The Faithful and The Fruitful: How Religion Motivates Fertility Attitudes and Behavior in Catholic Women

Abstract

Continuing a 20-year downward trend, the US fertility rate dropped to a historic low in 2025: 1.6 births per woman (CDC 2026). Researchers have documented various socioeconomic factors that impact fertility, but religion’s role in declining fertility remains largely unexplored. Previous research has quantitatively demonstrated that religiosity is positively associated with fertility, however, there is lack of qualitative research that examines how religion influences personal motivations regarding having children. I examine the ways in which Catholic religious identities and experiences influence reproductive decision-making, and attitudes towards childbearing. Through in-depth interviews with 20 Catholic women aged 25 to 78, I investigate how Catholic women interpret their religion, and how religion influence their perspectives about having children. My aim is understanding how Catholic faith interacts with other personal identities such as location, culture, age, and gender to shape childbearing and fertility attitudes. By conducting my qualitative analysis, I find that Catholic faith functions less as a strict determinant of fertility behavior, but rather a dynamic framework where women actively negotiate religious ideals alongside personal, relational and broader constraints.