Abstract

RODRIGUEZ, Ana María Teresa. Our Country is in Danger: Cradles are Empty. Catholicism and Birth Rates in Argentina in the 1930s. Secuencia [online]. 2009, n.75, pp.67-95. ISSN 2395-8464.  https://doi.org/10.18234/secuencia.v0i75.1089.

Catholic physicians are one of the voices in the broad Argentinean political, ideological and economic spectrum who expressed their alarm at the decline in the birth rate, Neo-Malthusianism, the reproduction of the poorest and their consequences for the "white race" and the nation. Catholics enrolled in the Consortium of Catholic Doctors acted as the scientific voice of the Church, penalizing any public or private behavior that threatened population-based demographic budgets. These alarmist premises, that regarded the decline in birth rates as an issue that jeopardized national interest and security, condemned abortion, birth control and negative eugenics. Supporting population growth became one of the axes of confessional medics for criticizing both liberals and statists.

Keywords : Catholic doctors; populationism; supporting population growth; neo-Malthusianism; abortion.

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