Virtue as Birth Control: An Examination of the Account of Rational Participation as a Component of Natural Law in Humanae Vitae and the Documents of the Papal Commission

Abstract

Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical Humanae vitae is one of the most controversial ecclesial documents issued in the last century, still dividing on account of the document’s teaching concerning the licitness of contraception. Related to its position as a flash point in the contraception debate within the Catholic Church, Humanae vitae also served as a major influence on moral theology in general, questioning not just the application of principles, but the principles themselves. While Humanae vitae does not provide a full account of natural law, the account used is a decidedly Thomistic one, where the acts of natural law are those corresponding to virtue.