Contraceptive Use Common - Even Among Religious Women

There is a perception among many in this country that the use of contraceptives is discouraged by religious leaders -- especially Catholic leaders and many of those in fundamentalist congregations. If that is true, them women are not listening. A new study shows that religious women use effective forms of contraception at basically the same rate as all women.

The study by the Guttmacher Institute (in interviews of over 7,000 women from 2006 through 2008) found that of all  American women who have have sex, about 99% of them have used some form of birth control other than "natural family planning". And among women who are currently sexually active, about 69% of them use an effective method of birth control (IUD, the pill, sterilization, etc.).

And the percentages hold up for christian women -- even those who regularly attend services. The study showed that this was true of 73% of mainline protestants, 74% of evangelicals, and 68% of catholics. If the preachers (and priests) are still teaching that sex is only for procreation, then religious women are not listening. It seems that women, whether they have a career or not, simply don't want more children than they can afford or care for.

The only real surprise in the study (at least for me) was that evangelical women employ sterilization (male or female) far more than women of other faith traditions -- to the tune of about 40%.

Right-wing fundamentalist men may still want women to be second-class citizens and subservient to males, but it seems that modern women (even religious women) are getting past that. They have lives to live -- lives that are every bit as important as those of males. It looks like at least part of the feminist message is getting through, whether people want to admit it or not.