Ricerc@Sapienza

Starting from the second half of the Nineteenth century, the Catholic doctrine was confronted with the practices of birth control and biopolitical intervention on the reproduction. In this perspective, the Congregation of the Holy Office – the guardian of the orthodoxy of the Catholic discourse – discussed questions such as therapeutic abortion, obstetrical practices, contraception, and artificial insemination. The inquisitors acquired knowledge on the practices of controlling human reproduction, and defined norms had power of law for Catholic discourse.