The Guttmacher Institute has released a study on contraceptive use among religious women that I think explains some things about the politics of contraception and Planned Parenthood. According to the study, 99 percent of women who have been sexually active have used contraception other than "natural family planning," including 98 percent of Catholic women, despite the opposition of the Catholic hierarchy.
Here's a chart showing that about three-quarters of never-married women are "sexually experienced" by their early 20s:
And of course, an overwhelming majority of women across the board, regardless of religious denomination, use some form of contraception:
I think this helps explain why, despite the fact that abortion politics remains pretty divided, the GOP's effort to defund Planned Parenthood and Title X wasn't very popular. With a ban on federal funds for abortion already in place, this read more like an effort to regulate women's sexual activity than anything else. Most women who are sexually active can imagine themselves needing contraception. Of course, the budget debate was largely driven by male legislators who couldn't care less and in some cases openly admitting to wanting to regulate women's sexual activity.
UPDATE: Should note that this is mostly an overview of contraceptive use among Christian women.
