Strollerderby

Vatican Issues Advice: Have Babies! Unless You're Infertile!

Posted by Kate Tuttle

So, a group of celibate male senior citizens has come out with a list of rules that women who want to have sex and/or children should follow. Not shockingly, those rules are at odds with almost all the women's actual normal practices, as well as how they live their most intimate life choices. I'm speaking, of course, of the Vatican, which just issued a sweeping pronouncement on sex and reproduction, including reiterating the church's longstanding opposition to contraception and advanced reproductive technologies -- in other words, we want you to have lots of babies! Unless, of course, it's hard for you to have babies, in which case, don't seek medical help! 

I guess the priests' line of thinking is that both contraception and IVF are in essense "playing God," because each is an instance of human beings stepping in to make choices -- for sperm and egg to meet, or not -- that until fairly recently have not been choices left up to human beings to make. And yet, what's a more egregious example of paying God than to reach into someone else's life, home, and marriage and tell them how to live? 

If their real motivation is to nurture and grow a loving family of Catholics, I'm afraid they're pretty much messing that up. What better gift can you give your IVF child than to choose a religion to raise her in that doesn't denounce her very existence?

I'm not a Catholic, but I have friends who are. Some are bound to the church by generations of tradition and habit, while others have sought the more liberal aspects of a faith that has at times led the fight for social justice. But for the women I know, Catholic and not, who have struggled with infertility or any other aspect of their reproductive lives as women, the pronouncements of this group of old men sound anything but wise, moral, or holy.

 

More by this author: 

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Photo: Riccardo De Luca/Associated Press


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Posted Dec 15 2008, 04:57 PM
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Comments

 

gpgirl said:

I don't know if this is part of the new rules, but when I was growing up Catholic, they believed that contraception was bad, except the rhythm method. This always cracked me up. The rhythm method IS contraception. You are keeping track of your cycle so you can have sex to either procreate or to make sure not to have kids. It is like they are more against technology than anything.

December 15, 2008 5:42 PM
 

another_mom said:

None of these rules are new.  They may address some issues that have never come up before, such as cloning and embryonic stem cell research, but the reproductive rules have always been the same.  The church's stance in the NYT article is pretty clear, even if you don't actually read the actual doctrine that was released.  As for the "rhythm" method, it's a perfect example of the teachings: if you don't want to have a baby, don't have sex. This way, we are not chemically manipulating our bodies in order to achieve the desired result, thus maintaining the dignity of human life.  Besides, isn't that why we have religion... to provide us with a moral compass as we navigate our lives?

December 15, 2008 8:49 PM
 

Reid said:

As confounding as I find these decrees, when you put them along side the Catholic church's positions on abortion and the death penalty - at least they are consistent - let God play God, the rest of you, out of the biz! I'm not Catholic (or even Christian) and I find the Catholic positions to be very out of touch with modern life, but they are predictible that's for sure.

December 15, 2008 10:11 PM
 

Liz said:

I just don't understand why non-Catholics get their panties in such a wad over this stuff.  We're not talking about state-sponsored laws here - or rules with really any consequences to you as a non-Catholic.  Frankly, even if you are Catholic, it's not like you'll get arrested for undergoing IVF.

Why the intense level of moral outrage?  It's not your club, don't sweat it.  

December 16, 2008 12:23 AM
 

Kat said:

Hmmm, why so concerned with what Catholic people do??  I am not Catholic but I sure don't like the idea of anyone else poking their nose into my reproductive choices.  

Against abortion- don't have one.

Against gay marriage- don't have one.

Against birth control and IVF- don't have them.

Ta-da.

December 16, 2008 8:47 AM
 

Kate Tuttle said:

Fair enough -- as a non-Catholic, I certainly feel no obligation to follow the Vatican's rules. That said, I'll stop worrying about what the Vatican says the minute the church's reach doesn't affect so many millions of people with so few other options. The Vatican's pronouncements are hardly just the business of American Catholics -- just ask the tens of millions of Africans whose lives have been destroyed by AIDS, lives that could be have been spared if the Vatican had relaxed its ban on condoms. As perhaps the largest single provider of healthcare in developing countries in that continent, I think the church has done a lot of good -- and an almost infinite amount of harm.

December 16, 2008 9:23 AM
 

Kat said:

Touché.

December 16, 2008 10:37 AM
 

JeanneSager said:

As a Catholic, I second Kate - the church has an enormous amount of sway in this world, even with non-Catholics. And as such, their sweeping decrees need to be investigated (and often discredited) by non-Catholics as much as by Catholics.

The Vatican acts as if it has a special telephone to the heavens, and there are a lot of Christians who respect that, despite the differences in their particular practices. As such, credence has been given to the Vatican by the secular community that these random men in the middle of Rome have little legitimate claim on.

Besides that, as a Catholic, I was brought up to believe we were made to go forth and multiply. Although one hand can say this is consistent with the church's teachings that argue against technology stepping in to thwart "God's plan," the other hand can say this flies in the face of "go forth and multiply."

December 16, 2008 11:40 AM
 

Rev Donald Spitz said:

"don't believe in abortion , don't have one" is that like, don't believe in shooting babykilling abortionists don't shoot one?

SAY THIS PRAYER: Dear Jesus, I am a sinner and am headed to eternal hell because of my sins. I believe you died on the cross to take away my sins and to take me to heaven. Jesus, I ask you now to come into my heart and take away my sins and give me eternal life.

December 16, 2008 11:32 PM
 

Rev Donald Spitz said:

"don't believe in abortion , don't have one" is that like, don't believe in shooting babykilling abortionists don't shoot one?

SAY THIS PRAYER: Dear Jesus, I am a sinner and am headed to eternal hell because of my sins. I believe you died on the cross to take away my sins and to take me to heaven. Jesus, I ask you now to come into my heart and take away my sins and give me eternal life.  

December 22, 2008 10:01 AM
 

A Parent said:

Rev (sic) Spitz uses his website to try to make heroes out of murdering domestic terrorists like Hill, Kopp, Rudolph, and Salvi.  He says that he was ordained by the International Gospel Crusade, which apparently only exists in his imagination.  This gives you another idea about his limited grasp on reality.

December 23, 2008 2:14 PM

About Kate Tuttle

I'm raising a toddler and a teenager in a leafy suburb just outside Boston. In between having kids I've been an editor and writer, most recently with the African American National Biography and the late great Africana.com.

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