The Oct. 19 letter titled, “Contraception aids the ‘culture of life,'” illustrates how uninformed many people view the pro-life movement and those religious faithful who back the building of a culture of life as promoted by the late Pope John Paul II.

A “culture of life” fosters the dignity of all human life, particularly the most helpless of individuals: the unborn, the aged and disabled. The essence of defending the right to life of all humans is love.

Aside from current scientific advancements, a human life naturally begins from an act of sexual love. Without a true sense of that love, there can be no protection of human life. Contraception is a denial of that free, total, faithful and fruitful love that is part of a marriage bond. Contraceptives say no to the other person’s fertility, thereby denying any chance of the couple from being open to the gift of creating a new human person.

To look at sexual intercourse as only a means of pleasure or only a means of reproduction denies the true love between the marital couple and for any child created by that sexual union. The pleasure aspect seeks to remove the responsibility of parenthood, whereas a purely reproductive concept denigrates the uniqueness of each individual created by an act of sexual love. Thus, abortion tries to rectify flawed contraceptives when a child is not wanted, and at the other end of the spectrum, IVF and other designer genetics cheapens human life so that a couple can have the “perfect” child. We live in a pleasure driven society with these two bookends evident, instead of realizing that the nature of sexual union is for strengthening the marriage bond in addition to the openness of any children conceived by each act of intercourse. When children are viewed not as commodities or outcasts, but instead as precious gifts from an act of sexual love, then the most innocent of all human life will be protected as guaranteed by our Constitution.

Uganda’s success story in limiting STD infection by the promotion of contraception was secondary to the other components of the ABC program: Abstinence (for the young), Be Faithful (for the married), or use condoms. If abstinence were practiced in full, there would not be the spread of sexual diseases and AIDS that we see in our world. The worldly culture, however, advocates that we succumb to our “primordial urge” for sex. Planned Parenthood and our Student Health Center, which sponsors “Free Condom Wednesdays” promotes this mindset offering us contraceptives to justify our promiscuous behavior in spite of the health risks. Practicing abstinence does not mean that all natural processes such as menstruation are out of line with the “culture of life,” to suggest such an idea is absurd. Masturbation, however, does violate the full expression of sexual love meant for marital union. Stimulating the body in this manner for selfish pleasure does not allow the total giving of self (including fertility) to another person in marital union.

Abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, therapeutic cloning and other forms of human genetic engineering are roots from the same tree: the contraceptive mentality. These “advances” in medicine prohibit the life of human persons; the originating cause is a lack of true love in sexual union. As we have seen the “liberation” of women and men through abortion, contraception and alternative lifestyles, the role of marriage in the nuclear family is almost lost. As the family goes, so does society.

Dan Rajewski

President, ISU Students for Life

Graduate Meteorology