The Dittrick Museum of Medical History will host the annual Percy Skuy Lecture Thursday, April 18, from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. in the Allen Memorial Medical Library’s Zverina Room.
Katherine Dugan, associate professor of religious studies at Springfield College in Western Massachusetts, will present “Rejecting the Pill: A History of the Science of Natural Family Planning.”
In this lecture, Dugan will examine the history of the science of natural family planning (NFP)—starting with the “rhythm” method of the 1920s through the app-based methods of the 2020s. This lecture interweaves medical history with Catholic history in order to tell the story of how what is now known as NFP came to be practiced. In addition to tracing the history of these methods, the lecture also details some of the biographical history of the medical doctors and scientists committed to this work.
Dugan published Millennial Missionaries: How a Group of Young Catholics is Trying to Make Catholicism Cool (2019) and is at work on an ethnographic study of Catholics who practice NFP.
The event is free, but registration is required for those who want to attend in person.