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Ethics: Questions & Morality of Human Actions, 3rd Edition

Birth control

by Sanford S. Singer

Definition: Methods of contraception by physical, surgical, or chemical means

Type of ethics: Bioethics

Significance: The decision to use birth control is affected by one’s views of the moral status of sexuality and of potential human life and by one’s ethical obligations to society and to the human species.

Questions about birth control have faced humanity throughout history. In the modern world, overpopulation and Malthusian doctrine loom ever larger, making birth control a must. Consequently, equitable and ethical solutions to the problem are essential. Modern birth control consists of and combines physical methods, chemical methods, and surgical intervention that must be applied with good ethical judgment to provide results that prevent both overpopulation and the exploitation of individual population sectors.

Methodology

Among modern methods of birth control are coitus interruptus; the rhythm method; pessaries, condoms, diaphragms, and intrauterine devices (IUDs); chemical intervention via birth control pills; and surgical vasectomy or tubal ligation. Least satisfactory are coitus interruptus and rhythm methods, which involve male withdrawal prior to climax and intercourse during safe portions of the menstrual cycle. The difficulties here are adequate self-control and variation of the fertile period of the cycle. The problems associated with pessary, condom, diaphragm, and IUD use are mechanical faults and incomplete understanding of the proper usage of these devices. Birth control pills have the disadvantages of causing health problems in some users and of often being used incorrectly. Surgical interventions via tubal ligation and vasectomy are usually irreversible, which often makes them psychologically inappropriate.

History

Birth control techniques go back at least as far as the nineteenth century bce. At that time, a wide range of methods—including incantations, crude chemical preparations (for example, animal dung, plant products, and crude spermicide salves), and pessaries—were used with questionable results. Such methodologies flourished until the Hippocratic school of medicine realized that there were nonfertile times during the menstrual cycle that could be utilized for birth control.

During the following historical period, however, contraception was frowned upon by many people. Relatively flexible Judaic theological doctrine proposed that “no man or woman among you shall be childless” but allowed birth control. In the Greek and Roman milieus, birth control was practiced but was controversial because high population went hand in hand with political security. A powerful ethical judgment against its use was made by the Greek Stoics, who believed that sexual intercourse was intended solely for the purpose of procreation and that all forms of birth control were wrong.

With the rise of Christianity, birth control practices were denounced as sinful, and practitioners of birth control were classed with murderers. The view of Christian ethics was that even coitus interruptus was wrong and that marital intercourse had to be procreative. In time, Christianity was to become the strongest ethical movement against birth control. In contrast, Islamic culture did not actively condemn birth control. In fact, the eleventh century Arab physician Avicenna described many ways to prevent pregnancy in an encyclopedic medical work. The dichotomy of attitudes toward birth control continued until the end of the eighteenth century, despite the development of Protestantism and the doctrine of rationalism. Religious movements condemned birth control thunderously from the pulpit as opposed to Christian ethical principles, and the rationalists did not advocate it as rational behavior. One useful development during this period was the invention of the condom.

The beginning of the advocacy of birth control can be traced to the development of the Malthusian doctrine by Thomas Malthus, who proposed that famine and war would come to the world unless population growth was curbed. Malthus favored postponement of marriage, not birth control via contraceptives. Others advocated the use of birth control methods, however, despite unrelenting opposition from Christian churches and most governments. For example, the America Comstock Act of 1873 made the importation of contraceptives illegal, and many state governments forbade their sale.

The climate had begun to change, however, and by the 1920’s, many favored birth control. Particularly important was the American nurse Margaret Sanger, one of the strongest advocates of birth control. Furthermore, scientific and medical endeavors caused changes of opinion in the intellectual and biomedical community. This development was aided by the invention of diaphragms and birth control pills. Furthermore, the realization of pending overpopulation and possible apocalypse quickly led to the widely held view that it was unethical to oppose birth control measures.

By the 1970’s, American laws fostered the development of family planning research, and the Population Council had brought the technology of birth control to the world. Europe concurred, and while the responses of various countries in the less-developed areas of the world varied, birth control was generally accepted. In addition, the world’s major religions began to endorse birth control practices to various extents. In response to the change in the ethical climate, techniques of voluntary sterilization by vasectomy and tubal ligation developed further, new contraceptive preparations were discovered, and state-endorsed birth control programs developed in many countries. During the 1980’s and 1990’s, further progress along these lines occurred.

Conclusions

The ethical issue that has long caused disharmony concerning birth control is whether it is ever appropriate to prevent the occurrence of a human life. In part, the idea that it is never appropriate to do so was based on the fact that in an underpopulated world, the more humans in a society or religion, the safer that sociopolitical entity would be. A radically changed ethical model now supports birth control procedures. Other negative ethical issues, however, remain. These issues include the ethical choice of individuals who will practice birth control, especially in instances in which a nation implements policies that lead to inequities (for example, limitation of birth control to the less-advantaged classes). In addition, there is the question of the ethics of irreversible birth control and informed consent, the understanding of which governs individual freedom when a choice of sterilization is made under duress and may be regretted later. Finally, there is the ethical question of whether birth control will diminish family ties, causing future societal and individual problems. Surely, answers to these ethical problems will come and new problems will arise when the paradigm changes again.

Further Reading

1 

Baulieu, Etienne-Emile, and Mort Rosemblum. The Abortion Pill. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991.

2 

Lammers, Stephen E., and Allen Verhey, eds. On Moral Medicine: Theological Perspectives in Medical Ethics. Grand Rapids, Mich.: W. B. Eerdmans, 1987.

3 

Maguire, Daniel C., ed. Sacred Rights: The Case for Contraception and Abortion in World Religions. New York: Oxford University Press 2003.

4 

Silber, Sherman J. How Not to Get Pregnant. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1987.

5 

Veatch, Robert M. The Patient as Partner: A Theory of Human-Experimentation Ethics. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987.

6 

_______. A Theory of Medical Ethics. New York: Basic Books, 1981.

See also: Bioethics; Birth defects; Cesarean sections; Family; Future-oriented ethics; Griswold v. Connecticut; Parenting; Population control; Prochoice movement; Sterilization of women.

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
Singer, Sanford S. "Birth Control." Ethics: Questions & Morality of Human Actions, 3rd Edition, edited by George Lucas & John K. Roth, Salem Press, 2019. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Ethics_0878.
APA 7th
Singer, S. S. (2019). Birth control. In G. Lucas & J. K. Roth (Eds.), Ethics: Questions & Morality of Human Actions, 3rd Edition. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.
CMOS 17th
Singer, Sanford S. "Birth Control." Edited by George Lucas & John K. Roth. Ethics: Questions & Morality of Human Actions, 3rd Edition. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2019. Accessed December 14, 2025. online.salempress.com.