By: Daniel Mosh
Birth control has had a precarious relationship with the Catholic Church in the past. Since the inception of oral contraception, i.e. The Pill, in the 1960s and the legalization of abortion in Roe v. Wade in 1973, the Catholic Church has perhaps been the most vocal opponents of any form of birth control that deviates from its doctrines about natural family planning. Pope Paul VI had this to say in 1968 regarding the issue:
“Therefore We base Our words on the first principles of a human and Christian doctrine of marriage when We are obliged once more to declare that the direct interruption of the generative process already begun and, above all, all direct abortion, even for therapeutic reasons, are to be absolutely excluded as lawful means of regulating the number of children. Equally to be condemned, as the magisterium of the Church has affirmed on many occasions, is direct sterilization, whether of the man or of the woman, whether permanent or temporary. Similarly excluded is any action which either before, at the moment of, or after sexual intercourse, is specifically intended to prevent procreation—whether as an end or as a means.”
But a recent survey conducted by the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit sexual health research facility, discovered that 98% of Catholic women use some form of contraception that was, and is, banned by the Church. Back in 2002, they conducted a similar survey and found that 97% of Catholic women used contraception. The number is even higher with regards to Protestants, Evangelicals, and other sects of Christianity.
If this is indicative of anything, then it suggests that open-minded behaviors and attitudes are further on the horizon for reconciling modernity with belief systems, at least with regards to women and birth control. But change, and especially change within the Catholic Church, is slow. It took them nearly 1500 years to accept the idea that the Sun was at the center and the Earth was moving.
The use of patriarchal beliefs has allowed the Church, and other organizations similar to the Church, to justify controlling reproductive rights and bodies of women for a couple thousand years, and it’s only recently that data has suggested bits and parts of that patriarchy is beginning to strip away. Perhaps the wide-use of birth control within the Catholic Church is the canary indicative a whole host of changes that will steadily take root within the once-immutable foundations of Catholicism. Only time will tell.
If history is to teach us anything, then this change within attitudes of the Catholic Church among women will come very slowly. But with continual education about birth control and its statistical benefits compared to traditional family planning, then that change might occur faster than expected.
Unfortunately, the Guttmacher Institute, or any other institute or organization for that matter, have not done a survey in relating male acceptance of birth control within the Catholic Church and other religious institutions to perhaps gauge other patriarchal tendencies, but with such a high statistic of women using some form of birth control their opinion is very much null and void.
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Majority of Catholic Woman Use Birth Control Condemned by Church ,
lexan
23 Jan 2012i hope this doesn’t offend anyone, but this is why i don’t like organized religion. birth control isn’t okay, but viagra is? homosexuality is evil, but let a priest molest a little boy and all he gets is moved to another parish. they have become a contradiction in terms, and need to be less of an influence on the way people live their lives. think for yourself, people!
Emily
2 Mar 2012i think religion needs to stay out of politics…
Valerie
2 Mar 2012While I agree that politicians should keep their hands off my body I’m not sure what an article about the tenants of a religion have to do with the subject. There was no mention of church hierarchy imposing beliefs on governing bodies, it was simply an article about the majority of Catholic women doing something the church condemns.
Misty
2 Mar 2012If I were catholic id sneak birth control
Carmen
2 Mar 2012Thanks for sharing this!
Kurt
2 Mar 2012The Priests with Boys sponsors have no right condemning sex. They lost all credibility when the Church and Pope covered it up!
Jillian
2 Mar 2012There are women with medical issues, like anemia, who rely on birth-control to stay ALIVE! this whole debate is ridiculous. And The Catholic Church doesn’t seem to accept that if you are consciously practicing NFP, you are not “open to life” like you are supposed to be at all times. You are choosing to avoid sex while ovulating because you want to avoid pregnancy. Yes, that is not being open to life. I am fully in favor of birth control – too many people have kids they can’t afford, and 9 year-olds are forced to perform the role of mother because the mother can’t keep up with 7 kids. I occasionally ask my seven year old to help me with things I need done for my three year old, but my son is a child, and should be able to exist as such.
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