ABSTRACT
Mexican Americans have the highest birthrate of any ethnic group in the United States. This exceptionally high fertility has been attributed to cultural factors such as Catholicism; machismo; and a socialization process that leads Chicanas to regard childbearing and childrearing as their main function in life. Of particular concern to this paper is the fact that family planning clinics’ staff accept this cultural explanation and are organized and administered accordingly. Less than one percent of clinic Chicanas reported that their husbands or sexual partners oppose the use of birth control. Eighty-nine percent of Model Cities Family Planning Clinic Chicanas are nominally Catholic. In addition to the clinic-eligibility interview required for acceptance as a client, many Chicana clients voluntarily permitted several sessions of intensive interviewing in their own homes. A Chicana may also be unaware of the address of the relative in whose home she is temporarily staying. Each of these situations may be most embarrassing to a client.
