Recalling what GK Chesterton said in What’s Wrong with the World, “birth control seems to have little to do with birth and less to do with control. (paraphrased)” Of course GK was referring to self control there. Birth control as we define it has to do with total control over one’s reproductive system, to the point of preventing it from functioning as God intended.

Well, the friendly contract murders over at Planned Parenthood in Tulsa have started putting up billboards that say “Birth control is easy.” Just take that phrase and run with it. If birth control is easy – as easy as popping a pill, as easy as whatever decorum prevents me from describing here in detail – the implication is that it’s easier than NOT HAVING SEX! Birth control’s easy, so use it and live it up!

Fortunately, the Diocese of Tulsa is one of the few left in the country with the cajones to take this kind of propaganda on…and they’ve started putting up billboards that say, “Birth control is harmful.” Wow. It’s easy, but it’s harmful. For the person who is unaware of the facts, this could get them thinking. Maybe it would be good to find out about the potential for harm before I start popping those pills (”A woman is at increased risk of breast cancer and cervical cancer, an increased risk of heart attack and high blood pressure,” Bell said. “All of these are well documented side effects of birth control pills.”). Maybe before I have indiscriminate relations using a condom, I should be aware of the emotional side effects of indiscriminate sex. If I’m married, maybe I should think about the long term effects of divorcing the marital embrace from its natural outcomes, and what that could do to my relationship with my spouse and my God, not to mention the fact that I could very well be aborting babies who don’t even get the chance to implant. If I’m Catholic, maybe I should become aware of the fact that I am removing myself from Communion with the Church by using artificial contraception.

Yeah, it’s easy, but does that make it right?

Footnote: before you say, “you aren’t qualified to speak on this subject because you’re Catholic” let me point out that I’m a Catholic convert and that before I began digging into Catholic teaching I did actively contracept, as did my cradle Catholic wife because we didn’t understand the teachings or the reasons behind them. 4 years later, we can attest to what it’s added to our marriage and to my wife’s health.