‘Too Many Children?’ Family Planning and Humanae Vitae in Dublin, 1960–72

Abstract

In July 1968, the papal encyclical Humanae Vitae reaffirmed the ban on artificial contraception for Catholics. Utilising Dublin as a case study, this article explores how the Irish medical and social work community, their patients and the Catholic hierarchy responded to Humanae Vitae. Drawing on a range of medical and diocesan sources, as well as diverse material from the news media, this article illuminates the change in private behaviour that took place with regard to birth control between 1960 and 1972, and contrasts this behaviour with the public rhetoric and actions of many Catholics in positions of power. Furthermore, it highlights class inequality regarding access to and education on birth control; the health and welfare of working-class women often suffered greatly as a result of multiple births. It is demonstrated that while many exhibited a more liberal shift in their views on the issue of artificial birth control, this was not a straightforward change. A strong, patriarchal network of authority, made up of the Irish Catholic hierarchy and an obeisant section of the medical profession, sought to reaffirm control over Catholic women’s bodies in the wake of Humanae Vitae.