Catholicism, Contraception, & the Bottom Billion: A Grounded Theory Study of Family Planning & Global Poverty
Emily McCalley
Over the past 80 years, access to contraception has been touted as a pillar of women’s and families’ rights, as it increases autonomous control over child-bearing. Yet in low- and middle- income countries, the impact of widespread contraceptive access can be far more wide-reaching: numerous studies have shown that it often corresponds with reductions in maternal and infant mortality rates, increased education levels, and increased female employment. Because of this, the World Health Organization and other leading global aid distributors have named family planning resources as critical for worldwide poverty alleviation. Amidst this widespread fervor for contraceptive access, however, the Catholic Church has continued to insist that artificial contraception is antithetical to a Christian understanding of marriage, sexuality, and family, and is an ultimate danger to community life. Does this belief ignore the pain and suffering that women, children, and families in developing countries face without access to contraception?
This original qualitative study uses classical grounded theory techniques to investigate how Catholics and non-Catholics with experience in low-income countries navigate the social justice issues around contraception and poverty. It seeks to understand how respondents give account of faithful Christian family life in the presence of structural violence, and how respondents understand well-designed global aid interventions that truly contribute to human flourishing.
Many large-scale studies have attempted to evaluate the demand for, use of, and barriers to obtaining contraception in developing countries. However, most research on this subject begins with the assumption that artificial contraception is a human right. This study utilizes 16 semi- structured interviews analyzed through a grounded theory framework to investigate how Protestant and Catholic healthcare practitioners and Catholic clergy in the United States make sense of the Vatican’s teaching and their own experiences, and ultimately what they teach their parishes and patients. Clergy and health care professionals were chosen because of their centrality as “influencers of opinion,” those most likely to influence laypeople’s beliefs about the practicality and practice of faithful Christian life.
Analysis of emergent themes revealed three predominant lenses through which respondents frame these issues: narrative (how they tell understand the story of the Church’s teaching), authority (how they navigate situations in which they disagree with Church doctrine), and purpose (how they envision human flourishing and the primary values we use to pursue it). These ultimately resulted in a variety of ways respondents characterized the nature of artificial contraception and natural family planning (NFP). In this paper, I open by providing background histories and languages that allow us to enter this discussion around contraception, global health, NFP, and Catholic doctrine; and I use this background to frame the structure and design of this study. I then discuss this investigation’s results: the above mentioned interpretive lenses and characterizations of family planning methods and attitudes. Ultimately, the results of this classical grounded theory study yield a framework that can be foundational for further research and reflection about the ways that we understand the role of contraception in social justice and human flourishing.
This original qualitative study uses classical grounded theory techniques to investigate how Catholics and non-Catholics with experience in low-income countries navigate the social justice issues around contraception and poverty. It seeks to understand how respondents give account of faithful Christian family life in the presence of structural violence, and how respondents understand well-designed global aid interventions that truly contribute to human flourishing.
Many large-scale studies have attempted to evaluate the demand for, use of, and barriers to obtaining contraception in developing countries. However, most research on this subject begins with the assumption that artificial contraception is a human right. This study utilizes 16 semi- structured interviews analyzed through a grounded theory framework to investigate how Protestant and Catholic healthcare practitioners and Catholic clergy in the United States make sense of the Vatican’s teaching and their own experiences, and ultimately what they teach their parishes and patients. Clergy and health care professionals were chosen because of their centrality as “influencers of opinion,” those most likely to influence laypeople’s beliefs about the practicality and practice of faithful Christian life.
Analysis of emergent themes revealed three predominant lenses through which respondents frame these issues: narrative (how they tell understand the story of the Church’s teaching), authority (how they navigate situations in which they disagree with Church doctrine), and purpose (how they envision human flourishing and the primary values we use to pursue it). These ultimately resulted in a variety of ways respondents characterized the nature of artificial contraception and natural family planning (NFP). In this paper, I open by providing background histories and languages that allow us to enter this discussion around contraception, global health, NFP, and Catholic doctrine; and I use this background to frame the structure and design of this study. I then discuss this investigation’s results: the above mentioned interpretive lenses and characterizations of family planning methods and attitudes. Ultimately, the results of this classical grounded theory study yield a framework that can be foundational for further research and reflection about the ways that we understand the role of contraception in social justice and human flourishing.