It's the long-standing position of the Catholic Church, as well as right-wing Protestant denominations, to stand against any form of artificial contraception. Many believe keeping the birth rate up so that their flock doesn't diminish over time is the fundamental driver, much like tobacco companies long focused on marketing cigarettes to young people. While religious texts exhort people to "go forth and multiply," there's no specific sanction in the Bible preventing contraception.
One of the Catholic Church's biggest impacts was on the development of the combined oral contraceptive pills taken by women for 21 days, with 7 days off for menstruation. When that pharmaceutical was developed, the 7-day window was intended as a concession to the Catholic Church, which rejected the pill anyway. Writing in The Conversation, Dr. Susan Walker explains the problem with the combined oral contraceptive that was developed in the hope of receiving some dispensation from the Vatican:
"The seven-day break is a hazard that may increase the risk of pregnancy while taking the pill. This is because the level of contraceptive hormones in the body is the crucial factor in turning off ovulation, without which pregnancy cannot occur. It takes approximately seven daily doses of contraceptive pill to reach sufficient levels to turn the ovaries off. But the seven-day break allows these levels to fall again. If pill-taking is not resumed by the ninth day after stopping, ovulation will occur. [snip]
The seven-day break is therefore an inbuilt hazard. Many women accidentally prolong their pill free week by forgetting to restart the next packet on time, or by missing pills in the first or last week of the packet. The reduction of hormones in these circumstances can lead to unexpected ovulation, and, if intercourse has taken place, to pregnancy."Which, of course, would please the Church, even if a pregnancy is unplanned and unwanted.
With the more common use of extended continuous pill practices, and shorter pill-free intervals, women are far less likely to conceive by accident. However, for 70 years the Church's negative influence over the type of birth control pill manufactured has caused innumerable problems, with women, not the elderly male "princes of the church," bearing the brunt of them.
(photo: "What's another little mouth to feed?")
