Prescribing birth control

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sarahohm

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I am a new catholic (baptised and confirmed this Easter vigil) with much to learn.

I am also a Certified Nurse Midwife with full prescriptive authority and work in a busy federal hospital.
During postpartum visits, my patients frequently request some form of prescription contraception.

Can anyone provide guidance? Am I comitting a sin if I prescribe birth control to someone else?
The one catholic physician I know said, “no, this is dogma with a small d and does not seperate you from GOD. Besides, it is probably preventing some abortions”.

Is this correct?
 
sarahohm said:
The one catholic physician I know said, “no, this is dogma with a small d and does not seperate you from GOD. Besides, it is probably preventing some abortions”.

Is this correct?
Click to expand...
Actually, the teaching against birth control is not “small d dogma.” It is unchangeable doctrine, and it involves mortal sin.
 
sarahohm said:
I am a new catholic (baptised and confirmed this Easter vigil) with much to learn.

I am also a Certified Nurse Midwife with full prescriptive authority and work in a busy federal hospital.
During postpartum visits, my patients frequently request some form of prescription contraception.

Can anyone provide guidance? Am I comitting a sin if I prescribe birth control to someone else?
The one catholic physician I know said, “no, this is dogma with a small d and does not seperate you from GOD. Besides, it is probably preventing some abortions”.

Is this correct?
Click to expand...
Birth control has been in total contradiction of ALL Christian belief up until 1930 when the Anglican Church decided to allow its members to use it. The Catholic Church strictly forbids the use of artificial birth control. Yes, many Catholics including the physician that you quoted have their own personal opinions on this matter. Under the teachings of the Church we know that our sexuality is a gift from God and that it is to be utilized within the context of marriage as an act of conjugal love and procreation. To eliminate the procreation aspect is to disrespect the will of God for this sacred gift of unity.

Now, you should know better than I that some birth control pills actually induce an abortion. The mere fact that this can occur puts anyone knowing this in grave danger of breaking the fifth commandment and falling into mortal sin if one knows this and freely consents. If I were you I would discuss this with your parish priest for the sake of ironing out the specifics of your situation. You are in a tough situation but we deal with many tough situations and must utilize our conscience and our free will.

Now two things in closing, I never heard of dogma with a “big” d. I think that he was referring to tradition. And second, WELCOME HOME!! God bless you now and always and always feel free to ask anything to anyone. That is how we learn…teachccd
 
Welcome Home. You are going to want to do some research. Contact the National Catholic Bioethics Center for an understanding.

www.ncbcenter.org

Read the Address to Midwives

fisheaters.com/addresstomidwives.html

There’s a bunch of links in this recent thread-

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=325812

Article on a doctor who made the change-

archindy.org/criterion/local/2009/03-27/doctors.html

There’s always the Paul VI institute to see if they can offer any help.Perhaps hook you up with an NFP only practice.

popepaulvi.com/

You can call up your diocese and ask to talk to a moral theologian about doctors and contraceptives. If a contraceptive preparation is prescribed as a medical treatment then it is considered allowable. We cannot use or prescribe contraception though. There is no such thing as a small d Dogma.
 
There is no such thing as a small d dogma. The doctor you talked to is not a reliable source of information on Catholic moral teaching.

The Church teaches you cannot formally cooperate in a moral evil.

I suggest you research via the links Seatuck provided. Also, www.omsoul.com has a list of NFP only physicians. Perhaps talking to them can help you. I hope you will become certified as an instructor in one or more NFP methods, for a start.
 
One important thing to remember as a health care provider is the health of the patient. In brief, since 2004, the primary component of chemical contraception, steroidal estrogen has been on the Department of Health and Human Services list of known carcinogins…the type of cancers we are talking about are liver, breast and cervical. Now, there are claims that the “pill” protects from some cancers…but at a smaller rate than it promotes the aforementioned cancers. On the other hand, pregnancy is not a disease. On a practical level, then, there are no “benefits” of these steroids being introduced into a healthy body, since they can potential cause grave harm. They are objectively contrary to the well-being of your patients.

The Missionaries of Charity teach the Ovulation Method to women. So from a healthy woman point of view…promoting this plus breastfeeding is the best way to preserve your personal integrity, honor your professional responsibility and advocate the lifetime health of your clients.
 
If you decide to stop prescribing (and I hope you do :)), you are not alone.

There is a totally pro- life practice in Camp Hill, PA. 4 doctors, 2 midwives and a couple of nurse practitioners. When a woman calls for an initial appt, the receptionist immediately asks, “Are you looking for birth control?” The practice is flourishing.

There is another such practice in northern VA, though I don’t know how many docs are in it. I know a number of women who drive to northern VA to see these folks.

A female OB/ Gyn here in the Baltimore area recently announced that she will no longer prescribe artificial birth control. She is an answer to prayer, as many Catholic women in the area have been wanting such a doctor 👍.

Pray, pray, pray! Good luck to you.
 
Thank you so much to everyone who replied. The links that were provided have been a great resource.

I know that stopping is the right thing to…but how to is now the question.

I am active duty Army (comissioned officer), so changing practices is not an option.
I work in a busy medical center and the contraceptive issue comes up primarily at the postpartum visits (25% of my workload) and at least 75% of my patients request them. 😦

For me to refuse is going to create a problem…now I have to find a solution that is not perceived as denying care and not creating extra work for the other Midwives/OBs. One person suggested that I simply ask another provider to enter the prescription, but it seems to me that still makes me an instrument in the process.

I posted on another message board looking for advice from other birth professional. It is a natural parenting web, so I thought they would be tolerant of differing opinions…oh how I was wrong. This is the first time I have been attacked for being Catholic. I was told that I was “unprofessional” and that I was “forcing my beliefs on others”…I was also told to “leave the profession”.

I so love midwifery. Everytime I birth a child it feels like I am seeing the face of God. I am completely devoted to my patients and to be told that because I dont want to be a part of contraception I need to abandon my calling…well…it hurts.

I can only imagine the backlash I will receive form my coworkers. I am the “youngest” (newest) Midwife…and I am scared.

Please please pray for me.
 
My prayers for you and what must be a very difficult situation.
 
sarahohm said:
I know that stopping is the right thing to…but how to is now the question.
Click to expand...
Sara, there’s a book out there (that I haven’t read) called Physicians Healed. It’s about doctors who have made the switch from contraceptive practices to NFP-only practices, and you might get some ideas from that. You could also try contacting a physician or CNM from the One More Soul website to ask for suggestions about broaching the topic with your coworkers.

I think it would be easier to stop prescribing birth control if you were able to offer an alternative, i.e., a method of natural family planning. If you become certified in Creighton or Marquette, for example, then when a woman requests birth control you could say something like, “I don’t prescribe or provide contraception anymore because of religious and health reasons. But I do teach natural family planning if you’re interested.”
 
The Church teaches that you cannot formally cooperate in a moral evil. Therefore, you cannot prescribe birth control without committing a sin.
 
Oh, man. I sympathize with you to no end. You’re in an absolutely terrible position in a profession–in a world–that is increasingly intolerant of Catholic belief. It’s never easy to become a Catholic, and I fear this particular era may be the worst in quite some time.

No, I really don’t think that you can prescribe this stuff. It violates Catholic ethics. It violates medical ethics. It violates the Hippocratic Oath. It violates humanity. I also can’t see a simple way out of your position. My advice: talk to a priest. Then find another Catholic medical professional and talk to her (a serious Catholic, not the one you mentioned earlier); there are no doubt hundreds or thousands who have faced the dilemma before. And then, you’re probably going to want to talk to somebody on staff where you work. Internet people and patients are not very understanding of Catholic truth–in fact, they’re downright hostile to it–but I’ve found that work supervisors (mine, at least) are usually willing to find some kind of accomdation, especially if they know that they might lose a skilled and bright young worker otherwise.

As a final note, bear in mind that, one way or another, these women probably will obtain birth control. It’s not like you’re they’re only chance at it. As such, your job is to avoid direct cooperation: you can’t sign a birth control prescription, you can’t advise someone to get one, and, where prudent, it would be a kindness of you to suggest alternatives. But, ultimately, it is the patient’s decision to hurt herself. If you call over another OB to speak with the patient, and that OB chooses to fill out a prescription for birth control, then you have not cooperated and no moral fault belongs to you. It’s an awkward situation for all concerned, and a sinful one for most parties (not you), but it’s probably the situation you’ll end up with, and it is, in my understanding, morally acceptable.

Good luck. I’ll send a prayer or two your way.
 
Do take all the advice of all these helpful and faithful Catholics and I will keep you in my prayers. :crossrc:

I think you are just beginning to find out that now that you are Catholic you are going to be swimming against the tide. Jesus warned us that we were going to get treated this way.

:blessyou:

Here are some other wonderful sites to keep for future reference:

www.priestsforlife.org

this page is one you could read over soon
priestsforlife.org/contraception/index.htm

www.hli.org
especially this page: hli.org/contraception_resources.html

www.all.org
just go there and type in contraception in their search engine, you will learn this there:
Abortion is evil; contraception is evil; euthanasia is evil - and such evils will never be condoned by the Catholic church.

and of course this site itself is a wonderful resource, just go to the home page at
www.catholic.com and you can search to your hearts content.

You have been given excellent advice. Be not afraid!!

You just have to make some appointments with both your Parish Priest, your Catholic Chaplain, and your higher ups and try to go in with as much information as you can when you speak to them, you may just be the one to educate a lot of other Catholics that haven’t even given this a thought yet.
 
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