Guttmacher Going After Catholics and Protestants
Posted on | April 26, 2011 by Amanda Pawloski |
The Guttmacher Institute has recently published a new report claiming to provide a new perspective on religion (i.e. Christianity) and contraceptive use in the United States.
The report is titled Countering Conventional Wisdom: New Evidence on Religion and Contraceptive Use and can be summed up in its concluding remarks:
This research suggests that the perception that strongly held religious beliefs and contraceptive use are antithetical is wrong—in fact, the two may be highly com- patible. Contraceptive use by Catholics and Evangelicals, including those who frequently attend religious services, is the widespread norm, not the exception. Add to this Mainline Protestant denominations’ historic support for contraception, and the implications for policymakers are clear: Policies that make contraceptives more affordable and easier to use are not just sound public health policy— they also reflect the needs and desires of the vast major- ity of American women and their partners, regardless of their religious affiliation.
This report ignores a couple of glaring oversights. First, the statistics show that the preferred methods of contraception amongst their sample of women (7,356 aged 15-44 to be exact) is overwhelmingly either sterilization or hormonal contraceptives. However, hormonal contraceptive use is quite commonly prescribed for a variety of medical conditions, as may also be the case with permanent sterilization. The numbers reflect the fact that women were on the pill at the last time they had intercourse, and that they were not immediately seeking to become pregnant. It does not reflect the actual conditions of their choices, something to be considered.
Secondly, I doubt that the Guttmacher Institute would recommend that since most people have told a lie in their lifetime, we should protect people who are accused of fraud and perjury. After all, if we took a sample of the general population, we would find that falsehood is a normal occurrence in society. The Church upholds the virtuous life as a model knowing full well that human failure is also a fact of life. Greatness, in any aspect of life, but most especially in virtue, is not achieved by lowering one’s standards.
