Despite the defensiveness of NFP promoters, the occasional critic
does speak against NFP. And if one looks carefully at what the
critics say, there is much to be considered. Michael Malone's book
exposes many logical fallacies in the arguments of NFP promoters,
and asks critical questions which NFP promoters cannot and have not
answered. "The Case Concerning Catholic Contraception" is the final
major work which Michael Malone undertook before his death in 2000.
He addresses the matter of contraception through the eyes of the
perennial teaching of the Catholic Church, and tackles the
thorniest issues that are involved. The book includes a Foreword by
Dr. Jay Boyd, author of "Natural Family Planning: Trojan Horse in
the Catholic Bedroom?" (available on Amazon). Perhaps the most
controversial of Michael Malone's criticisms of NFP is his
questioning of the validity of making a distinction between
periodic continence (NFP) and artificial contraception. He goes so
far as to claim that NFP is equivalent to artificial contraception,
asking the hard questions: "Can NFP genuinely be considered any
less a species of 'scientific harlotry' than pills or latex? In
fact, is it not even more so, considering the excessive amount of
time, study, research, and even person-to-person counseling which
must be exercised in order to assure successful contraception?"
While there is some legitimate line-drawing between NFP and
artificial contraception, it is not true that just because NFP is
not the same as contraception, a couple using NFP cannot possibly
have a "contraceptive mentality." Currently, NFP is touted as a
licit form of birth control (whether it is called "birth control"
or "birth regulation" or "fertility awareness"), at the expense of
the teaching on the need for "serious reasons" to use it, and
without mentioning the virtue of producing a large family. When its
promoters point out that NFP is "as effective" as various forms of
contraception "if you follow the rules," they employ the same
language and imply the same kind of thinking as we see in those who
advocate the use of contraception. When it is proclaimed that NFP
is "99% effective" there is no other way to understand "effective"
except as "successful in preventing conception." Is it really
incorrect to call this a "contraceptive mentality"? Whether that
label fits any, most, or all NFP users is a moot point. In
quibbling over the label, we deny the fact that we Catholics have
bought into the current cultural myth that family "planning" is
better than family "happening." In some respects, debating NFP is a
secondary issue. The real point of the conversation - whether we
use the term "artificial contraception," "contraceptive mentality,"
or "birth control" - is this: birth control is not now, nor ever
has been, a Catholic value. Without confronting the "birth control"
mentality that is behind it, we remain stuck fighting the
"symptoms" rather than the "cause." NFP is only an issue because
"birth control" has entered discussions of marriage as an authentic
Catholic value. The "extreme cases make bad law" phenomenon is here
in spades: what should be an exceptional situation has become a
"way of life" - as evidenced by the fact that dioceses and parishes
are requiring NFP classes for couples intending to marry in the
Church. Michael Malone lays out the case against NFP very carefully
and clearly in his book. His conclusion is, briefly: "Finally, the
purpose and design of NFP is intentionally to avert or frustrate -
even if temporarily through recourse to infertile periods - the
very possibility of conception. As a contrived, conscious, and
calculated act of the will, this system of birth control serves to
make a mockery of the fundamental purpose of Matrimony and robs the
marital union of its divinely-designed objective..."
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