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Open to Life While Pregnant?

Question:

How can I explain why all marital acts must be open to life even while the woman is pregnant?

Answer:

If a woman is already pregnant then I am not sure what the point of contraception actions would be. However, if we are to ask how a contraception action would be against the nature of the marital act we can perhaps use an analogy.

An old legal brain teaser asks: if John intends to kill Bob in his sleep but, unknown to John, Bob dies in his sleep and is later shot multiple times by John, can John be found guilty of murder? The answer is yes because John’s actions were intended to produce that result even if it was not actually possible. While it is almost always classified as “attempted murder” rather than actual murder, the fact remains that just because the desired result was not possible does not absolve the person of his intended action.

Intending to act against the life of another is still an intention to kill even if the other person is already dead. In the same manner, acting contrary to the nature of the marital act is still an action contrary to the nature of the marital act even if the result is not possible.

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