Mary Rice Hasson

Mary Rice Hasson is a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where she writes on issues at the intersection of Catholicism, gender, sexuality, and family life.

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Catholic Women and Fertility

By | June 30, 2014

It’s a record low.

According to CDC figures, the total U.S. fertility rate dropped to “1,869.5 births per 1,000 women” in 2013—“the lowest rate since 1986” and well below the replacement level of 2,100 births per 1,000 women. The historic slide reflects the drop in birth rates among younger women in particular, a drop not offset by slight upticks in births to older women (30s and 40s).

So what’s the story behind the story, for Catholics?

In a word: conscience. (More precisely, ill-formed conscience.)

By the 1970s, fertility differences between Catholics and Protestants largely collapsed, reflecting Catholics’ dissent from Humane Vitae and their widespread embrace of contraception. Today, fertility rates correspond more closely with personal religiosity than with institutional norms or mere religious identity: “Women for whom religion is most important have the highest fertility … with women for whom religion is not important having the lowest birth rates.”

My own research found that churchgoing Catholic women, versus secular women, express openness to more children: 42 percent say that their ideal number of children is three or more. But expressing love for children is not the same as using Catholic criteria to make fertility-related decisions.

Most Catholic women fail to understand the relationship between conscience, Church teaching, and personal moral decision-making about sex and reproduction: 85 percent of churchgoing Catholic women believe that they can be “good Catholics” while dissenting from Church teachings on fertility. “Allyson,” an active parishioner and married Midwest mother of two, is typical. “Allyson” believes that ‘following your conscience’ means to “go with your heart … If you feel that it’s right, go for it.” If she’s still unsure, she’ll “ask [her] friends.” As for Church teaching, “I’ll listen but I don’t like to be told.

It’s no secret why. After Humanae Vitae, the “gun-shy” Church fell silent, muddied the meaning of conscience, and “forfeited the chance to be a coherent moral voice” about sex and fertility. Catholic women now make fertility decisions by consulting friends or gynecologists rather than by ‘consulting’ God or Church teaching (72 percent of churchgoing women report that the Sunday homily is their primary source of faith formation, but only 15 percent of them accept the Church’s teachings on fertility; either priests aren’t preaching on these topics or their preaching is spectacularly unpersuasive).

Catholic women, shaped by the toxic culture, see children and fertility through the lens of ‘loss’—lost ‘freedom,’ independence, sex, and money. Instead of valuing children for their own sakes—welcoming them as the fruit of love—women evaluate children (and fertility itself) by weighing potential costs and benefits to the parent. Thus Catholic women say that the “most important factors” in deciding to have a child are finances (67 percent), relationship stability (56 percent), and marital status (41 percent). Just 20 percent consider “God’s will” in fertility-related decisions.

What’s the game-changer? In a word: conversion. Catholics must live as if children are a gift to be cherished—not a “right” to be demanded of God when we finally decide we’re ‘ready.’

Editor’s note: This article is part of a series on the “fertility crisis” suggested by recently released data, designed to explore the topic in 1000 words or less. The entire series may be found here.

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  • jojo

    The period when people had as many children as possible coincided with a time when the community helped raise children together. That train left town a very long time ago for good and bad reasons in a potluck of unrealized emotions. Feminism for men and gay rights and a liberal man for women

  • Ralph Coelho

    Why put the blame on women? What
    about Catholic ma en and their conscience formation not only on family size but
    on following Ephesians V and acting like Christ as head of the his Church.

    Fertility is for a couple not one

  • Michael D’Emic

    To be fair, from a purely prudential standpoint, it seems to me that marital status (i.e., actually having a husband), finances (who is able to support one’s children) and stability (and who will be faithful to his vocation as a husband and father) are pretty important considerations (like, sine qua non). Not to exercise the virtue of prudence does not sound like doing God’s will. Perhaps part of the fertility crisis is a dearth of such men in the current generation.

  • Pam H

    A lot of women are told it is “dangerous” to have another child too soon after giving birth (I know I was), and are afraid. My Catholic OBGyn told me that Depo-Provera is not an abortifacient. Fortunately, I didn’t listen to him (even though what he said did scare me), but a lot of women do. Hardly any Catholics seem to trust the Church to be a true Mother who wants what’s best for them, even against their own judgment of what’s best for them.

  • John O’Donnell

    Having as many children as possible - what God wants?- was also necessary because of high child mortality rates.
    As health care advanced it was no longer necessary to have many children so that a few would make it to adulthood.