[quote]therajraj wrote:
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/02/09/4251671/catholic-students-for-womens-health.html
Catholic Students for Women’s Health Supports Birth Control Coverage
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By Catholic Students for Women’s Health
Published: Thursday, Feb. 9, 2012 - 10:46 am
WASHINGTON, Feb. 9, 2012 –
Coalition of students from Catholic universities and local DC campuses applaud HHS regulations providing birth control without co-pay, tell Bishops to “back off”
WASHINGTON, Feb. 9, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ – “We are here today speaking out for millions of students across the country that applaud the Obama administration’s regulations and demand our right to exercise our individual religious freedoms by making personal medical decisions without interference from religious authorities,” says Callie Otto, Co-Founder of the Catholic University Students for Choice, at today’s Catholic Students for Women’s Health press conference in Washington, DC.
Students from Catholic universities are joined today by their colleagues from other local campuses in support of the regulations recently proposed by the Department of Health and Human Services requiring birth control coverage without co-pays or deductible and responding to the subsequent outcry from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.
“We will not back down because we believe that the religious freedom of individual Catholics and students, no matter what their faith, and the need for comprehensive women’s healthcare must take priority to the demands of the Catholic Bishops,” Otto continued.
“Access to birth control is a matter of health and human rights,” said Tea Sefer, board member of American University Students for Choice. “We all need to acknowledge these basic facts. Women deserve to make decisions for themselves, without anyone else, Catholic Bishop or not, restricting their access to family planning tools.”
According to Georgetown Law Students for Reproductive Justice member Sandra Fluke, “In the worst cases, women who needed this medication for other medical reasons have suffered dire consequences. Just one example of many is a friend of mine. Her inability to access these prescriptions caused the loss of her ovary. These burdens are not shared by our male student colleagues.”
“Most women use contraception at some point in their life, including 98% of Catholic women[1],” says Keely Monroe, Fordham University alumnus. “Judging by the fact that only 10% of US Catholics believe that church leaders have the final say about contraception[2], I think we can all agree that a woman’s own conscience matters the most in matters relating to her health and life.”
[1] National Survey of Family Growth/Centers for Disease Control, cited in R.K. Jones and J. Dreweke, “Countering Conventional Wisdom: New Evidence on Religion and Contraceptive Use,” Guttmacher Institute, April 2011.
[2] National Catholic Reporter, “Right and Wrong: Who Has the Final Say?” October 24, 2011
SOURCE Catholic Students for Women’s Health[/quote]
The term “Catholic” refers to a specific set of beliefs and ideals. These belief and ideals are set forth in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC). While exhaustive, there are certain things that all Catholics must do and believe as rules of Faith. There are the Precepts of the Church (CCC 2042-2043), which all Catholics are obligated to adhere to, as well as all infallible doctrines, which all the Faithful are obligated to, at the least, obey. Part of being Catholic, in the truest sense of the word, includes adherence to the authority of the Magesterium (the bishops in union with the Pope), Tradition (the body of doctrine passed down from the Apostles), and Sacred Scripture. An individual cannot simply call themselves Catholic because their family was Catholic, or they were baptized Catholic, or attend Mass occasionally…this is by definition. Likewise, a group cannot call themselves Catholic when their members reject infallibly defined matters of faith and/morals (i.e. contraception, abortion, and women-priests).
(NOTE: there are differences in teachings. For example, the Catechism states that the state has the right to execute criminals–within certain boundaries–but that right should be rarely exercised. Seeing as this is a matter of prudence, a Catholic can, in good conscience, disagree with that. A Catholic can’t, in good conscience, disagree with the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception or that abortion is always gravely evil.)
This means two things:
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the sources cited above are suspect. For one, “Catholic Students for Women’s Health”, by supporting contraception, abortion, and abortofacient drugs, is not Catholic, by definition. For another, neither is the National Catholic Reporter, which has been condemned as heretical by the diocesan bishop in whose diocese its headquarters resides. Further, the group “Catholics for Choice” is not Catholic, rather anti-Catholic…and funded by the anti-Catholic George Soros.
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the “98% of Catholic women” figure cited in the source is obviously wrong. For one, about 50% of Catholic women are of not of child-bearing years, and have no need for contraception. For another, not all Catholic women who are of child-bearing age are sexually active, and have no need for contraception (this includes members of religious orders, and women who are choosing abstinence until marriage, which is apparently increasing among all Christian denominations). So, we are left with Catholic women who are of child-bearing age, and who are sexually active. We must, using the guidelines of the descriptive word “Catholic” whittle away at those self-professed Catholic women of childbearing age who are sexually active who attend Mass every week and every Holy Day of Obligation, who confess their sins at the least annually, who receive Holy Communion during Eastertide, and who give time, talent and treasure to the Church, and of that group, find out who is currently using contraception (the Guttmacher Institute–the research arm of Planned Parenthood–has, in the past, included in their numbers of women who use contraception women who at one time used it, but no longer do). It is no surprise that the supporters of Obama’s mandate have used this false 98% statistic. It has been trumpeted by Planned Parenthood and its allies for years in an attempt to sway Catholics into violating their Faith because “everyone is doing it.”
