From the 2000 Sunstone Symposium
Presentation: Multiply and Replenish– If You Want To: The 1999 LDS Church Birth Control Policy in Perspective
Presenters:
Chair: Chris Zollinger
Maxine Hanks, writer; editor, Women and Authority: Re-emerging Mormon Feminism.
Karrie Galloway, president, CEO, Planned Parenthood Association of Utah
Rebecca Chandler, LDS mother of eight children, Co-editor, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought
Abstract: In 1999, a new LDS church policy gave Mormons significant freedom. For the first time in 170 years, birth control is officially a completely personal decision. This paper compares the new 1998-99 policy on birth control with previous official policies in 1989, 1976, and 1969. Other historical views on LDS birth control and childbearing are reviewed. The benefits of the new birth control and childbearing are reviewed. The benefits of the new birth control policy are explored, while the effects of previous policies are also considered. Statements from parents will share how past birth control policies after their lives. The year 2000 also marks the 40th anniversary of the Pill, the first time in history when women could safely and effectively control childbearing by taking the pill. It also marked 30 years of Planned Parenthood in Utah.