Young Catholic women back birth control use

[Reader]

http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyl...control-use/R0ToOwrG60aiLyT6HSy6fK/story.html

Alexandra Mangione went to Catholic schools from kindergarten through high school and now attends Boston College. “I go to church. I believe in God,’’ says Mangione, a 20-year-old sophomore at the Catholic college. She also believes in birth control.

“The reality is that young Catholic women are absolutely sexually active, and they are on contraceptives,’’ says Mangione. Birth control should be covered by health insurance, she says, because women who are denied it are “forced to have an abortion, or they raise a child that they can’t support or they put a baby up for adoption.’’
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Ninety-nine percent of women have used birth control at some point, including 98 percent of Catholic women, according to a 2011 report by the Guttmacher Institute.

“In real-life America, contraceptive use and strong religious beliefs are highly compatible,’’ says Rachel K. Jones, the report’s lead author.

Studies also indicate that the majority of Americans believe insurance should cover the costs of birth control - and that most sexually active Americans use contraception. According to a 2011 Thomson Reuters survey, 77 percent of respondents believe that both private and government-assisted medical insurance should cover all or some of the costs of birth-control pills. Among those 35 and younger, the number rose to 83 percent.
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Since the debate began, Planned Parenthood of Massachusetts has fielded calls from women of all ages - as well as men - complaining about the political football the issue has become.

“It’s very interesting that I’ve been doing quite a few interviews with college newspapers,’’ says Dianne Luby, president. “It’s completely outside their reality. They didn’t ever think this would be a question, that you wouldn’t have access to contraceptives.’’
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The debate over Catholic women and contraceptives spans generations. To Joan Moynagh, who has 10 siblings, the issue of birth control should be personal, not political. “The whole debate is forcing a very private issue out into the open, and that’s inappropriate,’’ she says.

Moynagh says her parents had decided they wanted a large family, but she and her siblings, also raised Catholic, did not. The most children any of them have is three.

“I feel it was my choice to use birth control and be pretty deliberate about having three kids,’’ says Moynagh, 52, who is the development director for the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University. “I think it’s so extraordinary that anyone should tell any woman what to do with her body.’’

More at link...

 

[not_my_kids]

It shouldn't be an issue, whether or not to have access to contraception. Period. The answer should always be yes, as to availability and coverage. What I put in my body, whether or not I choose to control my menstrual cycle, and whether or not I wish to conceive a child is between me and God, not me and a bureaucracy.

JMO.

 

[EGirl]

It shouldn't be an issue, whether or not to have access to contraception. Period. The answer should always be yes, as to availability and coverage. What I put in my body, whether or not I choose to control my menstrual cycle, and whether or not I wish to conceive a child is between me and God, not me and a bureaucracy.

JMO.

Yes, it is between you and your GOD. Acess is not denied to anyone. Coverage is the issue. Why in the world does anyone think they have the right to tell a religious institution that they must negate their belief system to provide you coverage for something that is between you and your GOD?

Why in the world is it ok to invoke said bureacracy on THEM?


Don't go to a religious school, don't work for a religious employer and don't attend the Catholic church if you don't have their belief system.

 

[SurfieTX]

Walmart and Target both have BCPs for 9 bucks a month for anyone and everyone with an RX. At the risk of sounding like a tired commercial, "That's only 30 cents a day!"

 

[OrdinaryLife]

Yes, it is between you and your GOD. Acess is not denied to anyone. Coverage is the issue. Why in the world does anyone think they have the right to tell a religious institution that they must negate their belief system to provide you coverage for something that is between you and your GOD?

Why in the world is it ok to invoke said bureacracy on THEM?


Don't go to a religious school, don't work for a religious employer and don't attend the Catholic church if you don't have their belief system.

I'm Catholic. I also believe that the Catholic Church does not have the right to make judgements against any person when they are choosing for the right reasons for themselves. We are nothing less than human and we were given the right to choose for ourselves. The Head Honcho loves us regardless of what we are given in life and how we must deal/cope. I truly wish the Catholic Church could grasp that.

IMVHO

 

[michmi]

I'm also Catholic. What is ironic is the Church says poverty is unacceptable and everything should be done to eliminate it, but when a women uses birth control (because she cannot afford to raise a child), they play the "no contraception" card.

As far as being required to offer contraception in their institutions and hospitals, the day the Church takes NO federal funds for the care or education of people is the day they can say they refuse to comply with the law. So all the Catholic hospitals need to stop taking Medicare and Medicaid funds if they want to do their thing.

 

[EGirl]

I'm Catholic. I also believe that the Catholic Church does not have the right to make judgements against any person when they are choosing for the right reasons for themselves. We are nothing less than human and we were given the right to choose for ourselves. The Head Honcho loves us regardless of what we are given in life and how we must deal/cope. I truly wish the Catholic Church could grasp that.

IMVHO

What is the Catholic church doing to you? Exactly? Noone is preventing you from exercising your right to choose.

Don't use government to enforce your beliefs on a religious institution.

 

[EGirl]

I'm also Catholic. What is ironic is the Church says poverty is unacceptable and everything should be done to eliminate it, but when a women uses birth control (because she cannot afford to raise a child), they play the "no contraception" card.

As far as being required to offer contraception in their institutions and hospitals, the day the Church takes NO federal funds for the care or education of people is the day they can say they refuse to comply with the law. So all the Catholic hospitals need to stop taking Medicare and Medicaid funds if they want to do their thing.

Does that mean my tax dollars can stop funding planned parenthood?

Why in their world do you patronize those institutions?

A government that will use force to make the Catholic church go against it's beliefs will do the same thing to you.

The government needs to stay out of it.

 

[EGirl]

I'm also Catholic. What is ironic is the Church says poverty is unacceptable and everything should be done to eliminate it, but when a women uses birth control (because she cannot afford to raise a child), they play the "no contraception" card.

As far as being required to offer contraception in their institutions and hospitals, the day the Church takes NO federal funds for the care or education of people is the day they can say they refuse to comply with the law. So all the Catholic hospitals need to stop taking Medicare and Medicaid funds if they want to do their thing.

Because at no point you should be responsible for paying for one or the other? It's either pay for your birth control or support your children. WOW, what a choice.

 

[OrdinaryLife]

What is the Catholic church doing to you? Exactly? Noone is preventing you from exercising your right to choose.

Don't use government to enforce your beliefs on a religious institution.

Unfortunately, you misunderstood my previous post. I am not, nor will I *ever*, use the government to enforce what I hold for myself. Just sharing my thoughts. Not sure where you are going with this....

imvho

 

[Nova]

It shouldn't be an issue, whether or not to have access to contraception. Period. The answer should always be yes, as to availability and coverage. What I put in my body, whether or not I choose to control my menstrual cycle, and whether or not I wish to conceive a child is between me and God, not me and a bureaucracy.

JMO.

Absolutely and amen.

I hope when it comes time to vote in November that voters remember how the GOP chose to wage war on women.

 

[Velouria]

What is the Catholic church doing to you? Exactly? No one is preventing you from exercising your right to choose.

Don't use government to enforce your beliefs on a religious institution.

Yeah, sure. For the time being, anyway.

But please, let's not pretend that the Catholic church (and plenty of other religious institutions) would gladly see the government enforce their beliefs on everyone else. Growing up, I sat through many a homily where our monsignor essentially told us who to vote for come election time. It only served to reinforce my fervent belief in separation of church and state.

I don't believe Catholic institutions should be forced to pay for birth control, but then again the Church's stance against birth control is just one of the reasons I'm no longer a practicing Catholic.

 

[EGirl]

Yeah, sure. For the time being, anyway.

But please, let's not pretend that the Catholic church (and plenty of other religious institutions) would gladly see the government enforce their beliefs on everyone else. Growing up, I sat through many a homily where our monsignor essentially told us who to vote for come election time. It only served to reinforce my fervent belief in separation of church and state.

I don't believe Catholic institutions should be forced to pay for birth control, but then again the Church's stance against birth control is just one of the reasons I'm no longer a practicing Catholic.

And how good it is that you have that CHOICE.

JMO

 

[michmi]

Does that mean my tax dollars can stop funding planned parenthood?

Why in their world do you patronize those institutions?

A government that will use force to make the Catholic church go against it's beliefs will do the same thing to you.

The government needs to stay out of it.

I have no idea what you mean--if Planned Parenthood (an organization that dispenses contraception) takes tax dollars that's fine. If a Catholic-related hospital's pharmacy refuses to fill a prescription for birth control, then I don't want them to be able to be reimbursed by Medicare Part D OR by Medicaid for ANYONE'S prescriptions . That includes Aunt Millie's nerve pills and Uncle Charlie's blood pressure medicine.

The Church only understands what hits them in their pocketbook and even then it takes a LONG time for them to get with it (priest abuse of children).

Like I said, I'm Catholic. If the gov't makes the Church cover and provide contraception, HOO-RAY!

 

[michmi]

Growing up, I sat through many a homily where our monsignor essentially told us who to vote for come election time.

...and like an American Catholic, I use my own mind to decide who I'll vote for and what I believe. The monsignor can tell people all day and night what he wants, we aren't robots that do his bidding.

I don't believe in confessing my sins to a priest. So I don't go. Lightning doesn't strike me dead when I walk in the church. My sins are between me and God and what Father Whoever or Pope Whoever thinks is their problem.

 

[Fairy1]

And how good it is that you have that CHOICE.

JMO

Everyone should have a choice.

 

[lonetraveler]

Absolutely and amen.

I hope when it comes time to vote in November that voters remember how the GOP chose to wage war on women.

Actually the GOP isn't waging a war against women, they are against the government forcing religious institutions to pay for something entirely against their beliefs. Don't believe everything the left is spewing about what GOP is against. There is definitely not a war being waged against women and I hope people understand the real issue before they make this judgement.

 

[Reader]

What is the Catholic church doing to you? Exactly? Noone is preventing you from exercising your right to choose.

Don't use government to enforce your beliefs on a religious institution.[/QUOTE]

It's actually the opposite...this church and others accept all kinds of government money and tax breaks with an agreement to abide by government rules and laws. Instead they are trying to force their beliefs on the government. If they don't want to follow the laws that go with the money, they should stop taking the government's money and tax breaks.

 

[lonetraveler]

I don't believe that any government or religious faction should have control over a woman's choices over her own body. Birth control is cheap and available to all women. That said, there are many, many teenagers and young women not taking birth control and spitting out babies every year. So, I don't think that the price of birth control is a factor for them, they are just too dumb or too lazy to take them. What's next? I think that the issue of paying for birth control is just one big deflection from the real issues facing Americans today. Women have access to birth control it is up to them to actually be responsible enough to take them.

 

[Fairy1]

I don't believe that any government or religious faction should have control over a woman's choices over her own body. Birth control is cheap and available to all women. That said, there are many, many teenagers and young women not taking birth control and spitting out babies every year. So, I don't think that the price of birth control is a factor for them, they are just too dumb or too lazy to take them. What's next? I think that the issue of paying for birth control is just one big deflection from the real issues facing Americans today. Women have access to birth control it is up to them to actually be responsible enough to take them.

BC is equally cheap for men, but they so often choose not to avail themselves.

Why should the entire responsibility be placed on women?

I do agree with you that this "issue" is a deflection from the real issues. But it just keeps turning up. Over and over and over again.