Oberlin College, NPR Shocked Catholic Health Systems Follow Catholic Teachings on Artificial Birth Control

It's contracted outsourcing. Most 'Catholic' universities today just ignore the moral teachings of the Church, but Oberlin's not even Catholic.

From Le⟐gal In⟐sur⟐rec⟐tion

By Mary Chastain

Did you guys know that a Catholic health system follows the Catholic Church’s teaching on artificial birth control, abortion, and gender? WEIRD.

Oberlin College was shocked when it found out the Catholic-run health agency it chose to outsource for student health services is…Catholic.

It’s always Oberlin College. Why is it always Oberlin College!?

The Catholic Church urges natural family planning (which, after the experience, is relatively easy!) instead of artificial birth control. That includes birth control pills and tubal ligation (tying the fallopian tubes to stop ovulation).

Saint Pope John Paul II said avoiding pregnancy is okay, but it “cannot be ‘violated’ by artificial interference.”

The Vatican also confirmed the Church does not distinguish between gender and biological sex. The idea of transgenderism tries to “annihilate the concept of nature.”

So, of course, NPR ran interference for Oberlin and the left’s disdain for the Catholic Church.

Considering people love to bash Catholics, I find it impossible for people not to know the Church’s teaching on abortion, artificial birth control, sex, pregnancy, and gender.

Oberlin “Controversy”

I need to provide the backstory of the “controversy” at Oberlin before I get to the NPR hit piece.

The Chronicle-Telegram reported the changes to Oberlin College’s student health services. Officials hired Harness Health Partners, a Bon Secours Mercy Health subsidiary, a Catholic healthcare facility.

Oberlin President Carmen Twillie Ambar seemed surprised that Bon Secours Mercy Health follows Catholic Church teachings: “When we signed the contract with Harness, we were intent on ensuring that the services available at our Student Health Center were comparable to those provided in the past.”

NPR ran interference for Oberlin College, claiming a lack of transparency and ignorance. Again, who doesn’t know the Catholic Church’s stance on these subjects?

Lack of transparency, huh?

Harness Health Partners does not hide the fact that it is a subsidiary of Bon Secours Mercy Health.

Bon Secours Mercy Health’s Code of Conduct on its website plainly states: “True to our legacy and the work entrusted to us by our foundresses, our Mission reflects our Catholic heritage and commitment to those we serve.”

The Code of Conduct manual is also on the website. It says, “As a Catholic health ministry, BSMH is committed to complying with the Ethical and Religious Directive for Catholic Health Care Services (ERDs).”

The Ethical and Religious Directive for Catholic Health Care Services: “Catholic health institutions may not promote or condone contraceptive practices but should provide, for married couples and the medical staff who counsel them, instruction both about the Church’s teaching on responsible parenthood and in methods of natural family planning.”

Jennifer Robinson, a Bon Secours Mercy Health spokeswoman, told The Chronicle-Telegram that the clinic can prescribe artificial birth control with “medical intentions.” The morning after pill can “only be given to victims of sexual assault.”

A patient can fill prescriptions at retail pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens.

When Oberlin discovered the Catholic health center adhered to Catholic teachings (what a shock!), the school also “partnered with a local family planning clinic to offer reproductive health services on campus a few days a week.”

NPR Hit Piece

Can you guys believe that Catholic medical centers and hospitals follow Catholic teachings? NPR’s hit piece makes it sound like the Church has a plan to take over the healthcare system in America and do it by keeping people in the dark:

‘Not transparent at all’

Patients often aren’t aware that these restrictions might affect the care they get, says Lois Uttley, a senior advisor with the health advocacy group Community Catalyst. They may not realize their hospital or doctor’s office has Catholic ties. For instance, Common Spirit Health, one of the nation’s biggest health systems, is Catholic, but you wouldn’t know it from its name. And Uttley says Catholic health institutions typically don’t publicize these policies.

“They are not open and transparent about it at all,” Uttley says. “We think it’s only fair that a patient be warned ahead of time about what she may or may not be able to get at a local doctor’s office or urgent care center or hospital.”

I said I find it hard to believe that people do not know a Catholic hospital or medical center follows the Catholic Church, considering the left has loved to criticize the Church for as long as I can remember.

You know, who cares that these medical centers provide people with excellent care?

It’s weird because a non-Catholic friend who does not use the Mercy health system here in OKC wanted her tubes tied. She knew she couldn’t have it done after the birth of her child at Mercy Hospital. But when she and her doctor discussed which hospital she would use for her child’s birth and tying her tubes, her OB-GYN said that Mercy was not an option for birth then if she wanted her tubes tied after she gave birth.

My friend said she knew that artificial birth control goes against Catholic teaching.

My friend, a non-Catholic, knew it before her OB-GYN told her. Also, her OB-GYN told her it couldn’t happen at the Catholic hospital.

Then NPR gasped at the thought of “workarounds” at Catholic hospitals. Because, you know, who doesn’t do that? It’s also not a secret. It happens. But the reasons are also not illegitimate:

For example, hormonal IUDs can be used to control heavy menstrual bleedings, so doctors will often say they’re providing the IUD to treat this condition, even if the real goal is contraception.

Or doctors who aren’t allowed to perform a tubal ligation might instead remove the tubes altogether — they’ll just say it’s to lower a patient’s risk of ovarian cancer. Dr. Corinne McLeod, an OB/GYN at Albany Medical Center, says these kinds of workarounds were pretty common when she worked at a Catholic hospital in Albany, N.Y.

“That was basically a wink, wink, nudge, nudge,” McLeod says, adding, “Everybody knew what was happening. That was just the way they got around [restrictions].” One problem with relying on such loopholes, she says, is that if religious higher-ups at institutions get wind of it, they might crack down.

NPR and Oberlin College ruin their argument by including the “workaround” portion in the article.

You can also buy condoms and spermicide at pharmacies. Or you can choose, *gasp*, not to have sex.