On March 1, the California Supreme Court ruled that Sacramento’s Catholic Charities must offer prescription contraceptives in its employee health insurance. If this judgment is upheld, the Church will face this dilemma: What comes first – her teachings or her works of charity?

For many people the teaching on contraception does not seem worth defending. However, more is at stake than meets the eye. To begin with, many chemical forms of birth control involve the possibility of early abortion. Although they may not tell it to their patients, most medical doctors and pharmacists will admit that the Pill, Norplant, Depo Provera, “emergency contraception,” etc. sometimes work by preventing the implantation of a newly conceived human embryo.* For us - and for most Evangelical Christians - this is abortion.

The fact that chemical birth control, as well as the IUD, are potential abortifacients is a matter of grave concern. But even the act of preventing conception has problems. What it says to the other person is this: “Do something about your fertility. I want you to be available any time I desire you.” Birth control has been called “the silent killer.” Like high blood pressure, people usually don't realize anything is wrong - but it eventually takes it toll. It is hard to ignore the correlation between the introduction of the Pill in the late 50's and the subsequent increase of divorce rates in our society.

Some people think that contraception and Natural Family Planning (NFP) are the same thing. They are not. NFP is based on appreciating fertility, making observations to recognize when that singular gift is present and when it is not. Contraception, on the other hand, seeks to do away with fertility, to banish that gift. While overall divorce rates have sky rocketed, it is significant that among those who use NFP, the divorce rate is very low. This true even for couples who practice it not for religious reasons, but for health considerations.** It involves some work - and maybe even some derision - but it brings real benefits.

We need to face a hard fact. Our acceptance of birth control has paved the way for other things. In vitro fertilization, surrogate motherhood, frozen human embryos, cloning, gay marriage, all involve a similar breaking of the bond between procreation and the marital embrace.

A person who absorbs the contraceptive mentality has little ground to object when two men or two women demand equal rights for their radically infertile union. If there is nothing wrong with birth control, it is hard to say what is wrong with same sex marriage - or, indeed, any sexual activity outside of marriage. We risk becoming like King Lear. He gave away his kingdom, and then could only impotently rage about what the new rulers did with it.

The present push for “gay marriage” should be a wake-up call. The first step has to be an examination our own consciences. It's easy to condemn others, easier still to simply drift with the current. But it takes courage and an open heart to ask the following questions: How have I used - and abused - the gift of sexuality? And what can I do to help set things aright?

The Church, if she is faithful to Jesus, will not “move with the times.” On issues such as birth control and the sanctity of marriage, her message must be the same as his: