What do you think about church owned hospitals denying raped women the morning-after pill. ?

Question

Have a look at this article and tell me what you think!
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,21040473-5005961,00.html

RayeKaye, point of clarification these hospitals are not sponsored by the church, the church is buying the hospital and closing the fertility departments and posting codes of conduct to the doctors that prevent them from referring patients for treatment to places where the pill is available, effectively they are restricting the treatment options available to vulnerable women who may not have another hospital in the town they could have gone to. The issue is not is the church banning the pill, the issue is the patients best interests are subjugated to an ideology based on superstition regardless of their faith, after they went to hospital. If these girls went to church after they were raped then that would be different,

Answer 1

I just went a read the article.

It has me as a medical professional fuming.

One of the Code of Ethics and Practice we must follow is to respect ALL cultural practices and beliefs. And support these things.

What the Church is doing is breaking this Code. Reguardless of the Church's feelings, beliefs and wants they also should respect the woman's point of view.

I am the product of a rape on the early 70's and I know my mum loves me but still see's 'that' man in my face to remind her every day what happened that night. But if she had, had the option back then to have this pill she would have taken it and I would not be around.

It is not fair to the woman to have the baby 'forced' on her after the man 'forced' himself on her as well.
It is however the woman's choice to decide for herself what she wishes to do. She may want to carry it to term and adopt the child or care for it as mum did with me.

It's not up to anyone else to decide for any woman what she is to do aftera rape. She needs support not opposition.

What would happen if it was a man in the woman's position? If he could get pregnant from raping a woman instead of the other way around. Should he have no option to carry the baby?
But then again he has raped and should put up with his sin.

Answer 2

It's a very sticky situation.
Though as to why people are surprised Catholics, the ones who don't believe in any type of birth control, are denying it, I'm not sure.
For one, taking a life is a sin in Christianity and more so when it's the life of an innocent person.
But the rape itself was a grave sin.
It's the whole sin begets sin thing.

Ideally, if the woman were a practicing Christian, she would find a way to carry the child to term.
Which is a terrible thing to imagine, as a Christian.

Where I stand, most unwanted pregnancies come from one night stands, casual sex, or just plain carelessness.
It's a mistake people make, and they should live with the consequences.
But a lot of women that are raped didn't do anything wrong.
That is, the sober women who happened to be alone at the time.
And the raper probably isn't going to stick around to deal with his mistake, so that point's moot.

Furthermore, the unwanted child would be a constant reminder of a traumatic night.
But, if you think about it, all children are constant reminders of a painful childbirth.
So after all that rambling, I don't have an answer from my own mind and rationalization.

But as for the hospital, it's just a hospital.
It's not like these women are being forced to go there, they chose it and they can find another place to go if they still want the morning after pill.
I can see the concern about their influence spreading, but that means they aren't big right now and I fail to see the hospital as a serious problem.

Answer 3

A hospital should be an unbiased community that will give the correct treatment no matter what beliefs the hospital may hold. If somebody wants that MAP and it is safe to give then the hospital has no right denying the patient of that drug.

The hospital is there to help people to the best of there ability and to cure/treat patients without there own religious beliefs being involved.

The hospital should be taken over if there number 1 priority isnt doing all they can for the patients health and if they are letting there own opions effect the patients care they should not be treating people.

Answer 4

A hosptial is there to help people, same as doctors. Hosptials aren't the only ones doing it. Some doctors are denying women birth control because of religious beliefs. I can understand catholic hospitals doing it because it is against what they believe, but if that hosptial is the only one or the only one that takes people that don't have insurance what are these women supposed to do? I am a Christian and believe abortion is wrong. Some women think the pill just keeps you from getting pregnant, but if you already are it gets rid of the embryo. I don't know what I would do in that situation. I would hope I would keep it but now days the rapist could find out he had a kid and fight for custody!!

Answer 5

It's common knowledge that the Catholic church opposes abortion as well as birth control. A rape victim seeking treatment at a Catholic hospital should not be surprised to be denied a morning-after pill. The rape victim should simply go to a different hospital or, upon discharge, go directly to a pharmacy that carries Plan B.

We are fortunate in America to have such options when it comes to health care.

Answer 6

Church doctrine only says that Catholics THEMSELVES cannot use birth control or have abortions. Never have they been commanded to refuse to give birth control to others, or to mislead a woman who has been raped into thinking that they have no safe method of preventing pregnancy.

You can be a religious person without being a hypocrite. You don't see Orthodox Jews bombing tattoo parlors, do you? Yet they would never get a tattoo themselves, as it is a commandment in Leviticus not to. The laws that you personally choose to follow - particularly when they are relatively NEW, such as birth control rules and abortion rules, do not apply to other people.

Answer 7

Personally i was always unsure of my views on abortion, but recently a teacher made a speech about it , and she sed that no one has the right to take another life. Even if a woman has been raped, it has happened, you should not punish an innocent child for what sumone else has done to you, and i have to say i agree with her. However i don't think people have the right to say something is definitely right or wrong unless they no the circumstances.

Answer 8

The church's explanation is that abortion (or the pill) prevent a life from being formed, and can thus be equated with murder.
Whether it's the child of a rapist or a boyfriend doesn't change the fact that life is being stopped, as the baby is innocent.
Not saying I agree or disagree, but I believe that's what they think.

Answer 9

Is it authentic? often times, confident. further information you're ultimate:Plan B does not kill a toddler. It only stops a fertilized egg from implanting on the uterine wall, and being expelled during the subsequent menstrual pass, as many situations happens regularly. If that have been to be viewed homicide, then each woman who ever had a miscarriage is responsible of homicide. "Is anybody ignorant sufficient to have self belief that?" confident, many all and sundry is ignorant sufficient to have self belief Plan B 'kills a toddler'.

Answer 10

I think it's disgusting that medical providers would refuse to refer raped women (or any woman who requested the information ) to a location that provided Plan B or the morning-after pill. Plan B is not a form of abortion, it actually is a super dose of birth control that helps prevent pregnancy. So the church is not refusing medical assistance because of their views on abortion, as they imply; they are refusing medical care because of their opposition to birth control, which is not as widely known. Some people say that women should just go to a different hospital or medical provider, but in rural areas, there can be few medical providers and even fewer hospitals to choose from. I grew up in rural areas, and there were two hospitals in a 50 miles radius, with no public transportation available to get to either one.

The right-wing has done an excellent job in the US misrepresenting what Plan B is, so pharmacies and pharmacists (in spite of their professional obligations) refuse to dispense Plan B, which should be distributed as soon as possible, to be effective. NARAL conducted a study in my state, North Carolina, and Plan B is not available in 40 percent of NC pharmacies (they surveyed 600 pharmacies). So going to a different pharmacy to get the Plan B pill could take quite a while, especially if you live in isolated rural areas of our state. In addition, right-wingers in the US are encouraging pharmacists to refuse to distribute over the counter and prescription birth control. Again, you can go to different pharmacists or pharmacies, but what if you have limited access to transportation? Right now, pharmacists who refuse to distribute any kind of birth control do not have to refer customers to alternative locations. Some pharmacists have lectured women who were trying to buy birth control--here's some of the stories of women being refused access to birth control: http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/assets/files/Birth-Control-Pharmacy-Access.pdf

Here's info about the new ABC act that has been introduced in the US to guarantee women's access to birth control:
http://www.plannedparenthood.org/news-articles-press/politics-policy-issues/abc-act-14697.htm

Great question!