May a married couple use contraception after the wife has experienced grave complications from a previous pregnancy?
There are actually two questions here. The first regards whether a couple should avoid pregnancy. The Church does not tell us exactly what constitutes a legitimate reason to avoid pregnancy. Clearly every situation brings into play a unique set of circumstances. Humanae Vitae, no. 10, for example, refers to physical, economic, psychological, and social considerations, and later refers to “serious motives” deriving from “the physical or psychological conditions of husband and wife, or from external conditions” (no. 16). The Church intends for there to be objective considerations, but nonetheless, this above all is a discernment on the part of the spouses. Under very similar conditions, one couple may choose natural family planning (NFP) while another couple chooses to take on another child, and if neither couple acted selfishly or rashly, both choices are defensible even though theyre different. As Vatican IIs Gaudium et Spes explains, “It is the married couple themselves who must in th
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