In the latest issue of Ethics & Medics, the monthly publication of the National Catholic Bioethics Center, Elliott Bedford offers an excellent article encouraging us to use the HHS mandate as an opportunity to evangelize to Catholics and non-Catholics alike about the Church’s teaching on contraception. It is clear in the discussions surrounding this mandate that previous attempts to catechize the faithful have been unsuccessful. The current controversy over the HHS requirement that all health insurance plans cover contraception, sterilization and abortifacients provides a teachable moment to clarify Catholic principles, especially as they were presented in Humanae vitae.

One of his suggestions is that we consider an alternative name for Natural Family Planning (NFP). In common parlance, the word “natural” sets up a “natural vs. artificial” distinction, so the assumption is that the Church is endorsing NFP because it does not use artificial ingredients. It is desirable in the same way buying organic produce is desirable. Clearly, the Church is not pushing NFP simply because it is anti-pharmacology – the “natural” part of NFP also refers to its alignment with natural law. Unfortunately, that nuance is often lost.

Mr. Bedford also takes issue with the term “family planning” because it implies parents should plan every pregnancy. Nothing in this phrase distinguishes it from the planning advocated by the abortion giant Planned Parenthood. Of course, this is not at all what the Church advocates. Married couples are called to be open to life. It is expected that the need to avoid conception will be the exception rather than the rule in married life. In fact, in 2006 the Pontifical Council for the Family lamented this lack of understanding:

As a result, a change in the model of the family and also of conjugality is under way. Indeed, the situation of spouses with a single child or at most two children predominates. This means that the fulfillment of potentially procreative conjugal acts is no more than a sort of sum of brief parentheses within an entire conjugal life voluntarily rendered sterile. This fact obviously indicates a serious obscuring of the value of procreation.

As an alternative, Mr. Bedford suggest the term “practiced fertility awareness” to emphasize that through awareness of a woman’s fertility, a couple can make prudent decisions for responsible parenthood. I agree that this term fits the actual intent and practice of NFP much better. Unfortunately, even this term can be distorted to include attitudes that are inconsistent with being open to life.

In 2008, the popular women’s health website Lifescript offered an endorsement of the “Fertility Awareness Model” for family planning. This site touts the health benefits of avoiding hormonal side effects by controlling conception with some sort of symptothermal method of fertility monitoring. Four years later this article is still widely read and generating positive comments. It is satisfying to see a secular publication acknowledge the sound science that underpins NFP. However, reading both the article and the comments reveals that the use of the fertility awareness method is seen as just another form of contraception. Children are still seen as acquisitions obtained at the discretion of parents. In contrast, the Catholic view is that parents are stewards of the gift of children freely given by God. Marriage entails being open to this gift unless there are exceptional circumstances as discerned by prayer and serious reflection.

Elliott Bedford is absolutely right when he says that the HHS mandate offers a teachable moment. A name change for NFP may be a first step to help distinguish it from the secular contraceptive mentality. As he points out in his article, however, a name change without accompanying catechesis offers little. Every diocese and every parish must be actively engaged in promulgating a clear presentation of Catholic teaching on the marital conjugal relationship and how it is damaged by contraception. Every Catholic should be challenged to discover Humanae vitae anew.

The Obama administration did not recognize the seriousness of its infringement upon religious liberty with the HHS mandate because it did not believe that Catholics cared about the Church’s teaching on contraception. It is incumbent upon all Catholics to prove that assumption wrong.

Dr. Denise Jackson Hunnell is a Fellow of Human Life International. She graduated from Rice University with a BA in biochemistry and psychology. She earned her medical degree from The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. She went on to complete a residency in family medicine at Marquette General Hospital, Marquette, Michigan.

Upon completion of her training, Dr. Hunnell served as a family physician in the United States Air Force. She was honorably discharged. She continued to practice medicine all over the country as her husband’s Air Force career kept them on the move. In order to better care for her family, Dr. Hunnell retired from active clinical practice and focused her professional efforts on writing and teaching. She has contributed work to local and national Catholic publications as well as to secular newspapers including the Washington Post and the Washington Times. She also teaches anatomy and physiology at Northern Virginia Community College Woodbridge Campus. Her affiliations include the American Academy of Family Physicians, The Catholic Medical Association, The Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, and the National Catholic Bioethics Center. She received her certification in health care ethics from the National Catholic Bioethics Center in 2009.

Dr. Hunnell has been married for nearly thirty years to Colonel (ret) John F. Hunnell, an Air Force test pilot. They have four children and are blessed with two grandchildren so far.

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