Young Catholic Women Try To Give Church’s Position On Birth Control New Sheen

Washington Post ^ | April 15, 2012 | Michelle Boorstein

[Steelfish]

Young Catholic Women Try To Give Church’s Position On Birth Control New Sheen

Ashley McGuire is part of a movement of younger, religiously conservative Catholic women who are trying to rebrand what may be Catholicism’s most-ignored teaching: its ban on birth control methods such as the Pill.

Michelle Boorstein April 15

Ashley McGuire fell in love with the Catholic Church five years ago, after reading its teaching against artificial birth control.

McGuire, then a skeptical Protestant college student, initially saw the ban as a mandatory march to “domestic slavery.” But the more she read, the more she was blown away by the idea that sex — and women’s bodies — must be about more than physical pleasure.

Yet the images the church uses to promote its own method of birth control freaked her out. Pamphlets for what the church calls natural family planning feature photos of babies galore. A church-sponsored class on the method uses a book with a woman on the cover, smiling as she balances a grocery bag on one hip, a baby on the other.

“My guess is 99 out of 100 21st-century women trying to navigate the decision about contraception would see that cover and run for the hills,” McGuire wrote in a post on her blog, Altcatholicah, which is aimed at Catholic women.

McGuire, 26, of Alexandria, is part of a movement of younger, religiously conservative Catholic women who are trying to rebrand what may be Catholicism’s most-ignored teaching: its ban on birth control methods such as the Pill. Arguing that church theology has been poorly explained and encouraged, they want to shift the image of a traditional Catholic woman from one at home with eight kids to one with a great, communicative sex life, a chemical-free body and babies only when the parents believe...

[philly-d-kidder]

I never understood Women who have Organic Food Shampoos etc then Pop a Pill That has 157 Chemical reactions in their Bodies. WHO Called it a Group one Carcinogen Causing agent like Cigarettes and asbestos

[Lorianne]

Great article, thanks for posting.

[kitkat]

BUMP

[Sergio]

bkmk

[Houghton M.]

Although I’m glad to see WaPo doing this story, they had to include the obligatory hack “expert”—quoting unnamed experts who “think the method is unreliable.” Since the sympto-thermal method is very reliable, these experts are just plain wrong, but never mind, they have to be inserted here lest the article be too favorable to Catholics.

And the comments are chilling. Despite repeated correction, commenter after commenter simply persists in the false and ignorant claim that NFP is the “rythmn method” and is unreliable. These are the future prison camp guards in the “sensitivity training centers” we will be sent to.

[Salvation]

Young Catholic Women Try To Give Church’s Position On Birth Control New Sheen
Essays for Lent: Natural Family Planning
Divorce Rate Comparisons Between Couples Using NFP & Artificial Birth Control

'Amazing Grace for Those Who Suffer'
Natural and Unnatural (father of 5 shocks mother of 1)
NFP — It Ain’t Your Momma’s Rhythm
Responsible Parenthood in a Birth Control Culture, Part Two [Open]
Responsible Parenthood in a Birth Control Culture, Part One [Open]
Contraception v. Natural Family Planning — Part 5 of 6 [Open]
Journey to the Truth (Natural Family Planning) [Open]
Enslaving Women One Pill at a Time (Birth Control Pills and Natural Family Planning)
New Study Shows Natural Family Planning Technique More “Effective” Than Contraception
Fargo) Diocese set to require pre-marriage course in natural family planning

Making Babies: A Very Different Look at Natural Family Planning
Clerical Contraception (Important Read! By Fr. Thomas J. Euteneuer)
(Fargo) Diocese set to require pre-marriage course in natural family planning
Natural Family Planning Awareness Week, July 25, 2004
IS NATURAL FAMILY PLANNING A 'HERESY'? (Trads, please take note)
Thanks Doc: More (and Younger) Doctors Support Natural Family Planning
Couple say Natural Family Planning strengthens marriage
Reflections: Natural family planning vs sexism
British Medical Journal: Natural Family Planning= Effective Birth Control Supported by Catholic Chrch
Natural Family Planning

[Tax-chick]

“My guess is 99 out of 100 21st-century women trying to navigate the decision about contraception would see that cover [of a woman with a baby] and run for the hills,” McGuire wrote ...

Because they've been brainwashed to believe that babies are terrifying and sterility is the universal norm. Poor ladies ... what do they think is going to make them happy, more shoes?

[Pyro7480]

Catholic ping!

[ArrogantBustard]

they've been brainwashed to believe that babies are terrifying

Be afraid.

Be very afraid.

MUWHAHAHAHAHAHAhahahahaha!!!!!!!

[MarkBsnr]

Darwin works.

If you don’t have offspring, you don’t get a say in the next generation, or at least the generation after that.

Look at the UK (Anglo Saxons dying off and being replaced by Muslims), or Japan (simply dying off).

[Bigg Red]

Because they’ve been brainwashed to believe that babies are terrifying and sterility is the universal norm. Poor ladies ... what do they think is going to make them happy, more shoes?

&&&
Well said, as usual.

The best days of my life were spent balancing one on the hip while carrying another in the womb.

[Mrs. Don-o]

I agree, Tex-chick, that women get stuffed good and early with anti-baby attitudes. Even the preponderance of women-sexual-health messages are not so much woman-positive as baby-negative.

Like: Your fer-TIL-ity! ICK!! Stop it before it's too late!!

BUT --- there are legit reasons why a couple could look at their own situation and make a sound choice that they don't want a new baby in the next year, or in the next couple of years, or ever. That can be a good judgment, and NFP advocates (may their tribe increase!) should be able to speak to their condition, too.

Peas be wit' you..

[Mrs. Don-o]

I mean TAX-chick. You ain’t no Texan.

[Tax-chick]

OMG, it’s Pat!

[Tax-chick]

there are legit reasons why a couple could look at their own situation and make a sound choice that they don't want a new baby in the next year, or in the next couple of years, or ever

True, but not 99 out of 100.

And I used to be a Texan.

[Tax-chick]

Look at the UK (Anglo Saxons dying off and being replaced by Muslims), or Japan (simply dying off).

Yes those are very interesting situations.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Maybe you're right about 99 out of a hundred reasons for baby-avoidance being just selfishness or lightweight/lifestyle reasons, as contrasted to sound, necessary decisions. I'd guesstimate it at around 70-80:100. But there's no way to quantify.

I remember an Evangelical prolife activist I used to know with the Christian Action Council. She and her husband had 3 little children, and she'd had to spend more than half of the 3rd pregnancy either in bed or in the hospital because of vomiting/dehydration, PIH, and threatened miscarriage. I don't know that it was life-threatening, but another pregnancy like that would really undercut her ability to take care of her three little boys.

She asked if I thought there was an alternative to contraception or sterilization in her case. I recommended she get really good counseling on post-ovulation STM (sent her straight to Sheila Kippley), plus a good work-up on what was causing all the complications. She later found that the detailed charting was extremely helpful in getting a diagnosis that actually led to eliminating the prenancy complications. Something contraception would NEVER have done.

Anyhow her situation impressed me because, first, as an Evangelical she actually had conscientious doubts about contraception, and second, because the STM actually ended up making a big improvement in her overall health.