The moral status of contraception and openness to procreation

Abstract

Permissibility of contraception as a method of birth control is closely connected with issues of moral justification of reproductive autonomy, namely the question whether or not individuals should be allowed to autonomously and freely decide if they are going to have children, when and how many. The development of medical and scientific technologies led to the usage of artificial methods of contraception that can prevent concep­tion with the goal of postponing and planning the birth of a child. In the first part I analyze the bioethical arguments that appear in debates about reproductive autonomy and which can be mobilized against the permissibility of contraception. In the second part I have compared the bioethical arguments to those used against the artificial contraception in the literature about the philosophy of sexuality. In the third and final part, I have argued against the stance of G.E.M. Anscombe and J. Finnis that there is morally relevant distinction be­tween artificial and natural methods of birth control.

Keywords

• contraception
• bioethics
• philosophy of sexuality
• reproductive autonomy
• intention
• natural and artificial methods