Pro-abort group reports on contraceptive use

Including, Catholic contraceptive use.  The Guttmacher Institute, the research arm of the National Abortion Federation (with close ties to Planned Barrenhood), has released data on contraceptive use by various religious affiliation.  Now, this data is from Guttmacher, an agenda group that exists to spread the use of contraceptive and abortion, so the data may need to be taken with a large dose of salt (indeed, the very title of the report “Countering Conventional Wisdom: New Evidence on Religion and Contraceptive Use” seems to reveal an agenda to undermine traditional Christian morality):

Among the report’s findings– all of which refer to women of reproductive age (15-44):

25% describe themselves as Catholic, 25% as evangelical, and 22% as mainline Protestant

30% of Catholic women attend Mass weekly, while 50% of evangelicals and 24% of mainline Protestants worship weekly

46% of Catholic women say religion is very important to their daily lives, compared to 77% of evangelicals and 44% of mainline Protestants

98% of Catholic women– and 99% of all women– have at one time used artificial contraception.

“68% of Catholic women use highly effective methods: sterilization (32%, including 24% using female sterilization,) the pill or another hormonal method (31%) and the IUD (5%).

“Only 3% of married Catholic women who do not want to become pregnant rely on natural family planning; 72% use highly effective methods, including 40% who rely on sterilization.”

Now, if this data were broken down further, to look at contraceptive/sterilization rates by faithful Catholics, that is, those who actually particpate in the sacramental life of the Church in a meaningful way (regular Mass, Confession, prayer, etc), the percentages I am certain would change a bit, but not enough. 

Three quarters of sexually active Catholic women use contraception or sterilization on an ongoing, day to day basis.  3% use NFP.  I’m not sure what the other 25% are doing – nothing?  Irrespective, like abortion and doctrine on homosexuality and the Real Presence and the Sacramental Priesthood and so many other areas, Catholics are poorly formed.  Or, actually, they are more formed by the culture than they are by the Church.  Now, Guttmacher determined that anyone who went to services at least once a month was an observant member of their religion (ha!), so we don’t know just how ‘Catholic’ these self-described Catholics are, but, I have maintained for some time that formation from the pulpit on this key issue, this incredibly important issue, has been severely lacking.  For the contraceptive mentality becomes so pervasive that it leads one to fall away from the Church on a huge number of other issues, including all those I mentioned above.  By saying ‘yes’ to contraception, one is saying no to God on one of the most important areas of one’s life.  After that, so many other things can be easily dismissed as just the prattlings of disconnected, weird old men in Rome. 

I pray for more preaching, effective preaching, on Church Doctrine on contraception every day.  I pray that Catholics will realize that hormonal contraception is very dangerous on so many levels (and especially to one’s health).