Poll on Catholic Use and Beliefs Regarding Contraception

  • Thread starter Thread starter Semper_Zelare
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Semper_Zelare said:
Let’s debunk the 98% of Catholic women use contraception right here with a poll. I would say Catholic Answers has to be at least slightly indicative of the Catholic population at large.

What I think might be a large fallacy here is that perhaps a lot of women used contraception during the 1960’s and 1970’s, but don’t any longer. Just like a lot of people might’ve smoked a cigarette once in their life, but aren’t for smoking, and actually to this day think smoking is unhealthy. Yet, despite their current beliefs and practices, they are actually counted as “pro-smoking” because they “have used cigarettes”.

Anyways, on another thread they said this 98% figure the media uses (even Fox news) is actually even more misleading, in that it only counts cases of unintended pregnacies. In other words… A LOT of Catholic women probably don’t use contraception if they want to become pregnant… but all of them aren’t counted.

So… I think an actual poll of CAF members is necessary on this. One which asks whether we have used it (as men or women), and whether we support it or reject it.

98% of Catholics don’t believe in contraception and support it.

**2 assumptions I’m making in the poll=
I’m assuming if Catholic women, Catholic men, or non-Catholics support contraception, that they also have used it. If they haven’t, I’m assuming they will in the future.

I had to lump the genders for Non-Catholics because of a lack of polling options. **
Click to expand...
“Let’s debunk the 98% of Catholic women use contraception right here with a poll. I would say Catholic Answers has to be at least slightly indicative of the Catholic population at large.”* These two statements are mutually exclusive. Catholic Answers Forum represents, after suspensions and bannings, nearly exclusively conservative Catholics, and it certainly does not represent the views of the entire Catholic population in United States.

This from Guttmacher on religious women and contraceptive use:

"Some 68% of Catholic women use a highly effective method, compared with 73% of Mainline Protestants and 74% of Evangelicals.

"Only 2% of Catholic women rely on natural family planning; this is true even among Catholic women who attend church once a month or more . . .

“The analysis, based on a nationally representative U.S. government survey, has important implications for health policy, which is still at times shaped by the mistaken belief that contraceptive use runs counter to strongly held religious beliefs. The new report counters this myth and shows that opposition to contraception by the Catholic hierarchy and other socially conservative organizations is not reflected in the actual behaviors and health care needs of Catholic and Evangelical women.”

guttmacher.org/media/nr/2011/04/13/index.html
 
silenced said:
“Let’s debunk the 98% of Catholic women use contraception right here with a poll. I would say Catholic Answers has to be at least slightly indicative of the Catholic population at large.”* These two statements are mutually exclusive. Catholic Answers Forum represents, after suspensions and bannings, nearly exclusively conservative Catholics, and it certainly does not represent the views of the entire Catholic population in United States.

This from Guttmacher on religious women and contraceptive use:

"Some 68% of Catholic women use a highly effective method, compared with 73% of Mainline Protestants and 74% of Evangelicals.

"Only 2% of Catholic women rely on natural family planning; this is true even among Catholic women who attend church once a month or more . . .

“The analysis, based on a nationally representative U.S. government survey, has important implications for health policy, which is still at times shaped by the mistaken belief that contraceptive use runs counter to strongly held religious beliefs. The new report counters this myth and shows that opposition to contraception by the Catholic hierarchy and other socially conservative organizations is not reflected in the actual behaviors and health care needs of Catholic and Evangelical women.”

guttmacher.org/media/nr/2011/04/13/index.html
Click to expand...
Well, getting your info from Planned Parenthood directly is one way to be wrong. Not the only way, but heck if you’re going to go for the whole enchilada and be dead flat roadkill wrong, you might as well take the plunge and link the real garbage.
 
iloveangels said:
Well, getting your info from Planned Parenthood directly is one way to be wrong. Not the only way, but heck if you’re going to go for the whole enchilada and be dead flat roadkill wrong, you might as well take the plunge and link the real garbage.
Click to expand...
Guttmacher is not Planned Parenthood: guttmacher.org/about/faq.html

Studies, statistics, information - what is there to fear? Do you believe your religion requires you to stay uninformed?
 
silenced said:
Guttmacher is not Planned Parenthood: guttmacher.org/about/faq.html
Click to expand...
No, it isn’t. However, Guttmacher and Planned Parenthood enjoyed a special relationship that lasted many years. It would be politically naive to say that just because Planned Parenthood stopped publicly funding Guttmacher in 2007 that the two of them are no longer related or that they no longer share the same interest…namely, that of promoting widespread use of contraceptives.
silenced said:
Studies, statistics, information - what is there to fear? Do you believe your religion requires you to stay uninformed?
Click to expand...
Of course it doesn’t. What it does require ius to do is defend it, such as in cases where statistics are manipulated in the media in an attempt to attack a teaching of the Church. As has been pointed out in many places on CAF, even if 98% of people did something wrong at some point, that still doesn’t make it right and it doesn’t invalidate the Church’s teaching. Morality is not determined by democracy.
 
What percentage of the total of American Roman Catholics do you suppose has never used contraception? This little poll that runs this thread may be of some interest to some of you, but what does it tell you about the health of the Catholic Church? Not much.

I always find it interesting when I come across a group of people who feel it is their duty to tell others how they should behave, what they must choose, and what is “really important”. Isn’t making choices for yourselves and your own immediate families enough?
 
This is only true to a point. At the present time, the current human population of the world are trying to live together as peacefully as possible. But we are all part of the human family. And everyone is free to do whatever they want at any time. However, we all know theists and non-theists break the law or cause harm to others that may be kept hidden by threats or because no one caught them.

The family is the basic building block of all societies. And in any country you can name, young men and young women need to have a proper understanding of being a husband and wife, of fatherhood and motherhood. Society needs not only laws but the personal, rational commitment to social order. Do people want to become firemen because they dream of dying in a burning building? Or do soldiers enlist because they dream about dying in a foreign country? The common welfare is meant for individuals, families and entire countries.

God will not force you to love Him or keep His commandments and neither will the Church. If you miss Mass on Sunday, a priest will not be pounding on your door on Monday asking where you were.

Today’s problems have more to do with radical individualism that often looks out for a small number of people without considering the society as a whole or understanding other, different people in general. This includes indifference, which is part of relativism. There is no set list of what is right or wrong, just whatever works for you. This leads to anarchy and the breakdown of societies.

Peace,
Ed
 
I believe contraception is wrong. The fact is, sex isn’t just for enjoyment. If you don’t want kids, don’t have sex = simple]. If you have problems trying to stop, find some help so you can. Part of our jobs as Catholics is to exercise self-control. Obviously not everyone is in the same circumstances so I’m not judging those who do have troubles with it, but still.
 
I’m afraid the “debunking” has been debunked.

the 98% ever use of contraceptives figure comes from a CDC study (only cited by the Guttmacher Institute). The CDC study includes all 16-44 y.o. women who have ever had sexual intercourse. See here, page 5

cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_23/sr23_029.pdf

Of course one could deduct the 4.6% of women who report usage of NFP in the study, but that probably understates the ever used number as many women who currently use NFP have used other methods at one time or another.
 
… Saint Thomas Aquinas, of all people, … says if a Catholic comes to believe the Church is in error in some essential, officially defined doctrine, it is a mortal sin against conscience, a sin of hypocrisy, for him to remain in the Church and call himself a Catholic, but only a venial sin against knowledge for him to leave the Church in honest but partly culpable error. (Source)
Click to expand...
 
BillP said:
I’m afraid the “debunking” has been debunked.

the 98% ever use of contraceptives figure comes from a CDC study (only cited by the Guttmacher Institute). The CDC study includes all 16-44 y.o. women who have ever had sexual intercourse. See here, page 5

cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_23/sr23_029.pdf

Of course one could deduct the 4.6% of women who report usage of NFP in the study, but that probably understates the ever used number as many women who currently use NFP have used other methods at one time or another.
Click to expand...
Unless I missed something somewhere, the CDC study didn’t appear to differentiate based on religious preference; the 98% figure was for women in general. That said, other studies (such as the one listed below) have shown that women self-identifying as Catholic generally differ from women in general by one percentage point when it comes to contraceptive use.
BillP said:
Here is a study specifically on American Catholic women (again aged 15 to 44) which shows that about 49% of Catholic women use some form of ABC (or sterilization) in any given month.

lifeissues.net/writers/feh/feh_28religion_contraception.html
Click to expand...
Worth noting are the much lower figures for women self-reporting as practicing orthodox Roman Catholicism.

At any rate, the figures are again meaningless. Just because many Catholics disagree with the Church’s teachings doesn’t make those teachings wrong. Our faith is not a democracy.
 
40.png
Safia:
Re: Safia

I love Peter Kreeft, thanks for posting that. I had a feeling that what I said could not be wrong, though I don’t know that Allison was wrong either. I think we were making different points.
 
The results of this local poll so far doesn’t surprise me.

Women on this site are more full pride and girl-power than I had hoped when I joined.

At least I’m comforted to know the men stand with me.
 
FaithBuild18 said:
The results of this local poll so far doesn’t surprise me.

Women on this site are more full pride and girl-power than I had hoped when I joined.

At least I’m comforted to know the men stand with me.
Click to expand...
Wow, that’s a tad insulting, don’t you think? 75% of the women who responded said they believe contraception is wrong. I think you owe them an apology.
 
silenced said:
Guttmacher is not Planned Parenthood: guttmacher.org/about/faq.html

Studies, statistics, information - what is there to fear? Do you believe your religion requires you to stay uninformed?
Click to expand...
You need to be informed. Here is the page of the Guttmacher Institute.
guttmacher.org/about/history.html

They themselves say that Guttmacher was the president of Planned Parenthood during its formative stages and that he “nurtured its development.” The Guttmacher Institute is an arm of Planned Parenthood and originally was housed in the same building. It was eventually separated on paper so that it could serve as a “think tank” and lobbying organization for Planned Parenthood, which it is to this day.

More: lifesitenews.com/news/archive/ldn/1971/jan/7101109

BTW, note what the above article says about the statistics used by Planned Parenthood and the Guttmacher Institute.
 
I honestly don’t understand how natural family planning is any different from birth control methods. This is something I have looked into for years and I really don’t see a difference at all. Using a barrier method of birth control like a condom or diaphragm is just as wrong as the hormonal version of birth control correct. So using a chart as your barrier between your eggs and fertilization is exactly the same thing.
 
JennaMarie77 said:
I honestly don’t understand how natural family planning is any different from birth control methods. This is something I have looked into for years and I really don’t see a difference at all. Using a barrier method of birth control like a condom or diaphragm is just as wrong as the hormonal version of birth control correct. So using a chart as your barrier between your eggs and fertilization is exactly the same thing.
Click to expand...
Using NFP puts life in God’s hands. Contraception takes it out of God’s hands and puts it in yours.

Using NFP is in effect, saying “Well, Father, I leave it up to you to decide whether our marital love will bless us with a child.”

Whe you use a prophylactic, you are hoping a child will not result. That’s pretty contemptable.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top