OB/GYNs and birth control?

[smiddle]

I know indefinitely that I am going to become an OB/GYN. My mother is one and I want to become one to help women, and I believe this is the best way how.

I struggle with the issue of birth control. I believe that the only reason for coitus is procreation, however, I do not believe that I should force that belief on my patients. Birth control can be used to treat other medical conditions, not just to prevent a pregnancy.

A lot of my mother’s colleagues do not administer any form of contraception, but my mother does because she does not believe that she should have a say in the moral lives of her patients, and she is also very sensitive to cases of abuse. She does not perform abortions or tubal ligations, which I will not either.

I am comfortable with providing temporary forms of contraception (the pill, IUDs, etc.), but I would never do anything to permanently prevent someone from creating a child. I would rather someone wait until they are married and be ready to have a child than to have a baby out of wedlock and have an impure child.

I’m basically asking if my view on this is acceptable, or if I could somehow face repercussions for my actions when my time comes?

 

[Et_Cetera]

Personally, I think you’re fine, but that’s just my opinion. If you were planning on becoming an OB/GYN and not administering birth control, then you’d just be setting yourself up for a difficult career.

 

[underacloud]

Birth control can be used to treat other medical conditions, not just to prevent a pregnancy.

When used as such, it’s not really birth control…it’s simply hormonal therapy that happens to come packaged as “birth control” and has a contraceptive effect as well as the primary intended treatment. Anyway, certainly nothing wrong with this.

She does not perform abortions or tubal ligations, which I will not either.

I am comfortable with providing temporary forms of contraception (the pill, IUDs, etc.), but I would never do anything to permanently prevent someone from creating a child. I would rather someone wait until they are married and be ready to have a child than to have a baby out of wedlock and have an impure child.

I think it’s important that you consider the consequences more thoroughly. You say you would not perform abortions, which is good, but then suggest that you’d be comfortable prescribing birth control methods that may carry risk of abortions (pill some small risk, IUDs depending on their hormonal effects greater risk). As a Catholic, this is a problem.

You would not perform a tubal ligation, which is purely contraceptive, yet administer drugs or devices that are abortifacient? I’m struggling to understand the basis for where you intend to draw the line.

I think you need to think through how your Catholic morals will work in the context of this profession.

 

[THP]

I know indefinitely that I am going to become an OB/GYN. My mother is one and I want to become one to help women, and I believe this is the best way how.

I struggle with the issue of birth control. I believe that the only reason for coitus is procreation, however, I do not believe that I should force that belief on my patients. Birth control can be used to treat other medical conditions, not just to prevent a pregnancy.

A lot of my mother’s colleagues do not administer any form of contraception, but my mother does because she does not believe that she should have a say in the moral lives of her patients, and she is also very sensitive to cases of abuse. She does not perform abortions or tubal ligations, which I will not either.

I am comfortable with providing temporary forms of contraception (the pill, IUDs, etc.), but I would never do anything to permanently prevent someone from creating a child. I would rather someone wait until they are married and be ready to have a child than to have a baby out of wedlock and have an impure child.

I’m basically asking if my view on this is acceptable, or if I could somehow face repercussions for my actions when my time comes?

Sent you a PM.

 

[smiddle]

I think it’s important that you consider the consequences more thoroughly. You say you would not perform abortions, which is good, but then suggest that you’d be comfortable prescribing birth control methods that may carry risk of abortions (pill some small risk, IUDs depending on their hormonal effects greater risk). As a Catholic, this is a problem.

You would not perform a tubal ligation, which is purely contraceptive, yet administer drugs or devices that are abortifacient? I’m struggling to understand the basis for where you intend to draw the line.

I think you need to think through how your Catholic morals will work in the context of this profession.

The pill and IUDs do not have a serious risk of causing an abortion later on. That would be like saying women that have children after 40 intend to have a child with a birth defect or to have a miscarriage because they know that they are at a huge risk of something happening. My mother has been working with the pill and IUDs for a very long time and not once has she, or one of her colleagues, seen something like that happen.

And you do know that abortion is the deliberate termination of the pregnancy, right? If someone were to use the pill or IUD and after they stop, they were to conceive a child and lose the baby, it would not be abortion, it would be a miscarriage. They did not intend to have a miscarriage and the pill would not have been used to terminate a pregnancy later on.

You also contradict yourself. You say there is “certainly nothing wrong” with using the pill to treat other medical conditions, such as amenorrhea. However, the pill treats this by using hormones, so wouldn’t that still be using an abortifacient device? What would you call that, an accidental abortion? Or is it okay to bend the rules?

 

[slotty]

I know this link on Ethical & Religious directives in Health care is a big read but it will definitely help you form your conscience in line with the church.

If there’s something you read in there you struggle with I’d suggest praying on it.

Hope it helps

God Bless

 

[underacloud]

The pill and IUDs do not have a serious risk of causing an abortion later on. That would be like saying women that have children after 40 intend to have a child with a birth defect or to have a miscarriage because they know that they are at a huge risk of something happening. My mother has been working with the pill and IUDs for a very long time and not once has she, or one of her colleagues, seen something like that happen.

And you do know that abortion is the deliberate termination of the pregnancy, right? If someone were to use the pill or IUD and after they stop, they were to conceive a child and lose the baby, it would not be abortion, it would be a miscarriage. They did not intend to have a miscarriage and the pill would not have been used to terminate a pregnancy later on.

You also contradict yourself. You say there is “certainly nothing wrong” with using the pill to treat other medical conditions, such as amenorrhea. However, the pill treats this by using hormones, so wouldn’t that still be using an abortifacient device? What would you call that, an accidental abortion? Or is it okay to bend the rules?

You misunderstand what I am saying. I am not arguing that the pill and UIDs cause abortions of later pregancies. I am saying that they may be abortifacient in their contraceptive mechanisms…they may prevent fertilised eggs from implanting. If you are Catholic and considering this profession, you seriously need to look into this further.

Also, I do not contradict myself at all. The deliberate use of abortifacient contraception is wrong. The Church condemns contraception, but any contraception that may be causing abortions is especially detestable. The unintended side effects of hormonal treatments, taken for licit purposes, are entirely different and allowable (although theologians argue about this to some degree) through the principle of double effect. You ought to familiarise yourself with this distinction.

There are many threads on this forum that deal with the issues I have raised and you can search for them yourself.

 

[1ke]

I’m basically asking if my view on this is acceptable, or if I could somehow face repercussions for my actions when my time comes?

NO.

A Catholic OB/GYN may not prescribe any contraception. We may NEVER do evil and we may not cooperate in evill. To prescribe contraception is to formally cooperate in it. That is grave matter.

I suggest you contact both the National Catholic Bioethics Center and the Catholic Medical Association for guidance on the matter.

 

[1ke]

The pill and IUDs do not have a serious risk of causing an abortion later on. That would be like saying women that have children after 40 intend to have a child with a birth defect or to have a miscarriage because they know that they are at a huge risk of something happening. My mother has been working with the pill and IUDs for a very long time and not once has she, or one of her colleagues, seen something like that happen.

And you do know that abortion is the deliberate termination of the pregnancy, right? If someone were to use the pill or IUD and after they stop, they were to conceive a child and lose the baby, it would not be abortion, it would be a miscarriage. They did not intend to have a miscarriage and the pill would not have been used to terminate a pregnancy later on.

I think you misunderstand. The pill and IUD can prevent implantation which is an early abortion. That is one of the ways it acts, built into the design.

You also contradict yourself. You say there is “certainly nothing wrong” with using the pill to treat other medical conditions, such as amenorrhea. However, the pill treats this by using hormones, so wouldn’t that still be using an abortifacient device? What would you call that, an accidental abortion? Or is it okay to bend the rules?

That is properly termed the principle of double effect, and ALL the criteria of the principle of double effect would have to be met to legitimately prescribe any treatment that could cause abortion of a fetus. It is certainly possible that some situations do meet the critiera. Are you familiar with St. Gianna Molla?

 

[Holly3278]

You should really look into the side effects of contraception. It can cause a lot of health problems for women. Personally, if I were an OB/GYN I would not prescribe contraception at all. I also wouldn’t perform sterilizations or abortions.

 

[jilly4ski]

I know a family doctor/OB, who mainly does OB/GYN care. The clinic is a private pro-life clinic and many (all?) of the doctors are certified in NFP instruction. They are Catholic, as one can see the moment they walk through the door. (Religious pictures etc.). They will not refer or perform an abortion and neither will they prescribe birth control, and the patients know this. This is not imposing your moral beliefs on the patient, this is acting in accordance with your conscience in not cooperating with evil. (You wouldn’t prescribe a date rape drug to a rapist if you know what he was going to do with it, same principle applies).

 

[PumpkinSeed]

Well, since the church says birth control can be considered murder, would you hand a gun to a serial killer?

Prescribing birth control to them might have them potentially kill a fetus. Wouldn’t that make you an accomplice for giving them the tools to perform that murder?

 

[1ke]

Well, since the church says birth control can be considered murder

I think you need to substantiate this statement. I know of no church teaching that contraception is murder.

 

[PumpkinSeed]

I think you need to substantiate this statement. I know of no church teaching that contraception is murder.

It has the potential to cause miscarriage.

I have read on here that apparently the CC considers that murder.

 

[LittleFlower378]

Read section 23 of “Dignitas Personae” which talks about the IUD.

vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20081208_dignitas-personae_en.html

I would recommend 100% the book “Love and Responsibility - Pope John Paul II A Simplified Version by Monsignor Vincent M. Walsh J.C.D.”
Absolutely phenominal teaching on sexuality.

How beautifull would it be to practice 100% Natural Family Planning in your career. The Church is in such a need for this.

 

[1ke]

It has the potential to cause miscarriage.

Certainly some methods of contraception do so. However, not all do. You have made a blanket statement that cannot be substantiated.

I have read on here that apparently the CC considers that murder.

Again, reading it on CAF is not the same as the Church actually teaching it.

In certain cases, this may be true but it is not true in all cases.

 

[smiddle]

I think you misunderstand. The pill and IUD can prevent implantation which is an early abortion. That is one of the ways it acts, built into the design.

I think that you are confused on the definition of abortion. Medical abortion is a procedure that uses various medications to end an established pregnancy. (You can look that up on Mayo)

If there never was a pregnancy to begin with, then it cannot be considered abortion.

 

[1ke]

I think that you are confused on the definition of abortion. Medical abortion is a procedure that uses various medications to end an established pregnancy. (You can look that up on Mayo)

If there never was a pregnancy to begin with, then it cannot be considered abortion.

No I am not confused.

The medical community’s verbal acrobatics in an attempt to redefine preganancy so these drugs do not qualify as aborting is not recognized by the Church. What Webster says is irrelevant. What the Church says is relevant.

 

[smiddle]

I know a family doctor/OB, who mainly does OB/GYN care. The clinic is a private pro-life clinic and many (all?) of the doctors are certified in NFP instruction. They are Catholic, as one can see the moment they walk through the door. (Religious pictures etc.). They will not refer or perform an abortion and neither will they prescribe birth control, and the patients know this. This is not imposing your moral beliefs on the patient, this is acting in accordance with your conscience in not cooperating with evil. (You wouldn’t prescribe a date rape drug to a rapist if you know what he was going to do with it, same principle applies).

My mother has a friend that works in a practice like that, and I find it very interesting. My only reservation towards working in a setting like that is the fact that so many women need healthcare, and I would never want to work in a practice that would make someone feel uncomfortable going there for fear that they will be judged or not receive the proper care they deserve.

 

[jilly4ski]

I think that you are confused on the definition of abortion. Medical abortion is a procedure that uses various medications to end an established pregnancy. (You can look that up on Mayo)

If there never was a pregnancy to begin with, then it cannot be considered abortion.

Yes, we all know that the “medical” community uses duplicitous words and definitions to avoid the actual reality of what is happening.(A embryo, a new life, is being expelled from the uterus before implantation). However, doesn’t it seem a little inconsistent to state that there is no pregnancy until implantation, but then date a pregnancy from the menstrual period?