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Responsible
Parenthood
10. Married love,
therefore, requires of husband and wife the full awareness of their obligations
in the matter of responsible parenthood, which today, rightly enough, is much
insisted upon, but which at the same time should be rightly understood. Thus,
we do well to consider responsible parenthood in the light of its varied
legitimate and interrelated aspects.
With regard to the biological processes,
responsible parenthood means an awareness of, and respect for, their proper
functions. In the procreative faculty the human mind discerns biological laws
that apply to the human person. 9
With regard to man's innate drives and
emotions, responsible parenthood means that man's reason and will must exert
control over them.
With regard to physical, economic,
psychological and social conditions, responsible parenthood is exercised by
those who prudently and generously decide to have more children, and by those
who, for serious reasons and with due respect to moral precepts, decide not to
have additional children for either a certain or an indefinite period of time.
Responsible parenthood, as we use the term
here, has one further essential aspect of paramount importance. It concerns the
objective moral order which was established by God, and of which a right
conscience is the true interpreter. In a word, the exercise of responsible
parenthood requires that husband and wife, keeping a right order of priorities,
recognize their own duties toward God, themselves, their families and human
society.
From this it follows that they are not free
to act as they choose in the service of transmitting life, as if it were wholly
up to them to decide what is the right course to follow. On the contrary, they
are bound to ensure that what they do corresponds to the will of God the
Creator. The very nature of marriage and its use makes His will clear, while
the constant teaching of the Church spells it out. 10
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