Moral theologian focuses on effects of contraception during ASU visit

By Andrew Junker, The Catholic Sun
March 1, 2007

TEMPE — The nearly ubiquitous use of contraception has fractured the understanding of sexuality and led to grave consequences, said Janet Smith, Ph.D., a professor of moral theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit.

She addressed a crowd of about 75 Feb. 21 at Arizona State University.

“Contraception has severed what most people in most places have seen as a natural connection,” Smith said.

“I don’t think that having sex and being in love are two different things. I don’t think that having sex and having babies are two different things,” she added.

She linked the rise in oral contraceptive use to a number of societal ills, including abortion, birth out of wedlock, divorce and adultery.

Smith cited numerous studies supporting her claims, which she said were all easily accessible via the Internet. Throughout, she invited the audience to do their own research to see what the facts are.

Counter-cultural pleas

Smith — who graduated high school in 1968 — implored the audience not to make the same mistakes her peers did.

“I don’t necessarily know what you should do, but I know what you shouldn’t do,” she said. “Don’t do what we did. Do something different, because I don’t think you want to turn out like us.”

Smith offered Natural Family Planning as an alternate route for young married couples. It’s reliable, free of harmful side effects and promotes unity between the married couple, she said.

“People who don’t contracept have a much greater sense of commitment, trust and a longer lasting relationship,” Smith added, noting that divorce rates among couples practicing NFP are so small as to be negligible.

Societal ills

ASU student group “A New Sexual Revolution” sponsored the talk. Andrea Summers, a student at ASU and the group’s vice-president, said her generation has experienced first hand the problems Smith outlined.

“Just the fact that we have about a 50 percent divorce rate shows we don’t really know how to have committed relationships,” she said.

“What we’re trying to do is focus on different areas that we believe have led to that divorce rate, like cohabitation, casual pre-marital sex, contraception and pornography among other things,” Summers added.