I believe I read an article in *Newsweek* you should read, PM. It seems that 98% of moral, religious and ethical Catholic women use or have used birth control. Do you really think they would vote for a president who thinks they should be in jail?
That was a misinterpretation of the actual study.
The 98% came from restating that only two percent had said they had used
only natural family planning.
The real number is more like "somewhat less than 68%". The "somewhat less" is the unquantified number of disqualified respondents who are women
of childbearing age who are pregnant, trying to get pregnant, or post-partum.
While the data from the study may indeed be relevant to the debate, at least insist on accurate facts. That study only looked at responding women who self-identified as Catholics, then only those aged 15-44years (7356 of them), then only those who have had vaginal intercourse at least once in their lives (~86% of them); and THEN only those who are not post-partum, pregnant or trying to conceive.
That is a smaller universe of women.
The data was reported in 2011 by Rachel Jones of the Guttmacher Institute, and was obtained from an earlier 2006-2008 National Survey of Family Growth, which relied on in-person interviews with 7,356 females from the ages of 15 to 44. It asked them Yes or No to wether or no tthey have used any one or more of 12 types of birth control.
But whereas the study says that 98 percent of “sexually experienced Catholic women” have “ever used a contraceptive method other than natural planning,” the data shown in the report iself
does not actually back up that claim. For example, A supplementary table in the report, on page 8, shows that 11 percent of Catholic women currently using no method at all.
the actual data http://www.guttmacher.org/media/resources/Religion-FP-tables.html Jones said the correct way to describe the results of the research is this: “Data shows that 98 percent of sexually experienced women of child-bearing age and who identify themselves as Catholic have used a method of contraception other than natural family planning at some point in their lives.”
As she pointed out, “In social science circles, sexually active means you had sex recently. Sexually experienced means you’ve had sex at least once.”
So, sure, its still alot of Catholic women, but not 98%. Just to be clear.
C-
