Natural Humanists believe that, although it’s normal and natural for sex to lead to pregnancy, and although nature intended there to be no control of this natural consequence of sexual intercourse, human beings have a very important moral obligation to ensure that pregnancy only occurs when this is planned, and when at least one of the people who created the pregnancy wants to be a parent, and is committed to ensuring the child is loved, supported, nurtured and protected throughout their childhood and beyond.
They acknowledge that the past huge increase in the human population, has resulted in severe damage to the environment, and to millions of species of wildlife, and so choosing to have a baby should be considered very carefully.
They believe, for these reasons, that contraception is essential if those involved do not want a pregnancy to result from sex, or if pregnancy would be harmful to the mother, or if one or more of the parents is too immature, or has insufficient intellectual and life skills to be a responsible and loving parent, who could meet the baby’s and child’s needs, unless adequate support will reliably be available to ensure that these needs are met.
They believe that all human beings have a moral responsibility to practice ‘safe sex’, both to avoid the risk of unwanted pregnancy and also to avoid spreading STIs to each other, and to future partners, as well as to any babies born as a result of that sex. They believe that one person’s wish to remain free from STIs and to not experience unplanned pregnancy, is far more important than any wish that their partner might have themselves to have sex without protection, for example, to gain more physical pleasure, or to allow spontaneous, unplanned sex, which can sometimes prevent the use of contraception or other safe sexual practices.
Pro-Life and Pro-Choice
When it comes to abortion, Natural Humanists are both ‘pro-life’ and ‘pro-choice’, in that they’re against any type of aggression or violence towards, or murder of, any human being or animal, and they consider abortion to be the deliberate murder of an unborn child. They also believe that a human being’s life begins at the point of ‘conception’ (the moment when a sperm fertilises an egg), not at the point when this fertilised egg later implants itself in the womb, so consequently, they believe that the ‘morning after pill’ can itself potentially be a form of abortion, and therefore a form of murder.
Despite these strongly held beliefs, Natural Humanists also believe that, until a baby is born, it’s physically a part of its mother’s body, and therefore, the mother has an absolute right to do anything she wishes to her baby, i.e., to her own body, including ending the pregnancy.
Natural Humanists believe that nobody should ever criticise or abuse mothers who choose to exercise their natural right to abort their own babies, and that such mothers should always be treated, like all other human beings, with love, kindness, understanding and compassion, but that all pregnant mothers should be encouraged and supported not to abort their babies, whenever possible.
They also believe that, whenever possible, Natural Humanists should open their minds and hearts to the possibility of adopting or fostering children themselves, to ensure that every child, including those given up for adoption by mothers who choose not to abort their own babies, has a loving home, has security and stability, feels admired and respected, and is part of a caring, supportive community that really values them as an individual, every day of their life.