News

Planned Parenthood creates a false impression that it’s benefiting the black community.

Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider has done a masterful job of creating a false impression that its programs ...
Read More
/ PRI Staff

Pro-Life Movement Needs Its Own ‘Seamless Garment’

The “Seamless Garment” theory gives Social Justice advocates a “Catholic” excuse to minimize abortion, and ignore contraception altogether, when considering ...
Read More
/ PRI Staff

The Constitution and the March for Life

There are ample historical and constitutional grounds for defending the Right to Life. There are none that support the “right” ...
Read More
/ PRI Staff

US, 18 other nations tell UN: ‘There is no international right to an abortion’

"It is refreshing to see a forceful message for life delivered with such clarity and authority at one of the most pro-abortion ...
Read More
/ PRI Staff

Word War, World War

"In the fight for life and dignity, words matter. Even Alice in Wonderland knew that."  -- Lewis Carroll, Through the ...
Read More
/ PRI Staff

The Real Presence: Knowing What We Are Doing

"Father Roger Landry reminds us of the profound truth that lies at the heart of the Mass. In the same ...
Read More
/ PRI Staff

Humanae Vitae Gives us Indispensable Advice for Taking the Sacrament of Marriage Seriously

Humanae Vitae gives us indispensable advice for taking the sacrament of marriage seriously. Father Meyer and Father Hollowell offer some ...
Read More
/ PRI Staff

An Urgent Letter from the Future JPII

"As soon as Humanae Vitae appeared in 1968, Cardinal Karol Wojtyła of Krakow wrote a letter thanking Pope Paul VI for ...
Read More
/ PRI Staff

Chaput: Rebuild Christian Society Without Divided Loyalties

It’s the natural law versus the sexual revolution, and Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia doesn’t mince any words about the ...
Read More
/ PRI Staff

Bishop Joseph Strickland: Why We Teach Couples to Reject Contraception and Accept Natural Family Planning

Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler in Texas applauds Dr. Smith, offers programs in his diocese for study of Humanae Vitae ...
Read More
/ PRI Staff

Featured Content

On this site, we present the most thorough and accurate history of artificial contraception, from its roots in the early twentieth century through the promulgation of Humanae Vitae in 1968. The brilliant work, authored by Professor Gonzalo Herranz of the University of Navarra, provides all you need to understand and defend God’s command to our first parents, “Be fruitful and multiply.” We offer below summaries of each chapter in English, each with a link to the full Spanish text.

Introduction

It will soon be fifty years since the publication of the Encyclical Humanae vitae of Blessed Pope Paul VI, a ...

1. The birth of modern contraception.

Summary: Chapter 1 The Origins Of Modern Contraception: Three Terms And Three Attitudes This chapter considers the origin of three ...
Read More

2. Early contraception and its rejection of abortion

Summary: Chapter 2 The first contraception and its incompatibility with abortion In this chapter we will show how, in the ...
Read More

3. The medical profession and contraception: from contempt to acceptance

Summary: Chapter 3 The Medical Profession Before Contraception: From Rejection To Acceptance I. Introduction: Institutional Contempt For Contraception In general, and ...
Read More

4. Catholic doctors and the AMA resolutions on contraception 

Summary: Chapter 4 Catholic Doctors and the Resolutions of the AMA on Contraception In this chapter we will study the ...
Read More

5. Jurists approve abortive contraception

Summary: Chapter V Jurists approve abortive contraception I. The Model Penal Code of the American Institute of Law (ALI) The ...
Read More

6. Changing words to change minds

Summary: Chapter 6 Changing words to change minds I. Introduction In the minds of its pioneers and in the opinion ...
Read More

7. The Medico-Biological Aspect of the Papal Commission for the Study of the Problems of the Family, Population, and Birth Rate

Summary: Chapter VII The Medico-Biological Aspect of the Papal Commission for the Study of the Problems of the Family, Population, ...
Read More

8.1 Protagonists in the Shadows: Edward C. Hughes

Summary: Chapter VIII (I) Protagonists in the shade (I): Edward C. Hughes y Raymond Holden I. Edward C. Hughes and ...
Read More

8.2 Protagonists in the Shadows: Thomas Hayes and Alan S. Parkes

Summary: Chapter VIII (II) Protagonists in the shadows (II): Thomas Hayes and Alan S. Parkes I. Hayes and the "reproductive act" ...
Read More

9.1 Scientific Research on Contraception: The “Abuse of Power” Ethos

Summary: Chapter IX.1 Scientific Research On Contraception: The “Abuse-of-Power” Ethos This chapter aims to review some ethical aspects of clinical ...
Read More

9.2 Scientific Research on Contraception: The “Zoological” Ethos

Summary: Chapter IX.2 Scientific Research On Contraception: Zoological Ethos Modern contraceptive research was conceived from the beginning as female contraception ...
Read More

Responsible Parenthood of ‘Humanae Vitae’ Requires Virtue

"In Humanae Vitae, Saint Paul VI explained that couples who have “serious” and “well-grounded reasons” to avoid the conception of a new ...
Read More

Wow – You Mean Hell is Real?

Is anything sinful anymore? Father Thomas Weinandy, OFM Cap., thinks so. A member of the Vatican’s International Theological Commission, he ...
Read More

A Great Opportunity to Celebrate Saint John Paul II’s Valiant Defense of Life

Today Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City commemorates the 25th anniversary of The Gospel of Life (Evangelium vitae): “As we ...
Read More

Moral And Social Damage Done By The Pill Is Still Disturbing

Sixty years have passed since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration first authorized physicians to prescribe a drug that would ...
Read More