Bishops’ opposition to contraception based in scientific data

The Sun Sentinel’s April 4 editorial, “Humane contraception program merits governor’s support,” misrepresented the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (FCCB) letter to Gov. Ron DeSantis urging his veto of a $2 million appropriation to promote and provide Hormonal Long-acting Reversible Contraception (HLARC). While the editorial claims that the FCCB wants “Church doctrine to control how Florida women prevent unwanted pregnancies,” the points raised are based on scientific fact, reason and research data.

The editorial claims that “[f ] amily planning promotes healthy families.” However, the widespread use of contraceptives in society has had a remarkably detrimental impact on the health of families and the raising of children. Robert Michael, an economist from the University of Chicago, directly attributed nearly half of the steep increase in U.S. divorce rates — doubling in just ten years between 1965 and 1975 — to the sudden rise in contraceptive use. As noted in National Vital Statistics Reports and research by Deborah Reed and Marcia Cancian, the number of children born out-of-wedlock has soared since the late 1960s. By 2020, of all births in the United States, nearly 41% were to unmarried women, up from 5% in 1960. According to the Census Bureau, there has been a profound increase in the number of children growing up in fatherless families (nearly tripling from 8% to 21% between 1960 and 2020). This is accompanied by significantly high numbers of single women and their children living in poverty over the last several decades. It is clear that the societal trend toward near-ubiquitous use of contraception has been accompanied by radically different attitudes toward sexual relations outside of marriage and has had negative ramifications for family life.

The FCCB’s letter also asserted that “[c]ontraception is already widely available for those who wish to utilize it.” Its coverage is mandated in almost every health plan. Additionally, women in Florida who qualify for Medicaid have access to various contraceptives funded through the Florida family planning waiver program.

Significantly, the letter also stated that “studies show that increasing access to contraception in a given population fails to reduce unintended pregnancies or decrease abortion rates.” In a 2011 report in Contraception, researchers in Spain found that a 63% increase in use of contraceptives was accompanied by a 108% increase in the rate of elective abortions. Dr. David Paton, a researcher whose expertise includes teen pregnancy, has authored multiple studies and found “no evidence” that underage conception or abortion rates are reduced by family planning methods.

Furthermore, the St. Louis study cited in your editorial that claims reduced abortion rates for women provided no-cost birth control has been criticized for overtly favoring a particular outcome and pressuring participants toward a choice of contraceptive method. Even feminists who strongly support contraceptive access have raised concerns about this shift to “directive” counseling toward LARCs, the aggressive promotion of implants and sterilization to low-income women and racial minorities, and the potential for coercive use.

Finally, we did not argue in our letter that HLARCs only function as abortifacients as the editorial indicated, merely that they can function that way. The abortifacient effects of HLARCs are indicated in the prescribing labels themselves for three such devices, links to which were provided in the letter. The labels show that these devices function to prevent ovulation and fertilization, but that ovulation is not always stopped, and that the devices also work to negatively affect the inner lining of the uterus. Should a woman ovulate while using one of these devices and conceive, her atrophied endometrium would be inhospitable to the newly conceived human being’s implantation and continued growth. It is a scientifically accurate position that HLARCs can inhibit implantation in the uterine wall, which ends a new human life.

I hope that this clarifies some of the misconceptions the editorial contained about the FCCB’s positions, as well as the evidence for key claims. While Floridians generally support contraceptive use, few seem to look at the broader effects on individuals, families and society.

For more information, see our fact sheet at Usccb.org.