God commands us to be fruitful and multiply; he opens and closes the womb at his pleasure; he calleth those things which be not as though they were; he slew Onan for spilling his seed on the ground; when Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit, God did not ask for her permission; he declared it, and she said, “Behold, the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.” He is the Creator of life, and he alone. Nor is there any scientific way to prove that contraception is effective, because it is impossible to know that a child would have been conceived without it. And a person has unconditional worth; the inner value of a person does not depend on any conditions or circumstances, nor even upon its very existence, but the concept alone of a human life commands our respect, and requires that we do nothing to prevent it from entering into the world. And the historic church voices itself against contraception, as infringing upon the Lord’s sole jurisdiction in this matter.