Religion and family planning

Abstract

Religion is embedded in the culture of all societies. It influences matters of morality, ideology and decision making, which concern every human being at some point in their life. Although the different religions often lack a united view on matters such contraception and abortion, there is sometimes some dogmatic overlap when general religious principles are subject to the influence of local customs. Immigration and population flow add further complexities to societal views on reproductive issues. For example, present day Europe has recently faced a dramatic increase in refugee influx, which raises questions about the health care of immigrants and the effects of cultural and religious differences on reproductive health. Religious beliefs on family planning in, for example, Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Hinduism have grown from different backgrounds and perspectives. Understanding these differences may result in more culturally competent delivery of care by health care providers. This paper presents the teachings of the most widespread religions in Europe with regard to contraception and reproduction.

Chinese abstract

宗教存在于社会文化之中。宗教在每个人人生中的某个时刻会影响道德, 思想和决策。尽管不同的宗教在避孕和流产问题上缺乏统一的观点, 当普通宗教原则受当地风俗影响时, 有时有一些教条式重叠。移民和人口流动增加了生殖问题社会观点的复杂性。例如, 当今欧洲难民涌入急剧增加, 这产生了一些问题, 包括移民健康以及文化和宗教差异对生殖健康的影响。例如, 宗教信仰在计划生育方面, 基督教, 犹太教, 伊斯兰教和印度教有着不同的背景和观点。了解这些差异可能使医疗保健工作者提供医疗保健时有着更多的文化背景。本文介绍了欧洲最广泛宗教有关避孕和生殖的学说。

Keywords:

• Christianity
• Catholicism
• Church
• Judaism
• Islam
• Hinduism
• reproduction
• contraception

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Rabbi Yitzchok Melber, director of the Toras Hamishpacha Institute (Jerusalem, Israel), for his informative comments on parts of the manuscript relating to Judaism. We would like to thank Elias Saba (Mayo Medical School, Rochester, MN, USA) for his revision of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.