Milwaukee Magazine: "The Birth Control Wars"

There seems to be some confusion. A Catholic hospital with a medical mission evolving from its theological and social beliefs has the perfect right to provide services consistent with those beliefs, as does a Baptist hospital or a Mormon hospital or a Jewish hospital.

The Catholic Church has not changed its beliefs; however, the United States and the medical profession has changed theirs. Until forty years ago, there were no birth control wars. Catholic and non-Catholic hospitals, clinics and physicians had the same standards. Griswold v. Connecticut made birth control legal for married couples. Admittedly, the Catholic Church can be faulted for "looking the other way" as the Pill gained favor among the vast majority of American women, including Catholics. But the theological teaching never was diluted even when the American "teachers" remained silent.

Without the establishment of Catholic hospitals and clinics since the birth of this nation, healthcare would never have been available to generations of Americans reliant on Catholic charity, Catholic social justice and Catholics driven by their faith to enter medical professions. Non-Catholic doctors, nurses, staff and patients have always been welcomed at these facilities. Surely, few would refuse entering a Catholic hospital just because it was Catholic. Over time, Americans came to see these hospitals as just hospitals. Their Catholicity seemed to disappear with the nuns in habits in the general public's consciousness. But they are still Catholic institutions. To many Catholics, they are a refuge where they can receive the healthcare consistent with their religious beliefs.

Drs. Linn, Mickelson and Jones-Nosacek, who have NFP-only gynecology practices, are sought out by Catholics and non-Catholics alike who do not want to take birth control nor have their teen daughters put on the pill as a matter of course. But it is not just the lack of a prescription that make them doctors of choice for their patients. These doctors teach their patients how to value their reproductive system and use natural means to remain healthy women. There is a huge difference seeing a doctor who expects you to use birth control and one who respects you not to use it. That level of respect continues through menopause and beyond.

The birth control wars are not inflicted by the Catholic Church. Rather, the Church has been forced to protect its religious beliefs and rights from increasingly virulent attacks from all fronts. As Americans we all have a right to the health care we choose...at the places and from the people who can provide it at our ability to pay. To say that someone else has to meet your needs when they do not morally or professionally agree is a gross infringement on the provider's rights. We are all conditioned to go to providers to meet our needs whether that is Starbucks or McDonalds for coffee or Petite Sophisticates or Lane Bryant for clothes. It happens all the time to all of us--we go where we need to go for what we want. But those choices just aren't fodder for a feature story.