Dear Pamelia, thank you very much! May God bless you!

Dear Ricardo, it’s a difficult question and it should be decided by the family itself individually with the help of experienced spiritual father, if any (the one who advises not gives orders). In Christianity, the purpose of marriage is not having children, but mutual help in the right Christian life in order to reach salvation. Children are a natural consequence, but not the purpose, from the point of view of Orthodoxy. Christianity, like many other religions, insists that marriage should be a single union, by which he and she become one. The main thing is the love of spouses for each other.

The Basis of the Social Concept of The Russian Orthodox Church says: In case of a direct threat to the life of a mother if her pregnancy continues, especially if she has other children, it is recommended to be lenient in the pastoral practice. The woman who interrupted pregnancy in this situation shall not be excluded from the Eucharistic communion with the Church provided that she has fulfilled the canon of Penance assigned by the priest who takes her confession.

Also: Some contraceptives have an abortive effect, interrupting artificially the life of the embryo on the very first stages of his life. Therefore, the same judgements are applicable to the use of them as to abortion. But other means, which do not involve interrupting an already conceived life, cannot be equated with abortion in the least. The deliberate refusal of childbirth on egoistic grounds devalues marriage and is a definite sin.

Thank you for your question! May God bless you!

You are so welcome, dear Edward!

Thank you for all your wonderful articles. I am hoping that sometime in the near future, our Lord will lead me into the Orthodox Church.

So a couple can’´t space their children at all? They just have to keep having as many babies as possible, without any kind of planning (even if the wife is at risk of death at another pregnancy, or they are starving, or sick, or anything)? I think it is perfectly possible to be open to life (in the totality of one’s married life) and also plan or regulate the births, to the benefit of the family. To deny couples this possibility seems like legalism and lack of compassion. (Nor do I buy the “artificial vs. natural methods” distinction. I know couples with 8 children who used contraception, and know of couples who only used “natural methods” to have 2 or 3. The purpose and the act is basically the same: to have sex regularly while avoiding conception, for legitimate reasons). Please consider studying this subject more deeply. The Latin Church is proud to have taken a stricter view of issues of marriage and sex, yet its laity in traditional Catholic countries has long learned to ignore the Church teachings on these things (and this much before the Vatican II)… Thank you.