Birth control methods have had the roller coaster ride of the century from abstinence to the pill, but one aspect of its history that hasn’t changed is how moral views of the Christian church have played a pivotal role in its slow progression to its current state. Faith has been at the core of all issues of birth control, or lack thereof, for ages as a moral compass in which all action for or against civil changes were made and most importantly the specifications of gender roles. This moral compass has come to play in the birth control issue in many aspects as a deterrent to the growth of the movement, but ultimately was forced to adapt to change as more and more the movement grew. The change from people believing, based on the centuries old …show more content…
The notorious Comstock Law, prohibited the distribution and allowed for the destruction of any immoral items, whether that was pornography, pamphlets on birth control, or actual birth control items found going through the postal service was one such law (Tone p. 23). This reasons behind this law coming to be anywhere close to being effective was of the high protestant morals of Anthony Comstock (Tone p. 5). He had seen too many pamphlets and packages of loose morals flow through the postal service because of loopholes in the original law and thus the Comstock Law was born, as a way to check against the growing misuse of the postal service for obscene and immoral literature and birth control devices (Tone p. 5). Though this law was born out of what seemed like a righteous cause there were some problem with the law and how it was enacted. One such problem was the law being extremely difficult to enforce since each state was given the rights to enforce it differently and it was up to the postal service to catch these items (Class notes, 3/23). Another problem with the Comstock Law was it prohibited the distribution of these literatures and birth control products through the mail and the mail only, which meant that it did nothing against the sales or distribution …show more content…
In 1913, the Secretary of the Navy, Josephus Daniels, started his own war against birth control when to his horror he found the Navy was selling chemical preventative packets and condoms on board vessels as a preventative measure in the fight against venereal diseases (Tone p. 91). Daniels was a staunch tradition, moral Christian who believed that abstinence was the only form of birth control that Navy men should be allowed to use, for in truth he believed it to be the only method proved true to combat venereal diseases (Tone p. 91). Though in thought, yes, this was the only proven true way to prevent the spreading of venereal diseases back then, but in action just like the Comstock Law this order and or act was all but useless in practice. Who in their right mind thought that sailors who are stuck on a boat with no women for long periods of time weren’t going to go have sex the minute they had any time (Class notes, 3/30). Daniels originally a supporter of the selling of the preventative packets turned on his head because he thought this promoted the sinful behavior of giving into lust because there was a safe way to prevent the after effects and didn’t promote what he felt was important in lessons of self-control (Tone p. 97). But by then banning chemical preventatives and condoms from being sold on board or nearby