This essay expands upon the existentialist analysis of contemporary American sexual mores presented in Rollo May's Love and Will (1969), specifically the section of that work entitled "Contraceptives and the tragic". The author accepts May's analysis of the ambiguous psychological effects of artificial contraception--an increase in ambivalence and anxiety as well as freedom and choice--and argues that the massive popular response of Catholics to artificial contraception is based upon a failure to recognize the subtly ambiguous character of artificial contraception. Moreover, in the light of the religious value Catholicism places upon marriage as a sacramental reality, the author argues: the ambiguous character of artificial contraception is even more perilous then May's critique suggests.