Lesson video

Hello, my young scholars of religion.

My name is Ms. Marks, and I'm going to be your religious education teacher today.

And today we're going to be doing all about contraception and family planning, which means we will be discussing sex and how pregnancies happen and different methods that there are to prevent that from happening.

We will also be using our minds as theologians, philosophers, and social scientists, so when you're ready, let's go.

So by the end of the lesson today, you'll be able to describe different types of contraception and family planning and explain different views on them.

Let's start with our key terms. Artificial contraception, methods of contraception that stop pregnancy through stopping the sperm being able to fertilise the egg.

Contraception, precautions taken to prevent pregnancy.

Family planning, the regulation of births, planning when to have a family, and how big a family to have by the use of birth control practises and/or contraception.

Procreation, having a child.

Seen as a duty in many religions.

So look out for those in today's lesson.

So today's lesson is going to have two sections, contraception and family planning and views on contraception and family planning.

So let's start with our first section then, contraception and family planning.

Whatever your personal stance, you can use the academic disciplines, such as social science, theology, and philosophy, to study religious and non-religious worldviews.

And in this lesson, we'll be using philosophy and social science by using philosophy to ask ethical questions, and making use of social science to examine how non-religious people might respond to these questions.

So here, I've got an image of two types of contraception, which might be used as part of family planning, the contraceptive pill and condoms, they're quite common, but we'll see later with some data how common they are.

Family planning involves actively deciding when you may or may not want to have children.

Anyone who has sex may consider if they want to regulate having a baby, particularly if it's people of the opposite sex having a sexual relationship with each other.

Regulation of births can happen through using artificial contraception, a bit like the two images we've got here, or using natural family planning methods.

So some of the views around the use of contraception and family planning can depend on whether it's artificial or a natural method that's being used.

Different types of artificial contraception use different methods to prevent pregnancy.

How do these prevent pregnancy then? So maybe you can think about the contraceptive pill and the condoms. What is it about them that means that they might prevent a pregnancy? Pause the video and have a think, and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

So in the image I showed you earlier, we had a condom, and that's an example of a barrier method, called the contraception.

So if we think that the sperm needs to meet the egg in order to fertiliser and for the couple to have conceived for conception to happen, contraception gets in the way of this through a barrier method with a condom.

So the sperm cannot get through the barrier to meet with the egg and fertilise it.

So condom is one example, but so is a diaphragm.

So it acts as a barrier to stop the egg and the sperm from meeting.

But you can also have hormonal methods.

So the other image we had was of the pill, contraceptive pill, and that changes the hormone balance of the woman so her eggs are less likely to be fertilised or it might stop egg production.

So it changes the hormones of the woman so that the eggs are less likely to be fertilised, they're less likely to be produced, and less likely to conceive because of that.

So whilst the egg and the sperm are likely to meet each other because there's no barrier in between them, that is not going to lead to a moment of fertilisation, conception, and pregnancy.

So examples of this could be the contraceptive pill, like we just saw in the image earlier, but it can also be done as an implant or an injection.

It's a way of getting those hormones changed in the woman.

We also have surgical methods of contraception, which do a permanent change to the body of the man or the woman so that they're not able to conceive.

It's a permanent sterilisation that they'll have.

And then finally, we've got intrauterine contraceptive methods.

That's normally involves a small T-shaped device placed inside the woman's uterus, 'cause if you think about the steps towards a pregnancy where the egg and the sperm need to meet, they need to fertilise, what happens next is they need to embed inside the uterus wall of the woman so that then it doesn't become part of the the woman's period that she has, and it's embedded there to then develop into a foetus and then the pregnancy takes hold.

Now, the intrauterine device can help to prevent that embedding from happening.

And so sometimes it's called the copper coil or IUD, and this can prevent the fertilised egg from embedding and then developing into a foetus and then a baby.

So maybe you can think about why some people might agree with certain types of contraception rather than others.

Is there a difference between a barrier form of contraception, which is stopping the egg and the sperm meeting in the first place, to the intrauterine form of contraception, where it could be a fertilised egg and a sperm, which is not being allowed to embed and grow into a foetus and a baby? Does that make a difference? Pause the video and have a think, and we can see what you've come up with in a moment.

Well, we can see from this that when we're talking about contraception and family planning, it's not necessarily just one type of contraception that we're talking about.

There can be different ones with different ethical issues associated with them.

So time for a quick check.

Which method of contraception does the implant use? Is it barrier, hormonal, surgical, or intrauterine, the implant? Pause the video and have a think, and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done.

That was a bit of a tricky one, wasn't it? It's hormonal because it is changing the hormones of the woman so that she doesn't necessarily release an egg, and if she does release an egg, it's less likely to be fertilised.

You might have said intrauterine because it's something that's inserted into a woman's body, but actually, the implant is hormonal because it's releasing hormones from the implant, a bit like the pill is when a woman is taking the contraceptive pill.

So natural family planning methods are not forms of artificial contraception, but can be used to try and help with the regulation of births.

So they're not artificially a pregnancy from happening from sex, but they are sort of natural ways of trying to help regulate when the births might happen.

And some examples are the withdrawal method, which is where a man withdraws his penis before he ejaculates to stop the sperm from reaching the egg.

So if you remember, for a pregnancy to happen, the sperm needs to reach the egg and then get fertilised and then implant and then grow.

Well, if you stop the sperm even entering the woman's body, then you are lessening the chance of that egg from fertilising.

So this is called the withdrawal method.

The rhythm method, using a record of a woman's menstrual cycle to work out the less fertile times and only having sex at these times.

So when a woman is in her menstrual cycle, which is around 28 days per month, there are ways of tracking and knowing when she's more likely to get pregnant or not due to where the egg is, has it been released or not, and when is it going to be more fertile? And people use that method when they're trying to get pregnant.

So they might use that to deliberately try to get pregnant if they're having fertility issues, but the same can be used the other way.

It can be tracked and then it can be seen when a woman might be less likely to get pregnant.

And so this is a natural method because you're not using any hormones or any objects at all with this.

It's just about tracking when, in her cycle, she might be less likely to get pregnant.

And then finally, we've got abstaining, not having sex.

So this may be the best way of ensuring that you don't get pregnant is to not have sex.

So whilst contraception is obviously the responsibility of both the man and the woman who are having sexual relationship, here are two examples of contraception which would only be in relation to the woman's body.

So for example, the IUD that we spoke about earlier, which is the intrauterine device.

So if you can see, it's the little T shape there, that goes up inside the woman's uterus and then prevents that fertilised egg and sperm from implanting and growing into a foetus and then on into a baby.

And then we have a diaphragm here, which is a little bit like the condom that we saw earlier because it's a barrier method, so it prevents the egg and the sperm meeting.

So rather than a condom that would go onto the man's penis, this is a diaphragm that the woman can insert into herself to be that barrier between the egg and the sperm meeting.

According to United Nations globally, 966 million women of reproductive age in 2022 were using some method of artificial contraception or family planning.

And like we said, it is the responsibility for both men and women, but these statistics can give us an insight into how these women are choosing to manage the births that they're having in their families.

There may be different factors that determine the method a woman may use.

So Andeep, Sophia, Lucas, and Aisha are discussing these factors that might determine the method a woman might choose to use.

Andeep says, "I think cost will be important.

Some are cheaper than others or even free." Sophia says, "In some countries, you might not be able to easily access all types of contraception." Lucas says, "A religious person's beliefs might impact their decision." And Aisha says, "A woman's personal circumstances, such as her health, might be an important factor." So time for a quick check then.

Which of these is a method of contraception that stops a pregnancy by stopping the sperm being able to fertilise the egg? Is it family planning, procreation, artificial contraception, or natural methods? Pause the video and have a go, and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done.

It's C, artificial contraception.

Family planning and natural methods can help, but they aren't necessarily gonna stop the sperm being able to fertilise the egg.

So here we've got some statistics from the United Nations on the use of contraception around the world, and this is all taken from women of what might be reproductive age, where they are likely to start their periods, have not had their menopause yet.

We've got a variety of different types of contraception being used here, all of which we've spoken about so far.

The United Nations have collected data from around the world about which methods of contraception were used by women from the age 15 to 49.

And obviously, we've said it's the responsibility of both the men and the women to think about contraception in their relationships.

But these are only estimates.

Why could it be that they're only estimates? Pause the video and have a think.

You can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, as social scientists, we cannot be 100% sure unless we ask every single person what they've used, and we are 100% sure that they've told us the absolute truth about the methods that they're using.

It'd be very difficult for us to ask every single woman on the entire planet, so it's always going to be an estimate, but the answers can give us that kind of broad understanding of the different types that are being used.

So how might they have collected this data then? What different methods could they have used to collect this data? Pause the video and have a think, and we'll see what you've come up with in a moment.

Well, they looked at different countries' data from national surveys, government data to collect it for the whole wide world, so they used a variety of different ways of getting that information, and then made a collection of that for us as a worldwide contraception use.

So time for a quick check then.

So let's look at this in a little bit more detail then.

According to the data, which method is the most used around the world? So according to this, what is the one that is used the most around the world? Pause the video and have a go, we'll see what you've done in a moment.

What we can see here that, actually, the highest number is of female sterilisation.

That's where someone has had an operation, which means they cannot either produce the eggs or those eggs cannot be fertilised, and that's the highest proportion of contraception and family planning that's used worldwide.

Time for another check then.

According to the data, what is the most used barrier method? So if you remember, we spoke about the different types of contraception and there's particular ones that are a barrier that stop the egg and the sperm from meeting.

What is the most used barrier method from this data then? Pause the video and have a go and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done.

It's the male condom.

So that is, after female sterilisation, actually the most common form of contraception that's used.

And as we said earlier, contraception's the responsibility of both the men and the women in a sexual relationship, and barrier methods also help to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases too, so it's a bit of a bonus.

So time for our practise task to see what we've learned.

Lucas, Laura, Sam, and Andeep are discussing different methods of preventing pregnancy.

Complete the blanks by describing the method and naming which method each of them is describing.

So we need Lucas's description of the rhythm method, then we have got Laura saying sterilised through surgery.

What is that method? Then we have Sam, who you need to describe what abstaining is, and then we have Andeep, who's got the description of putting an IUD into the woman's uterus.

What is that method? So pause the video, have a go, we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done.

So your answers should say something like this.

Lucas, only having sex during a woman's less fertile times in the month is the rhythm method.

Laura has been sterilised through surgery, is surgical contraception.

Then we have Sam saying not having sex is abstaining.

And then we have Andeep, who says putting an IUD in the woman's uterus is intrauterine, well done.

So onto our second section then, views on contraception and family planning.

So as well as being social scientists today, we're also being philosophers.

And Izzy and Jun asking some philosophical questions here about contraception and family planning.

And Izzy asks, "Should we stop procreation by using contraception?" Is it even right to be stopping this? And Jun asks, "Should we plan to have children or should we let it happen naturally?" Should it be something that happens naturally or something that we can plan in and schedule? Non-religious people might use their conscience, experience, science, or cultural values to influence their own view.

So can you think of reasons that a non-religious person might give to support the use of contraception and family planning to prevent pregnancy? Pause the video and have a think.

You can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Great ideas there.

So let's see if they match with these.

Reasons to support contraception: it prevents unwanted pregnancies; sperm and eggs are not living things, so it doesn't actually cause harm to them; it gives women control over their body; it allows couples to plan when they have children; and it can support population control.

So these are all reasons that are not religious why someone might support contraception or family planning.

But equally, non-religious people may also not support the use of contraception of family planning.

Can you think of any reasons why they may not support it? Pause the video and have a think.

Again, you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

It may have undesirable consequences.

Sperm and eggs may be seen as living things so they shouldn't be harmed.

It can promote non-committed relationships, which can have a negative impact.

Contraception can negatively change people's view of sex.

And perhaps using an atheist Natural Law theory, so the idea that it just goes against what is natural, so what is right.

So we've seen there are many reasons a non-religious person may give to support using contraception.

So together, let's give one reason why a non-religious person may support the use of contraception.

It allows the couples to plan when they have children.

So it allows 'em to space it out and make it fit with what their lifestyle is and perhaps the money they have and the resources they have to support those children.

Over to you then, give one reason why a non-religious person may support the use of contraception.

Pause the video and have a go, and we'll see what you've come up with in a moment.

It could prevent unwanted children from being born, and other possible answers are it could support population control, gives a woman control over her body, and the sperm and the eggs are not living things so it doesn't actually cause them harm to use contraception.

So here's Diane, who's a humanist.

She's going to share her views on family planning and the use of contraception.

And she says, "Humanists tend to consider the possible consequences of actions and believe a women should have autonomy to decide for herself.

I think a woman should make her own decision depending on her situation.

She should do what's best for her happiness.

Every woman should have an informed choice if she wants to use contraception or not." So Diane here is placing it on the woman and it's up to her.

She's not saying she should or she shouldn't use contraception.

It's really up to her to decide when she's considered all the options.

And also Diane's recognising that different women may be in different situations, and perhaps a woman who's in a certain situation now might not be in that situation again in the future.

And here's Zoe, who's an atheist, and she's going to share her views on family planning and the use of contraception.

"I think a woman should be able to choose what happens to her own body.

She should be able to plan if and when she has children.

I don't believe that God exists, so humans don't have to procreate because he said to.

Sex should be for enjoyment without any worry of having unwanted children.

So Zoe here is linking it to what the purpose of sex is, and it's not just about procreating and having children, it's also about enjoyment, and so you shouldn't always have to worry about unwanted children being born as a result.

And here's Warren, who's an atheist, and he shares his views on family planning and the use of contraception.

Warren says, "I think a man should be involved in family planning decisions as he's responsible for any potential children, as well as the mother.

I think that condoms are a good form of contraception because they allow me to take responsibility to prevent procreation when needed, and they also can prevent the spread of some sexually transmitted infections." So Warren here is saying that, actually, it's down to the man as well as the woman in a relationship to think about contraception, and for him, condoms help with that.

And for Warren as well, it has that bonus of preventing the spread of sexually transmitted infections, which the other forms of contraception cannot do.

So time for another check then.

When considering if contraception or family planning should be used, a humanist might consider the possible what of actions? Pause the video and have a think and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Consequences of actions.

You could have put effects and impacts as well.

Well done.

It's time for another practise task to see what we've learned.

Here is a full evaluation question using a statement about artificial contraception.

Here's the statement: "No Christian should use artificial contraception," but what you are going to do is write a paragraph giving non-religious arguments, could be atheist and humanist, that support a different point of view to the statement.

So the statement is talking about Christianity, no Christians should use artificial contraception, but you're going to do a paragraph showing a different point of view with the atheist and humanist views that we've seen so far in today's lesson.

So pause the video and off you go, and we'll see what you done in a moment.

Well done.

So your statement was, "No Christian should use artificial contraception," so I asked you to give a paragraph showing an atheist or humanist view on this statement.

And your answer might have included, "Some humanists may disagree with the statement, as they believe a woman should make her own decisions by looking at the consequences in her own situation.

This might mean using artificial contraception.

This is important whether someone is Christian or not, as it will be the best outcome for her happiness.

Some atheists might also disagree as they don't believe God has instructed people to procreate, so using artificial contraception is a choice they can make themselves.

They believe it's up to individuals to plan whether they want to have a family or not.

This is important because it prevents unwanted pregnancies." So well done.

So let's summarise what we've learned then.

Contraception and family planning.

The main methods of artificial contraception are barrier, hormonal, surgical, and intrauterine.

Natural family planning methods include the withdrawal method, rhythm method, and abstinence.

Non-religious people, including atheists, have different views on whether contraception and family planning should be used.

People may consider a range of factors, such as cost and personal circumstances, when considering using contraception.

Humanists may consider the consequences of using them and if the woman has had an informed choice.

So well done for your hard work today, and I'll see you again soon.

Bye bye.