Reconciling religious identity and reproductive practices: The Church and contraception in Poland

Abstract

Background and objective After the fall of state socialism in Poland in 1989, a Catholic-nationalist government assumed power. The new political power of the Catholic Church resulted in severe restrictions on family planning (FP) services. Yet, Poland's fertility rate declined sharply, suggesting that women are controlling their fertility despite restrictions. This study examined the Church's influence on women's contraceptive decisions, and how women reconcile religious teachings with their contraceptive use.

Methods We conducted a mixed-methods study, including a cross-sectional survey and qualitative interviews, in Gdańsk, Poland with sexually active women aged 18–40. The quantitative sample included 418 respondents; the qualitative sample included 49 respondents.

Results Despite restrictions on FP services, modern contraceptive use among our sample was 56%, up from 19% in 1991. Catholicism played a relatively small role in respondents' contraceptive decisions; though 94.2% of respondents were Catholic, 79% reported that the Church had little or no influence on reproductive decisions. Women's explanations for how they reconcile their reproductive practices with Catholicism included using elements of religion to support contraceptive use, prioritising responsibility for family and financial considerations over the Church's prohibitions, and challenging the Church's credibility in FP matters.

Conclusions Our findings underscore women's struggles under post-socialist reproductive policies that limit FP access. Despite religious, political, and economic obstacles, contraceptive use has increased dramatically, indicating that FP is a high priority for women in Poland. Policies should respond to women's needs. Comprehensive, state-sponsored FP and sex education are urgently needed and the state should legitimise such services.

KEY WORDS:

• Catholic Church
• Contraception
• Poland

Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the Charlotte Ellertson Postdoctoral Fellowship, and hosted by the Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University. We thank Wendy Chavkin for valuable comments and suggestions, Adam Viera for the statistical analysis of the data, and the anonymous reviewers and the editor of this Journal for their comments which helped us revise the article. We also express our gratitude to the clinic directors and the research staff in Gdańsk for their commitment to the project, and to the many women who agreed to participate in this study.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and the writing of the paper.