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  • Title: Family planning in a Roman Catholic community.
    Author: Savona-ventura C.
    Journal: Plan Parent Eur; 1995 Mar; 24(1):20-2. PubMed ID: 12289091.
    Abstract:
    For centuries in Malta, both Catholic and civil officials have condemned abortion. In 1650, medical practitioners found guilty of administering abortive substances were sentenced to 5 years as galley oarsmen. It was illegal to counsel on, administer, take, or cultivate abortive plants. In 1786, those considered guilty of abortion included not just women who sought abortions, but violent husbands and "careless" women who spontaneously miscarried. In the late 19th century, by the end of their childbearing years, women had a mean parity of 11. Despite the 1930 Encyclical of Pope Pius XI denouncing the use of contraceptives, the Maltese population has increasingly accepted family planning, as indicated by the decreasing birth rates beginning in the 1950s (14/100 births in 1957 to 8/100 births in 1985). A survey in the late 1950s revealed that even though 82% of couples were familiar with the rhythm method, only 27% knew how to use it. So the Maltese Church set up free family planning clinics in 1962 under the direction of the Cana Movement to promote the rhythm method. By 1971, 87% of women used some form of family planning, especially rhythm method followed by withdrawal. In 1982, the government succumbed to the pressure of a women's group and established family planning clinics which offered, free-of-charge, all family planning methods, except abortion. In 1983, 91.4% of women who had just delivered planned to use some form of family planning (coitus interruptus and other sexual practices [59%], artificial contraceptive methods (26%), and rhythm method [12%]). 37.6% of people approved of artificial contraceptive methods. 31.9% approved of abortion (39% to protect mother's health and 16% to prevent a handicapped child). In the 1990s, these figures were 49% and 36% (47% and 20%), respectively. The accelerating process of secularization and increasing disagreement with the Church's teachings have caused the change in attitudes. The Roman Catholic Church in Malta is still a quasi-political force, however. It objects to the promotion and use of condoms (despite the AIDS epidemic), sterilization, and the IUD.
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