Similarly excluded is any action which either before, at the moment of, or after sexual intercourse, is specifically intended to prevent procreation—whether as an end or as a means. (16)
but
the Church teaches that married people may then take advantage of the natural cycles immanent in the reproductive system and engage in marital intercourse only during those times that are infertile, thus controlling birth in a way which does not in the least offend the moral principles which We have just explained.
and tries to get around this obvious inconsistency by claiming that:
In reality, these two cases are completely different. In the former the married couple rightly use a faculty provided them by nature. In the latter they obstruct the natural development of the generative process.
but this is evidently a poor distinction: the 'natural development of the generative process' is equally obstructed by deliberately engaging in intercourse only when the woman is not going to conceive.
now if we allow artificial contraception, of course, then:
Let them first consider how easily this course of action could open wide the way for marital infidelity and a general lowering of moral standards. . . . Another effect that gives cause for alarm is that a man who grows accustomed to the use of contraceptive methods may forget the reverence due to a woman, and, disregarding her physical and emotional equilibrium, reduce her to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of his own desires
Yep, that's right chaps; engaging in safe sex may cause you to treat your partner as a mere instrument for the satisfaction of your own desires. Better to risk chlamydia and children . . .
incredible.
