RALEIGH -- The controversy concerning the Catholic Church's prohibition against condom use for HIV prevention has a background unfamiliar to many people.
This public policy is based on the church's prohibition against all forms of artificial birth control, which has its roots in the 1968 encyclical "Humanae Vitae." This highly controversial encyclical was promulgated by Pope Paul VI against the majority recommendation of a large papal commission (among whom were 15 bishops) and against the vehement opposition of many of the most prominent Catholic moral theologians of that time.
The majority of this papal commission, as well as the moral theologians, had concluded that several forms of contraception (including condoms) are morally and theologically justified and recommended that they should be endorsed by the church. It is important to note that "Humanae Vitae" has never been declared by the church to be infallible.
With emergence of the AIDS pandemic in the early 1980s, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a document in 1987 ("The Many Faces of AIDS") in which they cautiously acknowledged the value of condoms in the prevention of HIV infection and recognized the importance of providing factual information on prophylactics in public education programs.
However, two years later, apparently under pressure from the Vatican (a 1988 letter from Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI), the U.S. bishops issued a second document ("Called to Compassion and Responsibility") that could be interpreted as a retraction of the previous position.
Outside of the U.S., many bishops, archbishops and cardinals have independently spoken out in favor of condoms as representing the "lesser evil" in the fight against HIV/AIDS. But pronouncements from the Vatican have remained adamant that this prohibition against condom use, even for HIV prevention, is divine truth that can never change
The AIDS pandemic continues to spread by an estimated 7,400 new HIV infections daily (UNAIDS, 2008). Condoms, when used properly, have been proven to be highly effective in preventing HIV infection. In the moral and medical context of the AIDS pandemic, condoms represent a life-preserving, life-saving medical device. By opposing condom use for this purpose, church leaders are effectively contributing to the spread of the AIDS pandemic (especially in the developing world and, most especially, among women).
Numerous prominent Catholic moral theologians have concluded that condom use for HIV prevention is morally justified. It is clearly unethical to deny people access to a life-saving medical device whose use is judged to be morally justified and which can readily be provided. But the church's public policy prohibiting condom use for HIV prevention does effectively deny people access to such a life-saving medical device; this happens as a result of the church's religious authority over its members, as a result of its control over policies of Catholic hospitals (which serve 16 percent of U.S. hospital patients, Catholics and non-Catholics alike) and as a result of its influence with governments in the developing world to limit the availability of condoms.
For these reasons, we conclude that the church's public policy prohibiting condom use for HIV prevention is unethical. It is also a source of social injustice, because this policy contributes to disease and suffering of people who are largely marginalized, female and in desperate need of help from the church.
The insistence of church leaders that condoms cannot be used to prevent HIV infections is at odds with the conclusions of numerous prominent Catholic ethicists and with the individual formed consciences of the majority of Catholics in the developed world. Common sense dictates that, when a moral teaching violates the reasoning of a large number of informed people, there is a high likelihood that this particular teaching is flawed. It is not enough for the church to expend extensive resources providing care for people after they become infected with HIV. It is morally imperative that church leaders rescind this arbitrary ban on condom use for HIV prevention and begin to promote this valuable means of preventing new HIV infections.
Official church protest to the contrary, it is clear that this controversial and unethical policy can be changed - it was created by a few fallible human beings, and it can be changed by other human beings. Catholic ethicists have determined that there is no moral impediment to this critically important change. It simply requires an act of political will by church leaders. It is the right thing to do.
However, this is unlikely to happen unless Catholics besiege their bishops to reconsider the church's position on this issue and to take unified action to quickly change this church policy.
