The moral argument about contraception
The arguments about contraception fall into several groups:
1. philosophical arguments such as the "natural law" argument
2. arguments based on different ideas of marriage, sex and the family
3. human rights arguments such as

o 'procreative liberty'
o a woman's right to control her own body
o human rights arguments about mass birth control

programmes
4. arguments based on the good or bad consequences of birth control
5. arguments about the environmental and resource problems caused by over-
population
6. religious arguments

Family benefits
* it prevents the conception of children that a family cannot support
* it enables people to avoid having more children than they want
* it improves marriage because

* it promotes gender equality and the autonomy of women:
o pregnancy and child-rearing affect women much more than men
o women should have the right to choose or avoid these activities
o any restriction of birth control is therefore sexual discrimination

o many people think this is a dubious benefit, and point out that fairer
use of the world's resources would be a better way of reducing poverty. Also more
environmentally friendly behaviour would be a better way of protecting the
environment

Contraception is inherently wrong
* Contraception is unnatural
* Contraception is anti-life
* Contraception is a form of abortion
* Contraception separates sex from reproduction

Contraception brings bad consequences
* Contraception carries health risks
* The "contraceptive culture" is dangerous
* Contraception prevents potential human beings being conceived
* Contraception prevents people who might benefit humanity from being born

Contraception brings bad consequences
* Contraception can be used as a eugenic tool
* Contraception is often misused in mass population control programmes in a

Contraception leads to "immoral behaviour"
* Contraception makes it easier for people to have sex outside marriage
* Contraception leads to widespread sexual immorality
* Contraception allows people (even married people) to have sex purely for

The religious view on birth control is based on two principles:
* It is a commandment to marry and have children.
* It is forbidden to "waste seed" (to emit semen while at the same time

*female birth control pill is allowed in Judaism; contraception, including
artificial contraception, is permitted in Judaism in appropriate circumstances
*methods of contraception allowed under Jewish law are those that do not damage
the sperm or stop it getting to its intended destination. These are "the pill" and
the IUD.

A passage in the Talmud called "The Beraita of the Three Women" is the basis for
much Jewish teaching on contraception.
It states that a woman may use a "moch" (a contraceptive device) in three
circumstances where a pregnancy would cause harm:

* the woman is underage
* the woman is pregnant
* the woman is still breast-feeding

The modern Orthodox position permits the use of contraception in these cases:
* when pregnancy or childbirth might harm the mother
* to limit the number of children in a family for the benefit of the family
* to delay or space out having children

Condoms are particularly unacceptable because they block the passage of semen, and
because they reduce the pleasure husband and wife get from sex and so interfere
with one of the natural purposes of intercourse.
Rabbis disagree about the use of the diaphragm

A birth control method that led to breakthrough bleeding would be a concern for
Orthodox Jews as sex is not permitted in the presence of blood. This affects some
types of pill and some IUDs.
Judaism has had a largely positive attitude to sex since God commanded his people
to "be fruitful and multiply"; early rabbis explained that this was a limited
command, reasonable size family

Islam
Islamic medicine has known about birth control for centuries - Avicenna (980-1037)
and Al-Razi (d 923 or 924) refer to different methods of contraception.
Islam is strongly pro-family and regards children as a gift from God. Muslim
sexual ethics forbid sex outside marriage, birth control should be understood
within this context

no single attitude to contraception within Islam; however eight of the nine
classic schools of Islamic law permit it. But more conservative Islamic leaders
have openly campaigned against its use

The Qur'an
"You should not kill your children for fear of want" (17:31, 6:151) and interpret
this as including a ban on contraception as well as infanticide

There are a number of hadith which indicate that the Prophet knew of birth control
and approved of it in appropriate circumstances.
Hadith are said to describe and approve of the withdrawal method ("'azl").
- method may deprive the woman of both sexual fulfilment and of having children,
and so should not be used without the woman's agreement.
is acceptable, so long as it does not have a permanent effect

methods that cause very early abortion are not accepted.
sterilisation is wrong - partly because it prevents children permanently and
partly because of a text forbidding men to castrate themselves.

Humanism
Most humanists assess the rights and wrongs of birth control by looking at the
consequences of birth control and say that where contraception leads to good
results it is ethically right to use it.
They argue that if contraception "results in every child being a wanted child, and