{"id":10909,"date":"2012-02-14T12:30:37","date_gmt":"2012-02-14T18:30:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?p=10909"},"modified":"2016-09-30T17:34:30","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T21:34:30","slug":"have-98-of-catholic-women-really-used-contraceptives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/02\/have-98-of-catholic-women-really-used-contraceptives\/","title":{"rendered":"Have 98% of Catholic women really used contraceptives?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Um, no.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Surprised?<\/p>\n

The WaPo explains:\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Lydia McGrew questions<\/a> whether 98 percent of Catholic women have actually used contraceptives, a figure that became ubiquitous<\/a> in last week\u2019s birth control debate<\/a>. She parses the research behind the stat, which comes from a 2011 Guttmacher Institute study<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The survey was limited to women between 15-44. Ah, well, that explains how we weren\u2019t including the elderly, but it also means that the silly \u201cpercent of all Catholic women\u201d thing should be chucked out right from the beginning. More strikingly\u2026it excluded any women who were a) not sexually active, where that is defined as having had sexual intercourse in the past three months (there go all the nuns), b) postpartum, c) pregnant, or d) trying to get pregnant! In other words, the study was specifically designed to include only women for whom a pregnancy would be unintended and who are \u201cat risk\u201d of becoming pregnant\u2026a statistic based on a study that explicitly excluded those who have no use for contraception is obviously irrelevant to a question about the percentage of Catholic women who have a use for contraception.<\/em><\/p>\n

I called up Rachel Jones, the lead author of this study, to have her walk me through the research. She agrees that her study results do not speak to all Catholic women. Rather, they speak to a specific demographic: women between 15- and 44-years-old, who have been sexually active and who are not attempting to become pregnant.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we had included women up to age 89, we would have probably found a lower proportion had ever used artificial contraception,\u201d said Jones. \u201cBut the policies being implemented right now are ones that don\u2019t effect them. Right here and now, we\u2019ve got 98 percent who have ever used a contraceptive method, who are not attempting to get pregnant. Those are who will be impacted by this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones\u2019s study does not find that 98 percent of all Catholic women have used contraceptives. What it does, however, bear out is the claim that many have made with this statistic: that sexually-active, Catholic women do tend to use contraceptives at the same rate as their non-Catholic counterparts. On that front, Jones looked at women who had been sexually active within the past three months. You can see the results of that question in the chart above, where contraceptive use of Catholics look virtually identical to those of all women.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Check the link <\/a><\/strong>for more.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Um, no.\u00a0 Surprised? The WaPo explains:\u00a0 Lydia McGrew questions whether 98 percent of Catholic women have actually used contraceptives, a figure that became ubiquitous in last week\u2019s birth control debate. She parses the research behind the stat, which comes from a 2011 Guttmacher Institute study: The survey was limited to women between 15-44. Ah, well, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pro-life","category-ripped-from-the-headlines"],"yoast_head":"\nHave 98% of Catholic women really used contraceptives?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Um, no.\u00a0 Surprised? The WaPo explains:\u00a0 Lydia McGrew questions whether 98 percent of Catholic women have actually used contraceptives, a figure that\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/02\/have-98-of-catholic-women-really-used-contraceptives\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Have 98% of Catholic women really used contraceptives?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Um, no.\u00a0 Surprised? The WaPo explains:\u00a0 Lydia McGrew questions whether 98 percent of Catholic women have actually used contraceptives, a figure that\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/02\/have-98-of-catholic-women-really-used-contraceptives\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-02-14T18:30:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-09-30T21:34:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Deacon Greg Kandra\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Deacon Greg Kandra\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/02\/have-98-of-catholic-women-really-used-contraceptives\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/02\/have-98-of-catholic-women-really-used-contraceptives\/\",\"name\":\"Have 98% of Catholic women really used contraceptives?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-02-14T18:30:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-09-30T21:34:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970\"},\"description\":\"Um, no.\u00a0 Surprised? The WaPo explains:\u00a0 Lydia McGrew questions whether 98 percent of Catholic women have actually used contraceptives, a figure that\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/02\/have-98-of-catholic-women-really-used-contraceptives\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/02\/have-98-of-catholic-women-really-used-contraceptives\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/02\/have-98-of-catholic-women-really-used-contraceptives\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Have 98% of Catholic women really used contraceptives?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/\",\"name\":\"The Deacon's Bench\",\"description\":\"Where a Roman Catholic deacon ponders the world\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970\",\"name\":\"Deacon Greg Kandra\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Deacon Greg Kandra\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/author\/deacon-greg-kandra\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Have 98% of Catholic women really used contraceptives?","description":"Um, no.\u00a0 Surprised? The WaPo explains:\u00a0 Lydia McGrew questions whether 98 percent of Catholic women have actually used contraceptives, a figure that","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/02\/have-98-of-catholic-women-really-used-contraceptives\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Have 98% of Catholic women really used contraceptives?","og_description":"Um, no.\u00a0 Surprised? The WaPo explains:\u00a0 Lydia McGrew questions whether 98 percent of Catholic women have actually used contraceptives, a figure that","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/02\/have-98-of-catholic-women-really-used-contraceptives\/","og_site_name":"The Deacon's Bench","article_published_time":"2012-02-14T18:30:37+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-09-30T21:34:30+00:00","author":"Deacon Greg Kandra","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Deacon Greg Kandra","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/02\/have-98-of-catholic-women-really-used-contraceptives\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/02\/have-98-of-catholic-women-really-used-contraceptives\/","name":"Have 98% of Catholic women really used contraceptives?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-02-14T18:30:37+00:00","dateModified":"2016-09-30T21:34:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970"},"description":"Um, no.\u00a0 Surprised? The WaPo explains:\u00a0 Lydia McGrew questions whether 98 percent of Catholic women have actually used contraceptives, a figure that","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/02\/have-98-of-catholic-women-really-used-contraceptives\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/02\/have-98-of-catholic-women-really-used-contraceptives\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/02\/have-98-of-catholic-women-really-used-contraceptives\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Have 98% of Catholic women really used contraceptives?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/","name":"The Deacon's Bench","description":"Where a Roman Catholic deacon ponders the world","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970","name":"Deacon Greg Kandra","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Deacon Greg Kandra"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/author\/deacon-greg-kandra\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/132"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10909\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}