THE BIRTH CONTROL PILL IS A "GATEWAY" DRUG

[Denise]

THE BIRTH CONTROL PILL IS A "GATEWAY" DRUG
Pope Paul VI's Prophetic Warning

May 2006
By George Delgado

George Delgado, M.D. is a Voluntary Associate Clinical Professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at the University of California at San Diego School of Medicine.

This is the story of my faith. It is the story of God's infinite love and mercy for one of His wayward children, a story of a painful fall and recovery. Shrouded in the darkness of denial, rationalization, and ignorance, I willfully disobeyed the Church's teachings on birth control and sexual morality. But by the grace of God, I received spiritual healing and was restored to the fullness of Faith.

In telling my story, I seek neither public praise nor self-flagellation. I share my story, painful as it is, to help others grow in God's graces and, I hope, avoid the mistakes I made.

I was blessed to be raised in a two-parent Catholic family by a loving and selfless mother and father. The faith was naturally transmitted in our household, interwoven in the fabric of daily life.

I was the first of two American-born children. My five older brothers were born in Colombia, South America. As an immigrant family, we assimilated amazingly quickly into the mainstream of American life. The quick transition provided many benefits. But later, more mature reflection showed me its moral downsides. The tension between my family and American culture would help shape and guide me -- and mislead me.

This tension surfaced, for instance, in the area of chastity. Chastity was always valued in our household, yet custody of the eyes was not fostered by the custom my brothers and I had of "checking out" attractive girls who crossed our paths. My parents lived lives directed toward holiness, yet I "hung out" with friends who mostly had girls, alcohol, and parties on their minds. Through it all I thought I could be a good Catholic and still indulge in the hedonistic American culture.

All my life I attended Mass at least every Sunday. I had about as good a knowledge of the Faith as one could expect a post-Vatican II boy to have. The contradictions, nuances, and doubts whirling around in Catholic circles most certainly impacted me, if only on a subconscious level. By my college years, I felt there was legitimate room for dissent from Church teaching.

As a child, I attended two different Catholic elementary schools, where a few traditional nuns remained in habits. However, the transition to an all-lay faculty was well underway. My Catholic high school was probably like a lot of American Catholic schools in the late 1970s. A few dedicated Salesian brothers and priests were no match for the new theology of tolerance, self-esteem, and relativism. I never once heard the word "Magisterium" while I was there.

From there it was on to St. Mary's College in the San Francisco Bay Area, where my moral and theological slide continued. A class on sexuality, marriage, and family included a visit by an expert on contraception who passed out diaphragms (with holes in them so we would not be tempted to steal them) and no substantial discussion of natural family planning (NFP). In another class, a religious brother stated that a committed pre-marital couple could, in good conscience, engage in sexual intercourse because they were already "married." What a wonderful loophole this created for all the students who were wrestling with their consciences.

I left college believing several things: (1) Faith was an important part of my life, but I hesitated to take a full, unconditional plunge into its saving waters. Why I waited, I didn't know. (2) I was in love and engaged to marry a Catholic girl, Liz, who, after the Faith, is God's greatest gift to me. (3) I envisioned being a father some day. (4) I was going to become a physician, a healer. (5) Sexual sins other than adultery were relative. Abstinence prior to marriage was certainly the ideal, but not reaching that ideal was O.K. If fornication was a sin, I certainly didn't consider it a mortal sin, as if I knew what that really was. (6) I was firmly committed to being prolife. Abortion was wrong and its legal status made no sense to me. (7) Contraception was acceptable as long as it was not abortifacient.

I arrived at the University of California at Davis School of Medicine in the fall of 1984. I committed myself more deeply to the Faith as I encountered stridently pro-abortion students there. I participated in an abortion debate and felt I held my own in the forum, contending that a medical student, finding herself pregnant, should not abort her preborn child. When I reached my clinical rotations I seldom had to defend my prolife views.

When Liz and I prepared for marriage, the priest asked us: "You are going to use condoms, right?" I am still astonished by that comment.

After my first year of medical school, Liz and I married. Her father passed away less than a month after our wedding and our first year of marriage was especially difficult. She worked the night shift as a nurse and I was buried under medical books.

In selecting a residency program after I graduated from medical school, I never considered how the Culture of Death might affect me or the training I'd receive. I started at Santa Monica Hospital/UCLA ready to become the best family physician I could be. As residents, we had to sign a document stating whether or not we wanted to perform or refer for abortions.

My first real confrontation occurred when I rotated through the gynecology clinic at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in southern California, one of the "hospitals of the stars." I made it known that I did not want to prescribe birth control pills because I had heard from my brother, also a physician, that they might be abortifacient. I never learned more about the "why" nor did I actively seek to defend my stand. Apart from funny looks and mildly negative comments, I made it through this period unscathed and unchallenged.

My wife and I decided Los Angeles was not the place to raise our two young children. Along with a fellow Santa Monica residency graduate who was also a Catholic, I started a practice in northern California near our extended family. My partner was an even less committed Catholic than I. He prescribed birth control pills (but did not refer for abortions).

I would prescribe barrier methods of contraception, but would refer patients who wanted birth control pills to him. I performed two or three vasectomies, none of which went smoothly. In retrospect, God had incessantly tried to nudge me toward the Truth. My combination of denial, rationalization, and ignorance led me further down the path of disobedience.

Around 1993, a year and a half into our medical practice, my partner left to join a larger group. As a solo practitioner, I was again put to the test. Would I risk alienating young mothers by not prescribing birth control pills? Or would I compromise my beliefs?

Once again, the unholy triumvirate of denial, rationalization, and ignorance reared its ugly head as I prescribed birth control pills for the first time. I didn't consult anyone, probably because I didn't want to hear what was too uncomfortable to hear. I rationalized that this was a necessary evil allowing me to support my young family and keep my fledgling practice afloat. I convinced myself there was enough of a shadow of a doubt about the abortifacient possibilities of the birth control pills. The concept of fidelity to God's plan was not even on my radar screen at that juncture. This turned out to be the second most regrettable decision I have ever made.

My practice grew and became successful. In a few years I hired a fallen-away Catholic nurse practitioner, who professed feminist views, unbeknownst to me.

In 1994 we began to pray the Rosary as a family. We began with one decade and gradually increased to five decades per night. This ritual has been a saving grace for our family. Its benefits were not immediately obvious, but set the stage for our conversion.

Our family blossomed. In 1995 our fourth child was born. We were Catholic, went to Mass every Sunday, and had more than two kids; therefore, most people assumed we were "good" Catholics, faithful to all the Church's teachings. I remember my embarrassment when one of our parish priests asked us to speak to a group of engaged couples regarding sexuality. Thank God we didn't agree to share our story. We had used barrier contraception and coitus interuptus to "take control" of our family planning.

A busy practice and four young children added up to a hectic, stressful home life. I wanted a happy family, a happy wife. The stress weighed heavily upon me, and I sought a quick fix to a long-term situation. My ever-shallow faith, and my tendency as a physician to "fix" things, led me to a horrible choice: vasectomy. Liz and I decided this course of action on our own. We did not consult our family, our priests, Scripture, or any Church documents. This is the decision I've regretted more than any other.

Things seemed to flow pretty smoothly for the next two years or so. I hired a physician, a Protestant, and with the fallen-away Catholic nurse practitioner, now there were three of us in the group.

In the meantime, my brothers challenged me on the practice of prescribing of birth control pills. One of them gave me Humanae Vitae. This 16-page booklet changed my life forever. To say that reading the document by Pope Paul VI was a pivotal point in my life is a gross understatement. It threw me off my prideful, disobedient trajectory. The scales fell from my eyes.

Numbers 1-3 of this precious encyclical contained a discussion of the challenges of fertility, and I could identify with the points made by the Pope. In number 4 he wrote of the competency of the Magisterium to teach on matters of morality. For the first time in my life, I humbly accepted this authority.

In numbers 5 and 6, Pope Paul mentioned the work of the special panel he convened to advise him on the issue of birth control and sexual morality. He discounted the panel's advice because its members advocated changing Church teaching. He seemed burdened -- almost in agony -- as he described in a beautiful, sublime way the Church's teaching on sexual morality.

The truth sunk in deeper with number 11, where the Pope declared: "every marriage act (quilibet matrimonii usus) must remain open to the transmission of life." He went further in number 12, stating that the Church has often taught that the unitive and procreative aspects of marriage are inseparable.

In number 14 the Pope made the case against illicit means of controlling fertility. Of course, abortion is always absolutely excluded. With respect to artificial methods of birth control, he stated emphatically that the ends do not justify the means.

In numbers 15-16 the Pope affirmed that natural methods of avoiding pregnancy are morally acceptable, if and only if serious reasons to avoid a pregnancy exist. By natural methods, the Pope meant that couples could engage in intercourse during the wife's naturally infertile times. This would preserve the marital act in wholeness and in truth. The Pope anticipated challenges to the distinction between natural and artificial means and explained why it was allowable to have recourse to the cycles of nature in planning families. For many, including myself, this had been a sticking point. How could one method be licit (that is, legal or morally acceptable) and another not, when the intentions were the same? Are not many artificial things in our lives good? Isn't much of the science of medicine artificial? Isn't much of what we eat and wear artificial? Don't we use our God-given intellectual abilities to create artificial things that improve our lives?

The Pope emphasized that we must respect the order established by God. In other words, we should seek to do His will, not bow to our own. Contraception does not respect God's order and design but rather alters and impedes it. At this point, faith played a mighty role in helping me overcome my doubts. While I did not fully understand the distinction between natural and artificial means, I finally accepted it.

In a most beautiful way, understanding soon followed on the heels of faith. The stronger my faith grew, the more the Church's teachings made sense to me. Yogi Berra has been quoted as saying: "I'll see it when I believe it." He was quite prophetic.

Pope Paul proved to be a prophet in predicting that the practice of contraception would turn women into the object of men's desire, lower morality in general, and cause nations (such as China) to impose harsh limits on reproduction.

In number 27 the Pope spoke directly to me and my fellow physicians. He urged us to give wise counsel and healthy direction to couples. The opposite has occurred since the issuance of Humanae Vitae. My profession, once so noble, has deteriorated into an agent of the Culture of Death. Medicine is the purveyor and promoter of contraception, abortion, and euthanasia, and now the creation of human embryos for research and spare parts. The pagan physician, Hippocrates, must be rolling over in his grave.

As I read number 27 of the encyclical, I could think only of my children, every day more inquisitive and insightful. I knew one day they would be aware of contraception and its inherent evils. They would surely ask me: "Daddy, do you prescribe the Pill?" I knew I had to stop prescribing or dispensing any kind of contraception -- and I did stop, the very next day. That was a special moment that made me appreciate ever more deeply how great the blessings children bring to us are. Not only was it for my children that I stopped prescribing contraception, it was because of my children. They literally saved my spiritual life. Praise God!

Within a few days I announced my new plan to my associates. I would no longer prescribe or refer for contraception, and I encouraged them to do the same. The Protestant physician listened to me intently and wanted to learn more. The fallen-away Catholic nurse practitioner was not interested but would have an open mind. I told them I would give them six months to decide if they would conform to the new guidelines of the practice.

Finally, in July 1998, I told them it was time to conform. To no surprise, the nurse practitioner left our group. The Protestant physician surprised me when she also refused to practice medicine in accord with traditional Christian teachings. I was alone, and a storm was about to erupt.

The local newspaper got a hold of a letter I sent to all my female patients in their fertile years. In the letter I explained the new mission of my practice and the decision by my two associates to leave. A front-page story treated me fairly. But the letters to the editor flooded in, including some attacks against the Catholic Faith and me personally. I found great strength and resolve in my attendance at daily Mass. Fr. Vic, a dear and trusted friend, would approach me often after Mass with an anguished look on his face and ask, "Did you see the letter in today's paper?" My wife wanted to defend me against the vitriolic personal attacks launched in the op-ed page.

In all of this, something mysterious and wonderful revealed itself. The Truth had set me free. It was the paradox of the Cross, the paradox of the paschal mystery of Christ. Through suffering and submission to God's will, I was freer than I could have ever been doing it my way. The layers of darkness and disbelief that had bound me were removed.

In my personal life, I moved to put things in order. Careful examination of past, forgotten sins and frequent confession gave me new vigor and graces.

I don't cry much; I'm much like my father was in that regard. When I told my parents and my brothers about my vasectomy, I cried tears of sadness, shame, embarrassment, and contrition. I knew I had let them down, just as I had let the Lord down.

Liz and I were again open to God's will and more children. We contemplated a vasectomy reversal, but wanted to be sure we were doing God's will and not just trying to "fix" another problem to ease our consciences. Also, the cost of a procedure to reverse the vasectomy could be significant. With the practice on shaky grounds, we weren't sure we could afford it. But we needed to do our best to repair the moral and spiritual damage of our sinful actions. In this way, God could once again govern our fertility as He saw fit. So we flew to Indiana to a surgeon we found through the wonderful apostolate "One More Soul" who performed the surgery.

God has not blessed us with more children. We accept His will, and love and cherish our beautiful and wonderful children: Victoria, Paul, Vincent, and Sofia. Each has been a bundle of special blessings for us. We named our first-born son "Paul" after his maternal grandfather, but I realize it is no coincidence his namesake is also the Pope who had such a profound, blessed effect on our lives.

Since 1998 my practice has evolved into a type of Christian outreach. My new nurse practitioner and I discuss chastity with teens and adults; we promote NFP and provide prolife counseling and education. Too often, when physicians see adolescents, they drive parents out of the room whenever sexuality is discussed. We don't ask parents to leave the room when we see their adolescent children. We see parents and teens as allies in need of mutual support. We do not prescribe or refer for contraception, sterilization, or immoral reproductive techniques. We have never referred for abortion or euthanasia.

The latest leg of my journey began when I joined Culture of Life Family Services in San Diego County as a practicing physician. This nonprofit group is dedicated to establishing a Catholic medical environment that will foster the Culture of Life. It's truly amazing that God is now using me, a one-time renegade Catholic, to advance the Gospel of Life.

In plumbing the depths and riches of the Church's teaching on sexuality, I've discovered how NFP and contraception stand on opposite sides of the spiritual spectrum. They are polar opposites in terms of philosophy, intent, motives, and even semantics. NFP employs wise, careful knowledge of the body's natural cycles in respect of God's plan and design for husband and wife. Contraception, on the other hand, is driven by the human pride of men and women trying to fully control their sexuality and reproductive lives. It is an attempt to keep God out of a couple's most important decision regarding procreation or the prevention of new life. The most important Person is not invited into the marriage bed, the place of the most intimate expression of human love.

When we follow God's plan, we should do so because God is God and this is His plan. When we sin, bad consequences often result. Such consequences, of course, are important and hurtful. But they are not the primary reason we strive to avoid sin. We do so because we want to be faithful to God.

My experience tells me that God allows the natural and logical consequences of our sinful behavior to help us see the light, to help us repent. The dire consequences of contraception, like that of all sin, are personal and universal in scope. As I alluded to earlier, Pope Paul VI prophetically predicted the dehumanization of women by men and the tyrannical birth control policies of China.

Undoubtedly, the Pill is a "gateway" drug, introducing its users to promiscuity, premarital pregnancy, abortion, and divorce. Is it any wonder that the divorce rate rose sharply in the 1960s with the wide popularity of the birth control pill, leveling off at the current disgraceful rate of about 50 percent once the contraceptives market became saturated? The link between contraception and abortion was stated unequivocally by the U.S. Supreme Court (in my opinion an arrogant, over-reaching legislative body) in the landmark 1992 Casey case. In this case, the high court upheld the constitutional right to abortion that Roe v. Wade had established. The court opined that a society with a right to contraception is obligated to have free access to abortion in case contraception fails.

Regarding the medical risks of the Pill, we can be relatively certain it comes with some risk of an early chemical abortion. What is not widely taught or explained about birth control pills is that they operate in three ways. First, they inhibit ovulation. Second, they change the cervical mucus so sperm cannot navigate through the cervix as well as usual. Third, they alter the lining of the uterus, the endometrium, so that it becomes inhospitable to the embryo, the newly developing human being.

If ovulation occurs, as can happen when using birth control pills, fertilization may take place in the fallopian tube. The newly formed human, called a zygote, develops quickly into an embryo, then passes down the tube heading for its first home in the uterus. The thinned uterine lining makes attachment very difficult, however, and an early, chemical abortion takes place.

I don't believe this happens a large percentage of the time. But with the millions upon millions of contracepted cycles occurring each year in the U.S., the number of such abortions could be large.

Possibly in response to this concern, some years ago the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists unilaterally redefined the start of pregnancy as successful implantation in the uterus. This, of course, was a thinly veiled, rhetorical sleight-of-hand that allowed them to claim that any agent acting prior to implantation was contraceptive and not abortifacient.

Shame on them and shame on all of us who have perpetuated the false dichotomy between contraception and abortion. They are truly fruit of the same evil tree. The sooner we and our Protestant brethren realize this, the sooner we will advance in the preservation and protection of life.

Numerous studies show an increased risk of breast cancer in women who have had abortions. Birth control pills can cause weight gain, depression, decreased libido, liver problems, and other medical complications.

Given the Culture of Death around us, supported by ignorance and misinformation, parents today have a special mission to teach children the truths of the Faith, unequivocally and without fear. The responsibility also falls upon priests who must faithfully and truthfully preach the Gospel of Life. Life issues are at the crux of most of our world's problems and sinfulness. The problems are so pervasive that they require nonstop preaching to counter them. Let us pray that our priests and deacons have the fortitude and insight to preach frequently and forcefully in support of the Church's teachings.