Religion & Law

Ellen Goodman had some interesting remarks about the environment and contraceptives in her Friday column:http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/12/11/the_human_factor_is_missing_in_copenhagen/

Among other things, she said: ?It turns out that every society that offers a range of contraceptive options and information to women has a fertility rate of two children or fewer - and this includes developing countries such as Iran and Thailand. Today the average size of a family has shrunk from five children to two and a half. But there are still hundreds of millions of married women who don?t have access to services or information. . . .

?There are nearly 7 billion people in the world today. Scientists project 9.5 billion people by 2050. In fact, there could be 8.5 billion or 10.5 billion. Depending on what we do.?

Goodman argues, I think rightly, that policy regarding contraceptives has enormous implications regarding the environment. She suggests that there is no investment in protecting the environment that is as inexpensive or that brings such enormous benefits.

Of course, Church leaders will think these considerations do not bear on the moral issue. But they do make it all the more important that the Church leaders are right and they make it even more tragic that the Church has stubbornly adhered to a flawed position if it is wrong.