By Judie Brown
The era in which we live is not friendly to fertility, to children, or to the aging. It seems that the more control the human species gains over itself, the more it wants. And as the saying goes, nothing good can come from that.
The American Society for Reproductive Medicine is more than slightly concerned over what they see happening to their sphere of influence under the new policies of the Department of Health and Human Services. ASRM president Dr. Elizabeth Ginsburg stated, “The terminations occurring today at FDA, NIH, and CDC are both dangerous and devastating. These agencies—and the talented, dedicated physicians and scientists who serve within them—play a critical role in safeguarding public health. . . . We strongly condemn these thoughtless and reckless firings and call on the Trump administration and Congress to reverse them immediately.”
In other words, Dr. Ginsburg is among those who thrive on the manipulation of human fertility and are worrying about whether or not the Trump administration will actually work toward protecting the health of all men and women rather than condoning the abortion, sterilization, and contraception practices that lead to so much suffering and pain, not to mention death. Clearly Ginsburg does not see it that way, but the truth has never been part of the reproductive health menu.
This is but one reason why we were more than a little startled to learn that scientists have created a hormone-free male contraceptive. YCT-529 is a pill that has shown promise in animal and human trials. The pill is manufactured by YourChoice Therapeutics and works to block access to Vitamin A in the male body, the vitamin needed to allow sperm production. Their website tells visitors that “preventing pregnancy is a lifetime’s work for men, too.”
These words represent more than a tagline for a company. They are classic words that define where our society is today on the subject of pregnancy, parenthood, and welcoming the unexpected child as a gift rather than a curable disease.
If that sounds harsh, consider this: “Preventing pregnancy” does not equate with chastity before marriage and fidelity within marriage. No, it represents the idea that sex is and should be available to anyone at any time without ever having to think about the fact that children are the natural results. If this were not the case, products such as YCT-529 would never see the light of day.
Authors in the British Journal of Medical Ethics write: “While classifying pregnancy as a disease comes with some risks, we suggest that a failure to recognize and respond to its disease-like features is likewise problematic, and puts many pregnant people at increased risk, as well as serving to reinforce and entrench social pressures on women in particular.”
Such views underscore the problematic nature of attitudes that not only defy the existence of God as the Creator but act in ways that confound His plans for the human capacity to procreate children. And Pope Paul VI said years ago in Humanae Vitae: “While the Church does indeed hand on to her children the inviolable conditions laid down by God’s law, she is also the herald of salvation and through the sacraments she flings wide open the channels of grace through which man is made a new creature responding in charity and true freedom to the design of his Creator and Savior, experiencing too the sweetness of the yoke of Christ.”
Our work is based on this truth, not the shameful decadence that surrounds us and our families. We are the salt of the earth. And as Christ taught, “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.”
The salt that loses its flavor breeds sterile days, an outcome which we vehemently work to conquer in our ongoing efforts to defend and applaud love and life.