The case for contraception: Medicine, morality and sexology at the Catholic University of Leuven (1930-1968)

Informed by personalist ideas, a sizeable contingent of Catholic moralists and physicians pushed for the loosening of church doctrine on issues of sexuality and reproduction during the 1950s and 1960s. Now often overlooked because of their ultimate failure, these cautious reformers looked towards science in search of compelling arguments in favor of limited forms of birth control that could make such practices compatible with church teachings. This article will zoom in on the lines of reasoning developed by several internationally influential Belgian doctors and theologians who found themselves at the forefront of a wider effort to modernize the Catholic church as they championed a more permissive attitude towards marital sex and/or assisted in the perfection of periodical abstinence and ‘the pill’ as acceptable tools of menstrual regulation. Directly or indirectly, they all had ties to the Catholic University of Leuven, the church’s intellectual headquarters in Belgium.