In the past the use of birth control methods including artificial contraception was explicitly condemned by LDS Church leaders. Beginning in July 1916, apostles were quoted stating that birth control was a "pernicious doctrine" and that "limiting the number of children in a family...is sinful". The first time that any approval of a non-abstinence fertility control method was publicly expressed occurred in a 1942 "Improvement Era" article in which apostle John A. Widtsoe mentioned the rhythm method as an acceptable means of spacing children. In his influential 1956 treatise "Doctrines of Salvation", then apostle Joseph Fielding Smith called birth control a wickedness which leads to damnation and caused the downfall of nations. He further stated that an LDS couple that deliberately prevents themselves from having more children after their second or third child is guilty of iniquity which must be punished. The 1958 edition of Bruce R. McConkie's popular book "Mormon Doctrine" stated that all those using condoms or other artificial contraception are "in rebellion against God and are guilty of gross wickedness." The BYU Honor Code in 1968 stated that "the Church does not approve of any form of birth control." In 1969 the first and only First Presidency statement on birth control was released; it reemphasized that it was "contrary to the teachings of the Church artificially to curtail or prevent the birth of children", though, for the first time there was a clarification that men should be considerate to "conserve" the "health and strength" of their wives when planning families since they carry the "greater responsibility" for bearing and rearing children.