# Do Catholics Believe in Birth Control? > Humanae Vitae excludes abortion, direct sterilization, and every act intended to prevent procreation. It allows the infertile part of the cycle for serious reasons, and therapeutic treatment that is not aimed at preventing conception. The Catechism repeats that teaching. - Canonical: https://apologetics.wiki/catholic/do-catholics-believe-in-birth-control - Religions: Christianity - Denominations: Catholic - Beliefs: none - Tags: birth control, marriage, humanae vitae - Updated: 2026-10-12 - Author: [Paul Ambrose](https://apologetics.wiki/author/hi-its-paul) ([GitHub](https://github.com/hi-its-paul)) The Catholic Church teaches that each marital act must remain open to the transmission of life. Humanae Vitae excludes abortion, direct sterilization, and any action intended to prevent procreation. It allows married people, for serious reasons, to use the infertile times of the cycle, and it allows therapeutic treatment that is not chosen in order to prevent conception. The Catechism repeats those sentences. ## Key Points - [Humanae Vitae 14](https://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae.html) [(1)](#ref-1) excludes “the direct interruption of the generative process already begun and, above all, all direct abortion, even for therapeutic reasons,” and “direct sterilization, whether of the man or of the woman, whether permanent or temporary.” - The same paragraph: “Similarly excluded is any action which either before, at the moment of, or after sexual intercourse, is specifically intended to prevent procreation—whether as an end or as a means.” - Paragraph 16 says that for well-grounded reasons spouses “may then take advantage of the natural cycles” and “engage in marital intercourse only during those times that are infertile.” - [Catechism 2370](https://www.vatican.va/content/catechism/en/part_three/section_two/chapter_two/article_6/iii_the_love_of_husband_and_wife.html) [(2)](#ref-2) says periodic continence “is in conformity with the objective criteria of morality,” and that every action proposed “to render procreation impossible” is “intrinsically evil.” - Paragraphs 2376 and 2377 say heterologous artificial fertilization is gravely immoral, and that homologous artificial fertilization “remain morally unacceptable.” ## What Humanae Vitae Says Paul VI signed the encyclical on 25 July 1968. Paragraph 11 says the sexual union of husband and wife “does not, moreover, cease to be legitimate even when, for reasons independent of their will, it is foreseen to be infertile,” and that “each and every marital act must of necessity retain its intrinsic relationship to the procreation of human life.” Paragraph 14: > Similarly excluded is any action which either before, at the moment of, or after sexual intercourse, is specifically intended to prevent procreation—whether as an end or as a means. The paragraph also excludes direct abortion, even for therapeutic reasons, as a means of regulating the number of children, and direct sterilization of the man or of the woman, permanent or temporary. A vasectomy is a sterilization of the man. The encyclical’s phrase covers it without using that later word. The same sentence covers an action before, during, or after intercourse when the intention is to prevent procreation. The paragraph does not name a brand or a device. Paragraph 15: “the Church does not consider at all illicit the use of those therapeutic means necessary to cure bodily diseases, even if a foreseeable impediment to procreation should result there from—provided such impediment is not directly intended for any motive whatsoever.” A treatment aimed at a disease, with infertility as a foreseen result, is the case the sentence allows. A treatment chosen in order to prevent conception is the case paragraph 14 excludes. ## What the Catechism Says About Periodic Continence [Catechism 2366](https://www.vatican.va/content/catechism/en/part_three/section_two/chapter_two/article_6/iii_the_love_of_husband_and_wife.html) [(2)](#ref-2) says “each and every marriage act must remain open ‘per se’ to the transmission of life,” and that the unitive and procreative meanings “cannot be separated” by man’s initiative. Paragraph 2368 says spouses may wish to space births for just reasons, and that the desire must not be selfish. > Periodic continence, that is, the methods of birth regulation based on self-observation and the use of infertile periods, is in conformity with the objective criteria of morality. That is paragraph 2370. It then quotes the exclusion of every action which “proposes, whether as an end or as a means, to render procreation impossible,” and calls that action intrinsically evil. Humanae Vitae 16 says the two cases differ: in the infertile period the couple uses a faculty nature provides; in contraception they obstruct the generative process. The encyclical says the intention to avoid a child can be present in both, and that only the first abstains during the fertile time. The [Catholic](/catholic) shelf lists the Church’s own doctrine pages. This page quotes those pages. It does not survey every Protestant statement on contraception. ## What About Sterilization and IVF? Humanae Vitae 14 condemns direct sterilization, permanent or temporary, of the man or of the woman. Catechism 2376 says techniques that bring in a person other than the couple, “donation of sperm or ovum, surrogate uterus,” are “gravely immoral.” Paragraph 2377 says techniques that use only the married couple “are perhaps less reprehensible, yet remain morally unacceptable,” because “they dissociate the sexual act from the procreative act.” Paragraph 2378 says a child “is not something owed to one, but is a gift.” ## Is This in the Bible? [Genesis 1:28](/bible/genesis/1/28) [(3)](#ref-3): “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it.” The verse is the blessing of fruitfulness and dominion. It does not name a device, a cycle, or a clinic. Humanae Vitae and the Catechism are the Church’s moral reading of marriage, not a verse that already contains the phrase birth control. [What Does the Bible Say About Salvation?](/christianity/what-does-the-bible-say-about-salvation) is a different question. The Trinity, the deity of Christ, and the resurrection are the confession this site states. This teaching is one Catholic account of the married life, quoted from the encyclical and the Catechism. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### Do Catholics Believe in Birth Control? Humanae Vitae 14 excludes acts intended to prevent procreation. Paragraph 16 and Catechism 2370 allow intercourse limited to the infertile time when there are well-grounded reasons. The texts call the first contraception and the second periodic continence. ### Can Catholics Use Natural Family Planning? Paragraph 16 and Catechism 2370 say yes, when the reasons are serious and the method is the infertile period, not an act that renders procreation impossible. ### What About Condoms, Vasectomy, and Medical Reasons? Paragraph 14 covers an action before, during, or after intercourse intended to prevent procreation, and it covers direct sterilization of the man or the woman. Paragraph 15 allows therapeutic means necessary to cure disease when the impediment to procreation is not the aim. ### Is IVF Allowed? Catechism 2376 calls heterologous fertilization gravely immoral. Paragraph 2377 says homologous fertilization remains morally unacceptable. ## Keep Reading - [Catholic](/catholic) - [Christianity](/christianity) - [What Do Catholics Believe?](/christianity/what-do-catholics-believe) - [Do Catholics Believe in Cremation?](/catholic/do-catholics-believe-in-cremation) - [Common Arguments](/common-arguments/christianity#do-catholics-believe-in-birth-control) ## Passages Quoted on This Page ### Genesis 1:28 King James Version. > And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. ## Sources Numbered to match the HTML References list. Item 1 is `#ref-1` under `#references`. Scripture links to the King James Version on this site. 1. [Humanae Vitae, 11–16](https://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae.html) (Encyclical of Paul VI, 25 July 1968, English on the Holy See’s website.) 2. [Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2366–2379](https://www.vatican.va/content/catechism/en/part_three/section_two/chapter_two/article_6/iii_the_love_of_husband_and_wife.html) 3. [Book of Genesis, 1:28](https://apologetics.wiki/bible/genesis/1/28). King James Version ## See Also - [Can Eastern Orthodox Priests Marry?](https://apologetics.wiki/christianity/can-eastern-orthodox-priests-marry) — An Orthodox clergy answer says a married man may be ordained deacon or priest, once, and may not marry after ordination. The OCA’s Trullo essay says bishops are celibate. Catholic Canon 277 binds clerics to celibacy. Anglican Article XXXII says priests may marry. - [Baptist vs Catholic: What's the Difference?](https://apologetics.wiki/christianity/baptist-vs-catholic) — The Baptist Faith and Message beside the Catechism of the Catholic Church on authority, baptism, justification, Mary and the saints, the pope, and the Lord’s Supper. - [Can You Lose Your Salvation? What Each Church Teaches About "Once Saved, Always Saved"](https://apologetics.wiki/christianity/once-saved-always-saved) — Can a Christian lose salvation? Official teaching from Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, Reformed, Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, and other churches, with the King James verses each side cites. - [Catholic vs Protestant: What's the Difference?](https://apologetics.wiki/christianity/catholic-vs-protestant) — Catholics are Christians. The difference is authority, justification, the sacraments, Mary and the saints, purgatory, and the pope, in each church’s own words. - [Do Catholics Believe in Cremation?](https://apologetics.wiki/catholic/do-catholics-believe-in-cremation) — Canon 1176 recommends burial and does not prohibit cremation unless it was chosen against Christian doctrine. Ad resurgendum cum Christo prefers burial, allows cremation, and forbids scattering ashes or keeping them in jewelry.