceptives as a “solution” to problems in society, a greater embrace of the culture of death soon follows. Simply opening societies to the use of contraceptives is never enough. Governments are now using force to compel citizens to pay for contraceptives against their will, and in some countries force is used to compel women to use them.

In the United States, we continue to fight against the mandates created by the Department of Health and Human Services in their implementation of Obamacare. According to the Obama administration, contraception, sterilization and abortifacients are necessary to improve health, and therefore every citizen must be forced to pay for them through their insurance despite conscientious objections. While we’re told that access to contraception is “empowering” for women, we know that such “services” destroy the potential to conceive life, destroy life itself or can cause great physical harm to those who use them.

Americans are by no means alone in this struggle. In the Philippines, the pressure to pass the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill is greater than ever. Just as we consider the mandates of Obamacare unconstitutional here in the U.S., the mandates of the RH Bill are a violation of the Filipino constitution. Debate has ended in both houses of their Congress, and legislators will soon vote on the bill’s passage. Reports coming out of the Philippines indicate that the president is using a tremendous amount of political influence on legislators to ensure that the RH Bill finally becomes law. Pro-lifers have battled back this anti-life legislation for well over a decade, but there is no guarantee of victory this time.

“When we teach you that contraception is corruption, we are not being insensitive to the challenge of modernity or deaf to surveys of social behavior. Rather, we are just being protective of you because we know it can destroy you sooner that you think,” Archbishop Socrates B. Villegas of Lingayen Dagupan recently preached to a group of young people in the Philippines.

He continued:

Europe is on the downtrend. It is losing its soul because it now relies on the influx of migrants to keep it afloat. They are facing a severe wintertime in their child births. It is losing its identity because it does not have children and youth to carry the torch. They started with contraception, they embraced abortion and now they are killing their weak and sick grandparents. Paul VI prophesied that artificial contraception could open wide the way for marital infidelity and a general lowering of moral standards. And it is happening in Europe. We your elders plead with you do not follow that path to moral corruption. Dare to be different. Dare to be better!

The Archbishop’s words are a clear and truthful warning of what lies ahead for the Philippines should the RH Bill pass. As I write this, Church leaders and pro-life groups in the country are doing everything they can in this critical time to keep the anti-life agenda from succeeding.

Similarly, in Kenya, Catholic bishops are taking a clear stance against a culture of contraception. His Eminence John Cardinal Njue recently published a powerful statement in response to news that the Kenyan government would be complicit in a campaign by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to push contraceptives on women in the developing world.

“The drive by foreign agencies … to target millions of girls and women in Africa for the artificial family planning program by the year 2020 is unimaginable, dangerous and could lead to destruction of the human society and by extension the human race,” he said in part. “We cannot allow our country to be part of an international agenda, driven by foreign funds and by so doing, losing our independence and our African values of the family and society.”

I personally thanked Cardinal Njue for his strong response, and let him know that his brave witness, and that of his brother bishops in Kenya, was most welcome in the struggle against Melinda Gates’ “No Controversy” campaign.

The initiative by Melinda Gates to flood the developing world with contraceptives is one of the most important battles for culture and life in a generation. We are already fighting against threats like the RH Bill, Obamacare and others on a country by country basis. The Gates Foundation, however, has the money and influence to wage its assault against life simultaneously all over the world.

If you haven’t already, I invite to watch HLI’s two-minute video of young women from around the world responding to Melinda Gates’ claims that more contraception is needed for their health and well-being. Not only do they point out the serious health issues related to contraceptive use, they attack the “empowering” argument head-on.

“Mrs. Gates, you say you want to help empower women, but how is it empowering to simply give us drugs so we don’t get pregnant and then send us back to men who do not appreciate us? How is this empowering?” the women ask in the video.

Please share this video and the facts about contraception with your friends and family.

Your prayers and support are needed for all those working to spread the Gospel of Life if we are to defeat the destructive culture of contraception and death.

Reprinted with permission from HLIWorldWatch.org