Harris hits back at bishop’s claim that ‘contraception harms women’s dignity’
THE outspoken Catholic Bishop of Elphin sparked a fresh row on women’s health as he outlined concerns about “the contraceptive culture” today.
Bishop Kevin Doran said one of the challenges for the Church is that those preparing to be married in a church may already be engaged in sexual activity and using contraception.
He was speaking at a conference to mark the 50th anniversary of Humanae Vitae, the Vatican encyclical which banned artificial contraception for married couples.
Dr Doran said contraception “impinged on the dignity of women” and said the premise of the Humanae Vitae has been “ignored” for too long.
Health Minister Simon Harris hit out at the comments, insisting “religion cannot be allowed to determine health and social policy anymore”.
The bishop said too many young people’s relationships are “all action and no talk”.
“My sense in having watched [young people] for a number of years as a university chaplain is that there is an awful lot of action and not much talk when it comes to relationships,” he said.
He added that people needed to “rediscover the procreative dimension of sex within marriage”.
The bishop said some argued that contraception had liberated women by allowing them to take control of their own fertility.
“But the fact that they [women] are less likely to become pregnant also takes away from women one of the principal reasons for saying no to unwanted sex,” the bishop stated.
He added that it also takes away one of the principal factors that might make men more responsible.
On the matter of infertility and assisted human reproduction, Dr Doran, who chairs the Bishops’ Committee for Bioethics, said the “idea that intercourse is only incidentally related to the transmission of life has undoubtedly contributed to the concept of sex without responsibility – including sex with multiple partners”.
He said this had “disastrous consequences for many young people, including the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, which is a contributing factor in infertility”.
However, in a stinging rebuke, Mr Harris said “increasing access to and availability of contraception is and will remain public health policy”.
“Religion plays an important role for many Irish people on an individual basis but it cannot be allowed to determine health and social policy in our country any more,” Mr Harris told the Irish Independent.
An expert group established as part of the Government’s response to the decision to repeal the Eighth Amendment is examining the provision and access to contraception.
The Government plans to make a suite of contraceptives available free of charge in an effort to reduce crisis pregnancies. Free condoms will be more readily available next year and the expert group is examining other methods to determine how they can be provided by the State.
The review, led by Catherine Day, is expected to report to the minister in the coming weeks. “In my view, we need to have a national conversation about how best to address these issues,” Mr Harris said.