According to a demographic study published in the Journal of Population Studies in 1979, LDS women born between 1800 and 1869 averaged 9 live births per woman married at 20, and 6 live births per woman married at 25. LDS families tended to be larger through most of the 20th century, but began to decline toward the latter end. LDS birthrates are still higher, but have followed essentially the same trends as the rest of the country; for me anyway, this begs the question: why?

It’s pretty easy to guess at many of the reasons. The Equal Rights Amendment movement and introduction of oral contraceptives got the ball rolling. More women entered the workforce, more children began to be cared for by people other than their parents, and over time, the economy has shifted in way that has changed working moms’ income from being supplementary to necessary. This, in turn, has limited the number of children families can afford to have. In reality, “It now takes two incomes to provide what one income provided 30 years ago: a middle class home in a safe neighborhood with a decent public school." We’ve essentially shot ourselves in the foot in the economics department!

The Church has no official position on the use of birth control, except to say that family planning is a matter between the couple and the Lord:

“It is the privilege of married couples who are able to bear children to provide mortal bodies for the spirit children of God, whom they are then responsible to nurture and rear. The decision as to how many children to have and when to have them is extremely intimate and private and should be left between the couple and the Lord. Church members should not judge one another in this matter.

Married couples also should understand that sexual relations within marriage are divinely approved not only for the purpose of procreation, but also as a means of expressing love and strengthening emotional and spiritual bonds between husband and wife." (1998 Church Handbook of Instructions)

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