What issue might the Catholic Church bring up next in its war on women, or sex, or whatever it is that those allegedly celibate people want to deny everyone else because for some reason they swore it off?
Well, how about letting a woman continue her birth control pills while she's an inpatient in a Catholic hospital? Up to now, apparently there's no problem with it. At the risk of giving the anti-sex faction an idea, I'm going to suggest here that we have a reply in opposition ready.
I went into medical practice with my father 33 years ago. He was an internist and clinical cardiologist; I'm a non-invasive cardiologist which is about the same thing. We both did a lot of primary care for adults. Some time before I joined him in practice, I asked what happened if a lady who was on birth control pills went into the Catholic hospital where he admitted all his patients. Was there any problem continuing them? (When someone goes into the hospital, they want all home medicines that are going to be continued to be ordered by the admitting doctor, dispensed from the hospital's pharmacy, and carried to the bedside by the nurse. In general, that's a good way to do things -- it keeps everyone 'on the same page' as far as what medicines the patient is getting.) Anyway, my father assured me, "Oh, that's no problem." That was some time in the 1970's. As it happened, in my 33 years in practice, the matter never came up for my patients, even though we both used that Catholic hospital. Most of my patients were well past the age it would be a consideration. But I think it must have come up occasionally for my father, who practiced back in the days when people would go into the hospital for a few days of testing -- things that now would be done as an outpatient.
It might be a problem now, or soon. The same people who (suddenly) don't want to pay for their employees' birth control pills might soon get a bug in their bonnet about not letting ladies continue the same pills while they're an inpatient under a 'Catholic roof.' The group it would likely hit hardest would be young psychiatric inpatients. But anyone -- or any woman -- could be affected. What if someone is involved in an accident and has trauma that seems to be mild. At least occasionally, it's prudent to keep such folks in the hospital overnight. Imagine the conversation:
"And what medicines were you on at home, ma'am?"
"Oh, just my birth control pills. Come to think of it, I'll need my pill tonight. Do they have my kind in the pharmacy here?"
"No. We don't keep any birth control pills in the pharmacy here. We're a Catholic facility. It's a matter of policy."
"Well, I guess I could get my husband to bring mine from home."
Will the answer be, "Oh, that's fine. Just have him bring them to the nurse's station so we can make sure what kind and dose they are and enter it on your medications list."?
Or will it be, "No, we can't allow you to take them here."?
Remember, the lady may not even have chosen this hospital; it may have been forced on her by the situation. If the best and nearest trauma hospital happens to be a Catholic hospital, that's where the ambulance should take her.
One way a similar issue has already come up is in rape cases. When a woman turns up in an emergency room after a rape, the usual treatment includes a dose of Plan B. In New Haven, where I went to medical school, there are two main hospitals -- the university hospital and a Catholic hospital. I had rotations in both as a medical student. The Catholic hospital was about a ten minute bike ride from the medical school and the university hospital -- ten minutes when I was in my twenties. The issue of whether Catholic hospital had to dispense Plan B for a rape victim who was brought into their ER came up. This story from the Newspaper of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford seems to sum up how it shook out in 2007.
http://www.catholictranscript.org/...
In Connecticut they made a new law that the hospitals indeed had to dispense emergency contraception, after getting a negative pregnancy test. (If a woman tests pregnant 24 hours after a rape, she was probably already pregnant. I'm pretty sure it takes several days after conception for any of the tests to turn positive.) If the victim is pregnant, Plan B isn't appropriate anyway -- it's time to think about an abortion.
But note that the Archbishop in Hartford, back in 2007, still seemed to reserve the right to argue further if it could be shown that Plan B actually can cause an abortion. That just might be why the anti-sex crowd is now looking for ways -- scientific or with propaganda -- to convince people that Plan B does indeed cause abortions.
If I remember correctly, Joe Lieberman weighed in on this, maintaining that it would have been OK for the Catholic hospital in New Haven to tell a rape victim to go to the other hospital to get Plan B. Even if she didn't have transportation. It's maybe a 20 minute walk, through some iffy neighborhoods, and Plan B works better the sooner you take it. Somehow that seems like Holy Joe, telling rape victims to take a hike.
As for having a reply ready, I don't have any really catchy sound bite. The best I could come up with is, "Just because I'm under a "Catholic" roof, does your Catholic conscience override mine? It's your roof (do roofs have consciences?) but it's my body."