Americans, Including Catholics, Say Birth Control Is Morally OK

[brooklynite]

Last edited Tue May 22, 2012, 03:24 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: Gallup

PRINCETON, NJ -- Eighty-two percent of U.S. Catholics say birth control is morally acceptable, nearing the 89% of all Americans and 90% of non-Catholics who agree. The level of acceptability on this issue is far greater than that of the other 17 issues Gallup asked about this year.

These data are from Gallup's May 3-6 Values and Beliefs survey, in which the issue of birth control was included for the first time. Birth control has become controversial in light of the pushback from some Catholic leaders and institutions on the portion of the 2010 Affordable Care Act that requires all institutions, including Catholic ones, to offer birth control as part of employee healthcare plans. The Obama administration has proposed a solution that offers such institutions a technical way around this requirement, but on Monday a number of Catholic dioceses and institutions, including the University of Notre Dame and Catholic University, filed a lawsuit against the government regarding the requirement.

The issue involved here is the broad separation of church and state, not necessarily the morality of using birth control. Still, the current data show that the substantial majority of Catholics interviewed say birth control is morally acceptable. At the same time, when given a choice, 56% of Catholics in a Gallup survey conducted Feb. 16-19 said they sympathized with the views of religious leaders on the contraception-healthcare coverage debate, while 39% sympathized with the Obama administration's position.

Read more: http://www.gallup.com/poll/154799/Americans-Including-Catholics-Say-Birth-Control-Morally.aspx

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If the Pope wants purity in the Catholic Church, better start preparing the excommunication paperwork...

[The Blue Flower]

1. Where's the morality in undermining the health of women?

Please write to the AMA and urge them to come out for the full range of medical care for women.

[goclark]

2. Great post

[SunSeeker]

3. Agreed. Access to birth control is fundamental to women's health. nt

[christx30]

12. The health of women is not important

Control of women is what is important.

[bulloney]

4. A group of us recently discussed the RCC's position on birth control.

One of the supporters of the church's position said that it is based on written documentation from centuries ago that comes up for review by the Vatican when conditions warrant it. It gets reviewed. The powers that be in the RCC say that the church's position stands because of this sealed documentation. And the issue is put to rest for another generation or so.

The flaw in this whole argument is that the pope, cardinals and other authorities in the RCC are vetted before they are approved to their appointed position. So, if you don't support the RCC's 10th Century interpretations of these documents and other positions of the church, you don't get appointed. It's a self-perpetuating, self-fulfilling procedure. And for centuries, members of the RCC are taught to believe that these positions are those of Christ himself, when there are no known writings from Christ; they're all interpretations of what he said and did by people who lived after Christ's death. Same with the Gospels attributed to Matthew, John, Mark and Luke.

The whole foundation of the church's teachings is extremely subjective because it is based on interpretations of a handful of a closed society of people over a period of centuries.

[atreides1]

5. The 10th century

Also known as the saeculum obscurum or "dark age" in the history of the papacy, running from 904-964.

[Iliyah]

6. Well you have the dumbass GOP women

who follow behind their male counterparts with a dutiful glee.

But I assume that abstinence or profrolaxes works wonders, which I know for a fact at least with the abstinence part it doesn't work so well especially with GOP women, hehehehe.

Anywho, birth control is a right and a choice.

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

7. Another Catholic for birth control.

And no one is forcing anyone to use contraception, we had free will the last time I checked.
But it should be made available in a healthcare plan if an employee wants it.
Not all employees are Catholic.

[Cleita]

8. The Catholic Church has never condemned birth control

as long as it's the rhythm method or abstinence. It's ARTIFICIAL birth control they object to. Unlike other religions that demand large families, the Catholic Church has never pushed having large families, although they don't condemn it either. One of the reasons priests and nuns are celibate is so they don't have families that would distract them from their duties in the religious life.

[Kingofalldems]

9. I can see very little difference between artificial birth control

and the rhythm method. The Church's argument doesn't make sense to me.

[Cleita]

10. A lot of what the Church preaches doesn't make sense.

But then maybe that's why it's a Church.

[HockeyMom]

11. Forget Congress

Local catholic parishes will have to start counting BABIES. "Where are all your CHILDREN????" Excommunicate the laity who aren't have as many children as God wants, and using BC.

Will they do that? Of course not because people will LEAVE and take their MONEY with them. I say this as an only child born in 1948 who didn't even know ANY catholic family growing up in a NYC small apartment who had more the 2 kids. God didn't give them more thatn 2 kids? Yeah, right.