The Problem With Pope Francis Telling Catholics To Avoid Breeding ‘Like Rabbits’

[trotsky]

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2015/01/20/3613085/pope-francis-contraception-rabbits/

Pope Francis made international headlines on Monday by explicitly endorsing efforts to control family size, saying that Catholics don’t need to breed “like rabbits.” But his comments, which come in the midst of evolving attitudes toward contraception within the Catholic Church, ultimately fail to move the dial forward for women in developing nations pushing for more access to reproductive health care.

...

But ("Natural Family Planning" - timing of menstrual cycles) also comes with some downsides. There’s a lot of room for potential error, and many couples struggle to use NFP perfectly. Some women’s biological markers are more difficult to track and this method won’t work as well for them, no matter how careful they are. Plus, for women in abusive relationships, or simply in marriages where the power balance is tipped in favor of the man, it’s not necessarily realistic to trust their partner to always abstain from sex during “off limits” days.

Those factors contribute to the fact that, according to federal researchers, NFP has about a 24 percent failure rate — which means that about one in four women who attempt to use it as their primary birth control method end up getting pregnant. For that reason, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists does not recommend NFP for women exactly like the one admonished by Pope Francis: Women who could be placed in medical danger by a pregnancy.

Well what do a bunch of doctors and scientists know, anyway? The pope has "other ways of knowing" that are just as valid.

[Scuba]

1. What do you call people who practice the "rhythm method"?

Parents.

[trotsky]

2. LOL

Nice.

[PeaceNikki]

3. In the US, a woman carrying a baby to term is 14 times more likely to die...

than a woman who chooses to have a legal abortion.

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/womens-health/articles/2012/01/23/abortion-safer-for-women-than-childbirth-study-claims

[trotsky]

5. And despite our technology,

that number hasn't budged much over the last several decades! By ruling out reproductive choice, one is sentencing women to death in a very real way. Thanks for bringing up that fact - it's often missed.

[Curmudgeoness]

4. I will repeat myself, but

criticizing the woman who had the children instead of the husband is abusive. In many cultures, the woman has absolutely no say in whether she will be having sex or when that will happen. It really stuck in my craw that he ridiculed that woman....although I don't know why I am surprised. The Pope is just as sexist as the rest of the Catholic Church hierarchy.

[trotsky]

6. It needs repeating.

Because some still don't get it - and worse, they insist on making that choice for others.

[LiberalAndProud]

7. He is.

He's read the Book.

[wavesofeuphoria]

8. Exactly!!

But some "liberal" catholic women tell me only literal readers of the bible see it as sexist. I mean after all most "liberal" catholic women use birth control and one of the churches has female bishops!!!

The words in the bible firmly place women as second-class citizens, as property, or worse - not free humans. And that notion is clear in the language used as you've pointed out .... listen to all the language of the religious around women's rights and you'll hear a definite lack of accountability attributed to men in any of these actions.

Decree in the bible that women are second-class, then blame them when they try to act as though they are "first-class". You know the ol' "women should know their place" mentality ... same shit.

[Act_of_Reparation]

10. Or the more pernicious "men and women are equal... just different" argument.

It's patently dishonest, and oft repeated the cavernous halls of the Castel Sant'Angelo.

[mr blur]

9. No, he means the Catholics shouldn't have sex in a field in daylight,

a massive problem in our area. Used condoms everywhere.

[p style= text-align:center;color:#005ebc;](note for jury: this is a joke, posted in a safe haven, between like-minded people, all adults. Please consider that anyone alerting on this was likely looking for something to be 'offended' by).