how do wiccans and pagens feel about birth control?

Question

im doing a paper about religions and birth control. i cant seem to find anything on wiccan or pagen beliefs. so if anyone knows their veiwpoints on it, it would be helpful. also if you could give me some links to websites about the subject would be helpful.

Answer 1

Oh wow,
honey you put of us Wiccans and/or Pagans in a room, ask this and I can almost gaurentee you'll get *at least* 20 different answers.
Because we don't believe it's right to dictate our personal beliefs to one another.

So I'm afraid the best I can do is give you my personal feelings on the subject.....
&& I'm sorry that they may be a bit confusing, I've yet to think it out in coherent thought before....(i.e. I've not tried to explain it to anyone.)

-I'm considering taking it.
-I feel a little guilty sometimes, like it's a bit unnatural but at the same time, my partner and I are planning on having about 4 kids, and it just wouldn't be fair to have any of them right now. Just given the circumstances and everything. And I'd prefer to be protected and know that maybe I stopped something from happening at that time, than bring a child into this world before it's parents can give it the life it should have.

-now, along with that is just the fact that, for myself I'm VERY against abortion, and I wouldn't have one. Even if I was incredibly high risk. So, if I didn't use protection && birthcontrol, and i got pregnant I *would* have the child & I would keep the child....therefore I see using it as taking reasonable precautions......

-but as I've said. you'll get many many different answers on this one.

&& I wish you well on writing your paper, as I think if you look enough, you'll get the information you need for a VERY interesting one.

Blessed be,
&& Namaste.

Answer 2

I am a Wiccan, and have been for over 20 years. I speak only of a Wiccan POV here, and not a generalized Pagan one.

Wiccans are taught that one should use the right cure for the right ill, and while that is generally viewed by outsiders as refering to physical ills, it also refers to social and financial ills.

Birth control, which prevents pregnancy from occuring and should probably be called "pregnancy suppression," PREVENTS the social and financial ills of more children than a family (and the world!) can handle. If a Wiccan intends to engage in behaviors leading to pregnancy, the self-responsibility belief of most legitimate forms of Wicca dictate that said Wiccan, if not wanting a child, must try through all means possible to prevent a pregnancy from occuring.

Some Wiccans believe life begins at conception, and those that do must prevent conception from occuring if they don't wish to make a new life. Others believe it begins at implantation (IMO, a more reasonable belief, even if I don't share it) when the fertilized egg attaches to the uterus. Still others believe that life does not begin until the fetus can survive without major complications outside the womb... The beliefs on the individual Wiccan may dictate what forms of pregnancy control are acceptable.

Regardless, the strictures against birth control found in SOME Christian religions (but not others) are not found in Wicca because we believe responsibility for one's actions comes from oneself, not from one's church.

Answer 3

I think that it's hard to catergorize everyone in the Wiccan religion because everyone (as with most other religions) has a different opinion on the matter.. I also think that most Wiccans tend to follow their own paths and are therefore entitled to their own opinions. Unlike most religions, Wicca is all about YOU and how YOU feel about the world around you and inside you. It's left open to your own perception to make decisons.. I believe that we all have a knowing of morals and most can tell the difference between right and wrong.. but as far as birth control, in my opinion, it is unnatural and can do serious harm to a woman's body causing irregularily in menstration.. as for condoms, I think men and women should use them for protection from STDs. My husband and I have never used birth control, we are our first and only partners ever, and I have never been pregnant. I hold the opinion that people who do not have complete control over their bodies (orgasm, ejaculation) should not be having sex in the first place. Through meditation and physical excersise it is possible to control when you have an orgasm and although most people would see this as the most dangerous method, I guess it's different for us because we are married.

Answer 4

Sonali has it right. Eleven year old girls, or 13 or 14 year old girls for that matter don't just wake up one day and decide to have sex. Often they are molested by older males, not their middle school peers. We are in a state of denial that this doesn't happen that my uncle, brother, father can't be doing this. The kids have nowhere to turn. If they tell, they're breaking up the family or putting some "promising" young man in jail. Remember the flak on the media about the young guy who video taped a 15 year old girl having sex with him and numerous friends of his and how a long jail sentence was unjust? Well, this guy probably had sex with more than one underage girl and just got caught with this one. And taped it no less. No one was talking about the harm done to the girl. Whether she did this willingly should not enter the discussion. She was used, disrespected even willingly this should not happen to one so young. Same goes for the boys. They are molested and people think that they "got lucky." So the harmful stereotypes happen in those situations as well. It is another manifestation of the societal insanity.

Answer 5

Pagan beliefs, including Wicca, are usually not very administrative when it comes to people making life choices for themselves. In other words, they don't dictate what to do.

Most pagan religions have an edict against causing harm to others, but birth control is seen as primarily affecting the individual in question only. There would be exceptions, for example if someone was taking birth control and lying to their spouse who though they agreed they were trying to have a baby, that is deceitful and would be frowned upon. But in this case it's the deceit that's wrong, not the birth control.

So in essence it's left up to the individual to decide what's best for them and how they want to live their lives.

(Pagan Taoist)

Edit: HEY PEOPLE! The question was about birth control, NOT abortion. Don't you know the difference? Like, birth control, would, you know, help prevent abortions....?

Answer 6

Wiccans and pagans tend to have a very sex-positive outlook. it is something to celebrate, not be ashamed of

From the Charge of the Goddess:

"All acts of love and pleasure are my rituals"

Birth control is a personal choice. There is no doctrine in paganism about it. If you want kids, have them. If not, use birth control. Some might lean towards more natural methods of birth control, but that varies.

Answer 7

Most Pagans and Wiccans I have met are all for birth control. Not all of them though. I have met a few who actually believed that birth control was an affront to nature's plan for women and held similarly conservative views on abortion. For the most part though most of the ones I met were pro-BC, pro-choice. I'm one of them.

Answer 8

As a Pagan, I'm all for birth control. Why be stupid, when there's an alternative?

The body develops long before we are socially and financially ready for children. Why deny yourself physically in order to prevent pregnancy, when you can prevent pregnancy other ways?

Answer 9

Personally I'm for it. I happen to be Pagan. I think more people need to use it. There are some genes that don't need to be in the pool any longer.

Answer 10

There is no official stance on either one and its left up to the individual to decide.

Personally, I'm fine with all birth control, though I don't think abortion should be used as birth control, it should still be allowed for mitigating circumstances (like rape).