Does Going to a Catholic High School Affect How Teens View Reproductive Rights? A Survey Comparison Proposal of a Massachusetts Catholic High School and a Public School
From the Desk of Lucy GouldIntroduction
Does going to a catholic high school affect how teens view reproductive rights? Ages fourteen through eighteen are very formative years in terms of understanding sex and reproduction, especially with the varying sex ed requirements in different counties across the country. What teens learn during these years, especially at school, could impact their understanding of the rest of the world for the rest of their lives. Elisabeth Militz and Carolin Schurr define reproductive rights as “the legal right to contraception, abortion, fertility treatment, reproductive health, and access to information about one's reproductive body” (Militz and Schurr, 2020).
But how does this relate to catholic schools? Catholic schools are exempt from state education requirements, meaning they don’t have to provide sex ed or meet any standard for that subject in education. Having grown up in a K-12 Catholic school, I can anecdotally say that I did not receive any sex ed beyond “sex is bad, don’t have it”. I was never even told what sex was. But that’s not out of the ordinary for Catholic schools around the world because The Vatican tells us that “should not be primarily a matter of giving explicit information at all, but rather it should be a matter of inculcating modesty, purity, chastity, and morality, a matter of teaching the sixth and ninth commandments” (Whitehead, 2000). It goes so far to say that sex is a “matter for the parents to impart privately in the home, not something to be purveyed and discussed in mixed classrooms of boys and girls at impressionable ages” (Whitehead, 2000).
Participant Population
The survey method will be used for this study since it allows for specific questions to be asked. The survey method works well with the topic of this study because it will allow me to ask specific questions about attitudes towards and opinions about reproductive rights. It also allows for the exact same questions to be asked in the same way, to prevent any potential differences that may arise from bias. The methodology for the survey will be explained later on in the proposal. For this particular survey, I will begin by looking at [local catholic high school] and [local public high school]. These two schools are just down the street from each other and serve roughly the same geographical demographic, with the exception of LCHS accepting students from neighboring towns.
The reason I chose high school is, like I touched on earlier, teens are very impressionable at this age and are consuming the knowledge they learn in the six hours at school either consciously or subconsciously. Hearing the same messages, or lack of messages, repeatedly could affect them and I am interested to see if educational differences have an impact, specifically in regards to reproductive rights.
The reason I chose these high schools in particular is simply because they are near where I grew up and I am therefore familiar with them. They seemed like a good place to start the survey. Ideally, the survey would grow to include all of Massachusetts and then continue to widen across the United States.
Something to keep in mind with this survey is the privilege of those going to Catholic schools. The average Catholic school tuition in Massachusetts is $19,863 (Local Catholic Churches, 2024). While there may be more geographical diversity in the population at Catholic schools, there will be more economic diversity in the population at public schools.
It is also important to note that while there may be strong evidence pointing to where a participant has learned a particular opinion or value, it is not necessarily learned at school. My goal is to draw a strong correlation between views on reproductive rights and high school education.
Methodology
To motivate students at the high schools to participate in the survey, a $10 Visa gift card will be offered upon completion of the survey. The survey will be online and will not collect email addresses unless the student opts in to receive the gift card via email, much like how the College Board conducts their SAT practice questionnaire.
The survey will have different types of questions: some multiple choice, some short answer, some on a scale of 1-5, and some true or false. For example:
What is the average maternal mortality rate in the US? (multiple choice)
How would you define “reproductive rights”? (short answer)
On a scale of 1-5, one being the lowest and 5 being the highest, how positively do you view abortion?
True or false: Abortion is mainly used as a form of birth control.
The different types of questions offer different perspectives. The multiple choice can be an opportunity to see what sort of education the participants are receiving about reproductive rights. The short answer allows participants to expand on their opinions. The scale allows for some gray areas, as opposed to a yes or no question. The true or false questions can look out for bias in the participants that could possibly be attributed to the education they have received.
Before beginning the survey, participants will be told that the survey is a part of a study to determine the attitudes surrounding reproductive rights. Upon completion of the survey, there will be a quick paragraph about the study as a whole and the specifics about what I am looking to find a connection or difference between.
Literature Review
Unfortunately, there are not many studies connecting Catholicism and views on reproductive rights, especially done in the United States. This is one of the reasons that I think it would be greatly beneficial to conduct a survey of this sort. The current political climate is a motivation to better understand how education might play a role in the viewpoints of future lawmakers of the country.
Philip Howard Robinson conducted an experiment to determine whether Catholic schools in England were capable of passing “the legal test set by the European Court of Human Rights (2007) to be objective, critical, and pluralistic” (Robinson, 2025). He collected data using interviews and a " reflexive thematic analysis.” As a result, there were varying views on whether the schools passed the test.
Nahela Nowshin, among others, conducted research involving the “sexual and reproductive health… of ‘last mile’ adolescents” (Nowshin et al, 2022). They found insufficient data across the world, with a global lack of research in this particular field. The research breaks down the individual differences in the studies. Notable bits include that only four of fifty-four studies were devoted exclusively to male adolescents, thirty-four of the papers were quantitative, and the most common factor relating to health vulnerabilities was being out of school.
In research conducted by Preetika Sharma and others regarding social work’s role in abortion care, it was found that “professionals either enable or impair the autonomy of pregnant persons’ decision-making, in particular, who are seeking abortion information and resources” (Sharma et al, 2025). Despite the extensive training given to these professionals, this training is not as extensive as it could be in areas relating to sex and sexuality. According to Sharma’s research, “studies consistently show that social work students are not receiving adequate education and training on abortion care support or the legal contexts of abortion in their jurisdictions”.
Conclusion
There is not enough research regarding the possible connections between Catholicism and views on reproductive rights. This research could provide helpful information regarding the gaps in education and perspective on where particular viewpoints originate from or are being bolstered.
Bibliography
“How Much Do Catholic Private Schools Cost? - 2024.” Local Catholic Churches, 25 Nov. 2024, localcatholicchurches.com/resource/catholic-private-school-costs/.
Nowshin, N., et al. Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights of “Last Mile” Adolescents: A Scoping Review. Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters, vol. 30, no. 1, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1080/26410397.2022.2077283.
Robinson, Philip Howard. “Can Religious Education in Catholic Schools Be Objective, Critical, and Pluralistic? An Investigation into the Views of Catholic Religious Education Advisers at the Frontier of Faith and Culture.” Can Religious Education in Catholic Schools Be Objective, Critical, and Pluralistic? An Investigation into the Views of Catholic Religious Education Advisers at the Frontier of Faith and Culture. - St Mary’s University Open Research Archive, 23 Apr. 2025, research.stmarys.ac.uk/id/eprint/6748/.
Schurr, Carolin, and Elisabeth Militz. “Reproductive Rights.” International Encyclopedia of Human Geography, edited by Audrey Kobayashi, 2nd ed., Elsevier, 2020, pp. 435–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-102295-5.10234-3.
“Sex Education: The Vatican’s Guidelines.” CERC, 23 Oct. 2000, catholiceducation.org/en/marriage-and-family/sex-education-the-vatican-s-guidelines.html.
Sharma, Preetika, et al. “Understanding Social Work’s Role in Abortion Care: A Comprehensive Scoping Review.” PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, 24 Apr. 2025, journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0320260.
