American Catholicism and the International Family Planning Movement

This paper examines the role of the American Catholic Church in the international family planning movement and discusses elements of the Catholic opposition to birth control. The paper argues that the reaction of American Catholics to government support for contraceptive services was based not only on the Church's condemnation of particular contraceptive methods, but also on a variety of other factors including class and ethnic hostility between Catholics and the promoters of family planning, jurisdictional disputes over what institutions would guide family life, the perceived threat that government support of family planning was to the authority of the Church and the Church's understanding of sex and women. The role of an American theology of political compromise and accommodation in mitigating the American Catholic Church's opposition to organized family planning is assessed.     

Low fertility and limited diffusion of modern contraception in Italy during the second half of the twentieth century

During the last two decades of the twentieth century, Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal, and Japan were characterized by very low fertility levels and limited diffusion of the pill, IUD and sterilization for contraceptive purposes. This paradox is discussed for Italy by revisiting the history of contraception and reproduction during the second half of the twentieth century, and by using new data for the end of that century and the early twenty-first century. The main results are: (1) it has been possible to maintain low rates of planned and unplanned fertility without resorting to more effective contraceptive methods thanks to a careful use ofcoitus interruptus; (2) the pace of diffusion of the pill and IUD was so slow because of the opposition to contraception of the Catholic Church, a gender system emphasizing traditional male and female roles, and a medical culture that made physicians reluctant to prescribe the pill for their patients; and (3) the contraceptive patterns of Italian women born after 1960 are more similar to those of their Western counterparts, although new peculiarities appear, for example, substantial reliance on the condom by people living as couples as well as sexually active singles.     

The effects of formal church affiliation and religiosity on the fertility patterns of Mexican-American catholics

The effects of religion on the fertility patterns of Mexican Americans are examined with two different path models, the Institutional Model using formal affiliation with the Roman Catholic Church as a measure of religion, and the Religiosity Model using a measure of religiosity. Each model, tested separately for husbands and wives, examines the effects of religion on types of contraceptive methods used and on wanted family size. Although the majority of Mexican Americans are Catholics and tend to have large families, religion does not seem to have the same effect on their fertility patterns as on that of other Catholics in the United States. Among the men, neither formal affiliation nor religiosity affect the fertility patterns in any way, while among the women the effect is slight. Considering the Catholic Church’s position on contraceptive usage, it is especially noteworthy that religion does not affect the use or non-use of the more effective means of contraception, a factor contributing to the generally weak association between the measures of religion and wanted family size. The last section attempts a partial explanation of why the results turned out as they did.     

Natality and ethnocentrism: Some relationships suggested by an analysis of catholic-protestant differentials

Abstract At the time of writing, the Roman Catholic Church is engaged in a major re-evaluation of its position on contraception. Judging from newspaper interest, there exists a widespread assumption that Catholic teaching, together with the political and social influence of the Catholic clergy, is an important deterrent to the practice of contraception and, for that reason, to the reduction of human natality.     

Tacit consent: the Church and birth control in northern Italy

This article employs novel documentation to examine ways in which the Church's moral rules on contraception were (or were not) communicated to parishioners in a predominantly Catholic context in a period of rapid fertility decline: the diocese of Padua, in the northeastern Italian region of Veneto, during the first half of the twentieth century. The account is based on documents that have until now been overlooked: the moral cases discussed during the periodic meetings among Padua priests in the years 1916–58, and the written answers provided by priests in response to a question asked of them concerning their efforts to combat the limiting of births. This documentation reveals the limited effect on the reproductive behavior of the position of the Catholic Church against birth control.     

The dynamics of contraceptive adoption in Bohol,Philippines: 1976-1978

A researcher analyzed 1976 and 1978 data on 414 rural women who had never used a family planning method to prevent pregnancy and lived in the predominantly Catholic island province of Bohol in the Philippines to look at the influence certain aspects of the family planning program, begun in 1976, as predictors of changes in contraceptive behavior. 34.5% accepted contraception between 1976-1978. The researchers learned that couple traits (e.g., age, income, education, and religiosity) had only an indirect effect on change in contraceptive behavior. A desire to stop, limit, or space births (motivation) was a strong predictor of family planning method acceptance (p.001). Further couples who clinic providers contacted the most often or who had received more family planning services (services) were much more likely to use contraceptives (p.001). Indeed a significant relationship existed between motivation and services (p.001). Moreover couples who were truly motivated to use family planning methods did not let distance to family planning services prevent them from seeking these services (p.001). On the other hand, couples who confronted personal obstacles to family planning including social, psychological, and other subjective costs (cost index) tended not to accept family planning methods (p.001). A negative association existed between services and location of households vis a vis the intervention program (p.001) which indicated that the program did have an effect in the area of the province where it was located. In conclusion, the strongest predictors of change in contraceptive behavior included motivation, services, and cost index. Services and cost index indicated the great importance of interpersonal and/or client staff contact, especially since they were more important in influencing behavior change than distance and family planning site.     

The relationship of family planning to savings and consumption in Taiwan

This study relates fertility behavior to modern economic behavior, namely, saving and consumption of modern durables, for a sample of couples in Taiwan. It uses only couples who say they want no more children, and these couples are further classified by current use of contraception and by whether or not they already had excess fertility. Couples who are successful fertility planners, i.e., those who have no unwanted children and are current users of contraception, are distinctive with regard to modern economic behavior as compared to couples who do not use contraception or have excess fertility. Successful planners are more likely to save and to have more modern durables; these differentials remain when adjustments are made for the effects of family income, wife’s age, wife’s education, and duration of marriage. It seems that the kind of planning behavior which enables a couple to successfully plan their family size also enables them to manage their economic affairs so that they can save and enjoy more modern consumption goods.     

Adolescent fertility and religion in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in the year 2000: the role of Protestantism

Social transformations in Brazil in recent years have included a substantial increase in adolescent fertility, a dramatic rise in membership of Protestant religious denominations, and an accompanying decline in the number of Catholics. We used the 2000 Brazil Census to examine differentials in fertility and family formation among adolescents living in Rio de Janeiro by the following religious denominations: Catholic; Baptist; other mainline Protestant; Assembly of God Church; Universal Church of the Kingdom of God; other Pentecostal Protestant; and no religion. Results from logistic regression models show that the majority of the Protestants are at a lower risk of adolescent fertility than Catholics, and that among adolescents who have had a child, most Protestants are more likely than Catholics to be in a committed union. Our findings offer some support for the hypothesis that Protestant churches are more effective than the Catholic Church in discouraging premarital sexual relations and childbearing among adolescents.     

Improvement of contraception during the course of marriage

Contraceptive effectiveness is conventionally measured by a pregnancy rate, which reveals little about the way in which pregnancy risks vary among couples. In this paper a technique is presented for estimating curves of pregnancy risk. The technique is applied to data from the Family Growth in Metropolitan America study for purposes of estimating how much these couples would have to Improve their initial contraception In order to realize, by contraception alone, the calibre of family limitation claimed by respondents late in their childbearing period. A very substantial improvement Is estimated as necessary.

It Is also argued that the notable increase In contraceptive effectiveness before and after second birth, observed for couples desiring only two children is attributable mainly to a more regular practice of contraception. Changes Iin method preference, decline in average fecundabillty and increased contraceptive skill are viewed as secondary factors.     

Building a Dignified Identity: An Ethnographic Case Study of LGBT Catholics

ABSTRACT

This ethnographic case study offers insight into religiously devout sexual minorities and the reasons behind their continued participation in an anti-gay religious institution, the Roman Catholic Church. I demonstrate how members of Dignity, an organization for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Catholics, strategically use their identity as gay Catholics to initiate action, to build community, and to destigmatize other religious sexual minorities. Members leverage this unique identity to push for change and equality within the Church. At the same time, this identity also allows members to see their continued participation in the anti-gay Roman Catholic Church as activism, a positive and affirming identity, thereby alleviating potential conflict and contradiction between their sexuality and their spirituality as Roman Catholics.     

Withdrawal in Pakistan: new insight into an old method

Although family planning programs pay almost no attention to the validity of coitus interruptus (withdrawal), it is a traditional method of family planning widely used to regulate fertility in Pakistan. Large-scale quantitative studies conducted in recent years in Pakistan by the Population Council have indicated that withdrawal is the most popular temporary method of fertility regulation in the country, second among all methods only to female sterilization. Pakistani couples use withdrawal mainly because they believe that modern methods are unsafe for women and unreliable. They have some fears and misconceptions about modern methods. The method may work well in Pakistan also because users seem to feel that they own it. Withdrawal is therefore a reasonable option given Pakistanis' beliefs and circumstances. Those who use withdrawal in Pakistan practice the technique with considerable efficacy and tend to continue using it. Furthermore, couples which use withdrawal have discussed their family planning preferences and decided together to use the method. However, in order to improve the use of modern methods of contraception, information provision, counseling, and interpersonal communication must be improved.     

A welcome family planning service center

The Family Planning Service Center of Luohu District was organized by the Family Planning Committee of the district to help couples of child bearing age and 1-child families to overcome their difficulties. The services provided by the center include: distributing contraceptives, and providing consultation on birth control, contraception, healthy births and better upbringing, and maternal and child care. A peculiar feature of the center is that one sees many young and middle-aged people of both sexes going in and out of the place at all hours of the day and night. Workers from the center even go to offices and factories to provide services and distribute contraceptives. In close cooperation with neighborhood family planning centers, the center has also set up offices to distribute contraceptives and give advice. It is estimated that in Luohu District, at present, 90% of the couples of childbearing age are current users of contraceptives. In the city, the proportion of 1-child families is quite large. As a rule in China, preschool children are looked after by their grandparents. Living separately from their parents, however, many couples in the city find it difficult to find someone to care for their children. The center also provides assistance in finding child care help. The center has also invited experts and medical personnel to give 10 lectures on child nutriology, child psychology, birth control, contraception and pregnancy health.     

The influence of catholic schools on the desegregation of public school systems: A case study of white flight in Boston

White flight from public school desegregation can result in educational and residential resegregation which defeat the purpose of desegregation programs. One form of white flight is pupil transfer to private schools, which in major metropolitan areas are predominantly Catholic schools. Unlike residential relocation, transfers to Catholic schools do not effect an increase in residential segregation and they constitute a potentially less permanent loss to the public system than that caused by relocation. Nevertheless, empty seats in area Catholic schools pose a threat to the success of any desegregation program. For the Catholic diocese, the white flight issue creates a complex conflict of interests, involving institutional self-interest and competing claims to moral principles and Church teachings.A case study of Boston indicates that approximately 2,000 students transferred to Catholic schools from the public system, accounting for over 20 percent of white pupil loss to the public system. This occurred despite diocesan policies designed to prevent white flight to Catholic schools. An analysis of political and institutional constraints on policy development and implementation provides a basis for predicting Church response to future desegregation programs in other locations. Suggestions for diocesan programs designed to address desegregation issues are included.This research was conducted as part of a national study of public school desegregation directed by Karl E. Taeuber. Funding was provided by the Institute for Research on Poverty and the Wisconsin Center for Educational Research, both at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. I wish to thank Dr. Taeuber for facilitating this particular study and for helpful comments on an earlier draft. I also wish to acknowledge the valuable assistance of Mary J. McDonald and Roger Hedge of the Massachusetts Department of Education and Rev. Eugene Sullivan, Superintendent of Schools of the Archdiocese of Boston. Conclusions and interpretations presented here are the sole responsibility of the author.     

Contraceptive Initiation Patterns in Thailand

Data from the Thailand Demographic and Health Survey permit a detailed examination of the pattern of contraceptive initiation in terms both of first post-marital contraceptive use and initiation of use following childbirth. A clear trend towards beginning contraception earlier in the family-building process over the course of the fertility transition is evident. During the earliest stage, contraception was first used mainly after a couple had already achieved their desired family size, but later on couples increasingly began use in order to space births, and most recently it has become common to begin use to delay the start of childbearing. There are two distinctive patterns of contraceptive initiation following childbirth. For women who chose sterilization, initiation occurs during the immediate post partum period, while for those who used other methods, use most commonly began shortly after the return of menses. As a result, few Thai women are at present unprotected against unplanned pregnancies for any substantial period of risk following childbirth. Beginning to use contraception early in the family-building process and rapid adoption of contraception following childbirth are now found in most segments of Thai society, testifying to the maturing of Tailand's fertility transition.     

Bangladesh: National Population Policy approved

The National Population Council of Bangladesh set a policy to reduce the national growth rate from 2.8 to 2% by 1980, and increase the frequency of family planning use by eligible couples from 4.7 to 12% in 1978 and 20% in 1980. If the replacement level can be reached by 1985, then the population of Bangladesh will stabilize at 121 million. The orientation of family planning programs will be switched from clinics to a national mobilization of programs. All methods of contraception will be used throughout the policy implementation.     

Upholding the freedom of couples to use a method of their choice

A recent review of the Philippine Population Program's 5-year plan, ended in December 1982, showed that in 1980, natural family planning (NFP) users were only about 12.5% of couples practicing family planning. This figure doubled by 1982. Based on these responses the decision was made to intensify the NFP program as early as 1982. The 1st step was to put more money into the NFP program. The program includes the modern scientific techniques such as cervical mucus, basal body temperature, and sympto-thermal. The program also will fund the training of doctors and other clinic personnel and the production and distribution of appropriate training and information material. Other family planning methods, such as sterilization, oral contraception (OC) and the condom, also will be promoted. Promotion of NFP will depend on the choice of the family planning practitioners themselves. The program's community based services are being intensified. NFP, together with the other family planning methods such as sterilization and OC, will always be made available to couples in the community based services. All agencies in the population and family planning program will be promoting NFP. Knights of Columbus doctors have been invited to assist the program and share their own training modules for the training of trainers. An agreement has been entered into with the Gabriel M. Reyes Memorial Foundation based in Aklan. The goal is for trainers who need further knowledge and skills in NFP to learn from the foundation's wealth of organized orientation and training techniques in NFP. NFP is emphasized at this time because it is acceptable to a great number of couples.     

Antecedents to contraceptive innovation: Evidence from rural Northern Thailand

A number of different causal mechanisms have been proposed to explain the onset of fertility declines in populations with previously uncontrolled fertility, but they have never been adequately tested. The present study identifies and tests five antecedents to family limitation practices in a sample of 755 currently married couples resident in rural Northern Thailand. The loglinear multiple regression models estimated indicate that couples in more developed districts, more modern couples, couples in which wives have more equal roles, couples believing that intergenerational wealth transfers favor children rather than their parents, and more wealthy couples, were all significantly more likely to be early adopters of contraception. Local development levels appeared to have the greatest net effects on the timing of adoption of fertility control. In addition, couples in areas where contraceptive services were more readily available were also significantly more likely to be contraceptive innovators, net of these five variables.     

Gender differences in knowledge and attitudes toward modern and traditional methods of child spacing in Malawi

This paper examines male-female differences in knowledge and attitudes towards traditional and modern methods of child spacing in Malawi, based on the survey on traditional methods of child spacing in Malawi which was conducted in 1988. The results show that most people in Malawi are knowledgeable about both traditional and modern methods of child spacing. In general more men than women report knowledge and practice of traditional methods. For modern methods, however, females are more knowledgeable than males of all the specific methods, with the exception of condoms. The greater knowledge by women of female-based modern contraceptives appears to be a manifestation of the exclusion of males from the family planning program. The high rates of knowledge do not translate into equivalent high rates of utilization for both modern and traditional methods of contraception. The study further demonstrates that, while women are involved in making decisions to use contraception, the proportion of men initiating such decisions is greater than that of women. This finding calls for family planning planners to think seriously about revising their target population to include men.     

Central Mindanao: selling family planning informally

A research study was conducted in Central Mindanao, Philippines, to evaluate the effectiveness of " selling" informally the idea of family planning to potential acceptors. The study, entitled "the Extent of Involvement of Satisfied Acceptors Clubs/Satisfied Users Clubs" was conducted for the regional office of the Commission on Population (Popcom) by the Notre Dame University Socioeconomic Research Center in Cotabato City. Organized by fulltime outreach workers (FTOWs), the clubs are concerned primarily with the promotion of family planning. The first such club in the region was organized in 1979. Currently, the clubs are linked with other development agencies. The study's respondents were 200 continuing users of a family planning method and were members of the clubs in Illigan City and Cotabato City. Respondents were mostly women (191 or 95.5%), in their early 30s (31%), had 4 children on the average, had reached high school, and belonged to low income families. On the average, respondents had been practicing family planning for around 4 years and 7 months. They were aware of or knowledgeable about the condom, oral contraception (OC), IUDs, rhythm, tubal ligation, vasectomy, and withdrawal. Some of them were aware of injection, abstinence, foam, and the diaphragm. The majority of respondents indicated they had tried other family planning methods before changing to the method they were using. The primary reason for method change was the desire to use a more effective method. The respondents became club members either by being recruited or by applying for membership on their own. Motivating clients to practice contraception was the club's primary activity. 133 club members (66.5%) "claimed to have successfully motivated persons/couples to practice family planning." Among the problems encountered by the clubs, the indifference of people toward the family planning program appeared to bethe most serious from the respondents' perspective. Inactivity of some members was cited as the 2nd most serious problem. The study concluded that despite problems the clubs had been "fairly successful" in helping Popcom promote family planning.     

Natural family planning works in a Bukidnon town

Natural family planning is being actively promoted in a pineapple plantation of the Philippine Packing Corporation (PPC) located in northern Bukidnon province. Prospective acceptors attend 4 seminars which cover sex education and instruction on natural family planning methods. The goal of the program is family life and marriage enrichment rather than family size limitation. Thus, there is no target number of acceptors. Early acceptors used the basal body temperature method, but this was subsequently replaced by the sympto-thermal method. Participants report that the close observation of physical changes required by the natural family planning method has enabled them to be more aware of their bodies and more appreciative of themselves. Laypersons work closely with acceptor couples. There are 6 fulltime grassroots motivators and 23 camp motivators. Affiliated with the Family Life Commission of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, the program is also supported by the Phillips Memorial Hospital and is part of the PPC's barrio assistance program. The corporation actively supports self-help projects in the plantation areas.