Study: Most religious women use contraception

Good news for advocates of family planning. According to a new study by the Guttmacher Institute, despite condemnation by some religious officials, the vast majority of women who identify as "religious" use contraception. The study primarily focused on various sects of Christianity, and here's what it found. Seventy-four percent of Evangelicals use a "highly effective method" of contraception — that means sterilization, the pill or other hormonal methods, and IUDs — as do seventy-three percent of Mainline Protestants and sixty-eight percent of Catholics, though it would be interesting to see how these numbers compared for women who practice Judaism, Islam, or other Eastern religions.

Here's the study's lead author, Rachel K. Jones, on the data:

"In real-life America, contraceptive use and strong religious beliefs are highly compatible. Most sexually active women who do not want to become pregnant practice contraception. This is true for Evangelicals and Mainline Protestants, and it is true for Catholics, despite the Catholic hierarchy's strenuous opposition to contraception."

While the Pope has recently loosened his stance on condom use (it's now sort of okay to use them only because they're less evil than giving someone HIV), the Catholic church is still staunchly opposed to all of the methods listed above. Good to know pious women aren't letting a man with a funny hat take control of their bodies.