Nearly half of all pregnancies, totalling 121 million each year throughout the world, are unintended. For the women and girls affected, the most life-altering reproductive choice—whether or not to become pregnant—is no choice at all, explains the State of World Population 2022 report, released today by UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency. Read more
Sexual abuse is rooted in abuse of power, which is very often the first step. While abuse of power can take many forms, many abusers rely on the excessive and, let’s say it, clericalist use of secrecy. For decades many Church bodies, including the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, have repeatedly called for Read more
Last month, as the Food and Drug Administration paused use of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine to evaluate the risk of blood clots in women under 50, many scientists noted that clots associated with birth control pills were much more common. The comparison was intended to reassure women of the vaccine’s safety. Instead, it has Read more
Europe’s baby deficit is becoming impossible to ignore. In Rome on Friday, Italy’s prime minister, Mario Draghi, and Pope Francis were the star attendees at a special conference to discuss the country’s declining birthrate. According to the latest figures, 2020 saw the lowest number of births recorded since the Italian unification in 1861. Spain is Read more
The select committee tasked with examining New Zealand’s abortion laws has recommended enshrining the right of medical practitioners to refuse emergency contraception in cases of sexual violence. This has angered campaigners who say it obstructs access to effective contraception, and sidelines the rights of sexual assault survivors. The proposed changes would require medical practitioners to Read more
The rate of teenage pregnancy in New Zealand has halved in the past decade, the Ministry of Health has revealed. The Report on Maternity found that in 2017 the teenage birth rate was 15 per 1000 females. In 2008 it was 33 per 1000. Read more
A fertility app that tracks a woman’s fertility and replaces birth control medication has been approved by both the FDA and the German inspection and certification agency Tüv Süd. Users of the app have a lower unintended pregnancy rate than the pill (6.5 percent as against 9 percent), without the side effects of hormonal contraception. Read more
The Church’s ban on contraception should be relaxed, UK cabinet minister Penny Mordaunt says. Mordaunt, who is the International Development secretary, made her views known in a meeting with senior aides to Pope Francis last week. Young girls should have access to contraception, she told the aides. Read more
A month-long social media conversation on Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae (Of Human Life) began this week. The conversation, which will be facilitated by the United States Diocese of Arlington, is open to all. Its focus is on the encyclical which reaffirms artificial birth control is “intrinsically wrong”. People interested in participating can follow Read more
Hundreds of priests in Britain support Humanae Vitae – the encyclical affirming traditional Christian teaching on the family and sexuality. The encyclical, written by Pope Paul VI and issued in July 1968, specifically deems artificial contraception as being “absolutely excluded” and “intrinsically wrong”. The British clergy have signed a statement endorsing the encyclical as its Read more