Artificial Methods

Humanae Vitae - Consequences of Artificial Methods - Number 17

Pope Paul talks about the consequences of artificial methods. He says, "Not much experience is needed to be fully aware of human weakness and to understand that human beings—and especially the young, who are so exposed to temptation—need incentives to keep the moral law, and it is an evil thing to make it easy for them to break that law." I believe the pope is trying to say how young people are so easily tempted and persuaded by contraceptives. Society is at a place now where we have so many resources for young girls to have access to contraceptives which is ultimately a bad thing. I believe Pope Paul is right - to an extent. Twelve year old girls should not be able to have access to contraceptives like Plan B.

If all twelve year old girls knew about this, it would make many of them believe they should try sex. If contraceptives like Plan B would be readily available for them, then why wouldn't they? In their mindset, if anything went wrong they could swallow a pill the next morning and be carefree. Twelve year olds are not old enough to understand the full use of contraceptives and young boys would forget about respecting girls and just want to have sex. Again the pope writes, "Another effect that gives cause for alarm is that a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires, no longer considering her as his partner whom he should surround with care and affection." My fear would be having young boys not respecting women at all by their teenage/college years.

I believe sex is supposed to be an act between two people that care deeply about each other. It is not supposed to be something that is taken lightly -- although the age of people having sex has dropped significantly. If Plan B was offered to such a young audience, girls would not know their relationship role. I mean, they are supposed to have children, but with so many different, accessibly contraceptives, I can see many more girls having self esteem issues. Boys would use them and girls would let them. At such a young age, they do not know any better. I believe this would lead to body issues. With constant pressure to be having sex, girls would want to look their best -- better than all the other girls.

The young boys and girls will eventually grow up and find their lifelong partner. My question is, will sex still mean the same thing for them? If they have been having sex since they were 12, sex probably wouldn't feel like the same thing. It wouldn't be new and exciting. I feel like some of the intimacy would be absent, but I could be wrong. However, if young girls are deciding to have sex, ultimately, it is a good thing that we could have contraceptives available to them. I would much rather have a twelve year old girl swallow a pill then having the same twelve year old be a mother at such a young age.