To be moral, each and every sexual act must be marital and unitive and procreative. NFP allows marital relations to be open to life and open to the will of God concerning procreation. The sexual acts of a husband and wife who use natural family planning always retain the unitive and procreative meaning. Therefore, the use of NFP is moral.
But the intentional use of contraception deprives the sexual act of its procreative meaning. Therefore, the use of artificial birth control is intrinsically evil and gravely immoral.
"The Church has always taught the intrinsic evil of contraception, that is, of every marital act intentionally rendered unfruitful. This teaching is to be held as definitive and irreformable. Contraception is gravely opposed to marital chastity; it is contrary to the good of the transmission of life (the procreative aspect of matrimony), and to the reciprocal self-giving of the spouses (the unitive aspect of matrimony); it harms true love and denies the sovereign role of God in the transmission of human life. A specific and more serious moral evil is present in the use of means which have an abortive effect, impeding the implantation of the embryo which has just been fertilized or even causing its expulsion in an early stage of pregnancy." (Pontifical Council for the Family, Vademecum 'Go with me' for Confessors Concerning Some Aspects of the Morality of Conjugal Life, n. 4-5.)
The deliberate use of ABC is intrinsically evil because it deprives the marital act of the good of procreation, and also harms the unitive meaning. The use of artificial birth control is contrary to the moral law and inherently immoral.
However, natural family planning does not deprive sexual acts of the procreative meaning. NFP consists of two types of acts: abstaining from sexual relations for a period of time, and engaging in sexual relations open to life for a period of time. But when engaging in sexual relations, the spouses' sexual acts are always marital, unitive, and procreative. They do not use any type of contraceptive pill or device. They engage only in natural marital relations open to life. While it is true that abstaining from sexual relations for a time is not procreative, it is also not a sexual act, and so it need not be procreative. The Church has always permitted married couples to refrain from marital relations for periods of time.
[1 Corinthians]
{7:1} Now concerning the things about which you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman.
{7:2} But, because of fornication, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.
{7:3} A husband should fulfill his obligation to his wife, and a wife should also act similarly toward her husband.
{7:4} It is not the wife, but the husband, who has power over her body. But, similarly also, it is not the husband, but the wife, who has power over his body.
{7:5} So, do not fail in your obligations to one another, except perhaps by consent, for a limited time, so that you may empty yourselves for prayer. And then, return together again, lest Satan tempt you by means of your abstinence.
{7:1} Now concerning the things about which you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman.
{7:2} But, because of fornication, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.
{7:3} A husband should fulfill his obligation to his wife, and a wife should also act similarly toward her husband.
{7:4} It is not the wife, but the husband, who has power over her body. But, similarly also, it is not the husband, but the wife, who has power over his body.
{7:5} So, do not fail in your obligations to one another, except perhaps by consent, for a limited time, so that you may empty yourselves for prayer. And then, return together again, lest Satan tempt you by means of your abstinence.
Notice that Sacred Scripture permits both types of acts which comprise NFP: natural marital relations open to life, and abstaining from marital relations for a limited time, with the consent of both spouses.
Furthermore, the infallible teaching of the Council of Trent implies that NFP is moral.
CANON VIII. "If anyone says that the Church errs, in that she declares that, for many causes, a separation may take place between husband and wife, in regard of bed, or in regard of cohabitation, for a determinate or for an indeterminate period; let him be anathema." (Council of Trent, 24th Session, On the Sacrament of Matrimony)
So anyone who claims that the Church errs by allowing "a separation… between husband and wife, in regard of bed" (i.e. abstaining from sexual relations) "for a determinate or for an indeterminate period" is asserting a heresy. Those who claim that natural family planning is not moral, and is no different from artificial birth control, are contradicting the definitive teaching of an Ecumenical Council.
The good end of family planning must be sought by a good means in order to be moral. The use of artificial birth control is the use of an immoral means to a good end. For the end does not justify the means. But natural family planning allows every marital act to be open to life. ABC is inherently directed toward closing the marital act to life. That is why NFP is a moral means, and ABC is an immoral means to the good end of family planning.
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