Have Your Say 

Recent Comments

1. Melinda and Bill Gates are obviously motivated with altrusitic intentions, but I believe that the Vatican is right in challenging their assumption that access to contraception is necessarily the best or primary way of addressing maternal health and child mortality issues.
   Contraception has changed our western way of life, that is for sure, but is it all for the good? What 'gift' are we offering these cultures?
   The Victorian 'Better Health' website notes that 2/3 of all abortions are declared as being the result of 'failed contraception'.
   We must own the fact that contraception and abortion rights are two sides of the same coin.
   It's not good enough to say, 'I believe contraception is ok', if you don't recognise that abortion is the 'fixer' when contraception fails.... and it does fail frequently.
   Contraception has led to women being more sexually available to men ... some may say 'yippee', but that has skewed the dynamics of relationships between men and women profoundly and fundamentally.
   It has separated the dual purpose of lovemaking, which was always meant to be both unitive and open to new life. 'Recreational sex' is the result.
   Personal choices have social consequences.
   Contraception use is not just a personal choice - it has huge ramifications for a society and a culture and the Vatican is right to challenge the assumptions of the Gates' program.

   Posted By: CAte

2. While I do not agree with all the Gates Foundation decisions on how their funds are spent, I sympathise with this problem.
   In a perfect world, the Billings Method can be enough.
   However, if you understand the variation in a female body's responses, you would know that each person responds very differently. The natural signs are not regular or clear for many women.
   The Church is also naively relying on the male to be compliant and understanding about the women and their needs at different times.
   This is not the case in many of these poor, uneducated communities.
   Women in these parts of the world often have little control over when they have sex, or indeed whether they even permit it.
   In these very difficult situations, women need some assistance and protection.
   If it is not in the form of contraception, will the church take responsibility for the costs of keeping their children healthy? And will the church help these communities with education and the policing of sexual crime? Women deserve to be protected.
   Because today, although the Catholic Church does give aid to these communities, it is nowhere near the support these people need to make real change.

   Posted By: Cate

3. The Church respects the dignity of impoverished, exploited and underprivileged peoples; Gates believes in eliminating them.
   Melinda and her rich husband fear that an increasing population will put pressure on resources, social services and cohesion, and cause disease and environmental damage.
   It is this fear that is driving them to spend some of their money in the development and distribution of a self-administered contraceptive drug Depo-Provera, which has serious side effects – even doubling the transmission rates of HIV.
   And who are their partners in this campaign? Planned Parenthood, whose founder wanted to limit the growth of Afro-Americans and undesirables!
   I just cannot side with Gates on this issue.
   

   Posted By: M. Lyons

4. Once again the Vatican rushes in to condemn the good works of others. Congratulations to Melinda Gates.
   May she be successful in her desire to help the women of poorer nations.
   The Catholic Hierarchy is obsessed with sex.
   If they considered the good health of women and children in these poor countries their actions could be considered altruistic.
   It gives me no pleasure to see the children of these countries starving.
   The Billings Method has lots of little asides that people are not told about.
   Get into the real world, Vatican prelates, and do some real good works, just like the Gateses are doing.

   Posted By: Margaret Saunders

5. Oh no, it is the Vatican who is misinformed on contraception.

   Posted By: Alex Masszauer

6. In response to Cate (No. 1, who made the first comment)
   You state that contraception has made women more available to men.
   We are talking third world, starving and poor here. How much choice do you think these women have.
   Even women who are infected with Aids keep having babies because the men don't care etc.
   Melinda Gates is talking about desperate, poor women, with no or very little control over when they can have sex. I think this needed to be clarified.
   It is of course your right to your own opinion, but please talk about the issue at hand and not about women who have real choices. That is another discussion altogether.
   
   

   Posted By: Cate

7. Melinda Gates is to be admired and commended for her initiatives. The arguments used have nothing to do with the real issue, namely the opposition of the Catholic Church, expressed by the Vatican, to artificial birth control methods which are termed as evil!
   Why do they not wake up - in the USA 98% of women use contraceptives, and I am sure they do not all use the Billings method.
   All the comments made have been known ever since the Sixties. Move into the the enlightened new Millenium!

   Posted By: Peter M

8. The quotation that Jesus made in Matthew 7:9 in relation to bad parenting comes to mind when globally recognized celebrities and very rich people start dispensing advice or starting programs with respect to reproductive health in developing nations - 'Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ‘
   They might be acting out of commendable philanthropic motives, but their undue emphasis on contraception to solve development problems strikes at the very heart of the social and religious traditions of the citizens of those countries.
   It is a form of insidious cultural western imperialism with an undertone of eugenics about it. Developing nations need financial and technical support with regard to education, social and health care, employment creation, farming, land and water resources.
   They don't require advice on how to undermine their societies demographically, socially and spiritually, which has been the case in western nations for many decades.
   

   Posted By: Gerry McIvor

9. Billlings method effective?
   Isn't that the old rhythm method?
   My mother, Lordamercy on her, had 4 extra children using that method of birth control.
   She was far from illiterate, well-educated, but found it almost impossible to guess when it was 'safe'.
   We certainly love our extra four siblings, but it made life very difficult for our family, especially our father, to have all those extra mouths to feed and children educate.
   Does anyone listen to someone like Naz, an Indian mother of 6, who asks what is more evil - contraception or her having birthed children who will die of malnutrition?
   It's time the hierarchy caught up with the people in the pew.
   How about listening to the sensus fidelium?

   Posted By: Jeannemarie Simon

10. For those who are still confused, the rhythm method has not been promoted for about 30 years.
    Just google Billings and see the method developed by husband and wife, Drs Billings.
    As for the mother with hungry children, couldn't the Gates assist them in other ways, say, by sharing some of their wealth with micro-lending banks, or buying food?

    Posted By: Thomas C

11. How enlightened and considerate of Ms Gates and her supporters to deprive the poor of their most precious resource.

    Posted By: John

12. There are a number of natural family planning approaches and methods, not just Billings.
    The Creighton Model FertilityCare System is not well known in Australia but is highly successful.
    The good understanding to which Cate (1) refers can also be applied in the other direction - Naprotechnology is such an application for assisting conception without recourse to IVF (expensive, invasive, elusive).
    All these approaches require control and regulation of sexual appetites, which is difficult for our fallen nature.
    As to Melinda Gates, one must presume good motives but clearly what she proposes is not in accord with the constant teaching of the Church.

    Posted By: Peter in Canberra

13. *chuckle*
    Dr and Mrs Dr Billings ( he a neurologist she a GP, and parents of 9) were promoting that method back when I was a medical student in the 70s.
    It's a great method for them as want children without the sex and hopeless for them as want it the other way around.
    As the story goes: Q - what do you call couples who use the Billings method? A: Parents.
    I've seen too many unplanned pregnancies as a result of the use of that method. Not too many folk even know what 'ovulatory mucus' is or have the intestinal fortitude to check, much less apply the thermometer for perfect results.
    The rhythm method is probably more effective when combined with barrier methods in the fertile period. But that wouldn't be kosher, would it?
    On due reflection the ultimate contraceptive is the combination of a large family and parental (or should I say maternal) exhaustion.

    Posted By: JR,Sydney

• » Advertise in CathNews

Email to Friend Please fill out the following details (fields marked with a * are mandatory):
Send To Email Address*:
Send To Name *:
Sent By Email Address*:
Sent By Name *:
Text to include in email:
Captcha validation:	please enter the code above:

^ Page Top

Comment on this article

More from this section

1. Pope makes new call for peaceful solution in Syria

   The Vatican is concerned about the degenerating situation in the country and fears an internal implosion, reports Vatican Insider.

2. Caritas helps displaced Sri Lankans return home after six years

   Caritas has negotiated with Sri Lankan authorities to allow villagers to return to their homes after six years of forced displacement, reports Ucanews.

3. Action needed to support religious freedom report

   While a new report from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton uses strong rhetoric to back religious liberty, a former diplomat says more action needs to be taken to turn those words into reality, reports the Catholic News Agency.
   
   

4. Overseas priests program a faliure, says report

   A program to bring overseas priests into the Maitland-Newcastle diocese has been heavily criticised in a report commissioned by the diocese, reports The Tablet.

5. Victorian Catholic teachers expected to join strike

   Victorian Catholic schools will be thrown into chaos next month with teachers expected to join their colleagues from the government system in the biggest school strike in the state's history, reports The Age.