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Letitia   Posted: Sep 23 2005, 02:28 AM 
 
Is birth control permitted when the couple in question (one or both of them) has bad genes? For example, I was born with a hereditary cancer of the eye which has caused loss of my right eye, lifetime maintenance of an artificial eye, and a lifetime of surgeries which are related to side effects from some of the cancer treatments I had as a baby. If I have a child, there is a 50/50 chance that child with get my cancer gene. If the child does have the cancer gene, there are a variety of factors (tumor size, how early caught, how agressive, etc.) which will determine whether the child loses his/her eye, what kind of treatments will be used, and whether or not s/he will have the many-surgery-causing side effects from treatment like I did. Does the Church give any leeway or special permission to use birth control under such circumstances?

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Brightest Blessings to All,
Letitia
QUOTE 
We all have to help each other. Otherwise, none of us is going to make it. ~ me
 
 
 
Deacon_Anthony Posted: Sep 23 2005, 08:01 PM 
 
Hi Letitia. The church does not have any leeway for using artificial birth control to prevent conception. U should check into the Natural Family Planning option which the church does approve of. It is actually proven to be more effective than artificial means. However, letting God make the determination about who enters and does not enter into earthly life is still the best of all options in my opinion.