Miss Krakenmaster ("Considering contraception," Nov. 6),
I am sorry you get judged. No one deserves to be judged for a medical condition, and it saddens me that people can be that way. I understand your need for birth control pills - a close friend of mine took them for a period of time to treat a medical condition. I myself may need them to help treat recurrent, cyclical depression symptoms. But using the pill as a medical treatment is very different from using the pill as contraception.
In a society where very few are in the situation similar to those in "countries deeply affected by AIDS and other STIs," and few women are prescribed birth control pills exclusively to treat medical conditions, most of the time condoms and birth control are contraception. And the teaching of the Catholic Church is clear that contraception is wrong and "is not okay." Using the pill or condoms to treat and prevent disease is one thing, the prevention of conception is a side effect; to use them to prevent life is quite another. It is when people use the pill and condoms as contraception that some start using it as "a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be."
Further, most insurance providers already cover the use of birth control for medical treatment. Even the current insurance at Notre Dame covers it. The issue with HHS mandate is that it forces Catholic institutions to provide contraception, not medical treatment, which goes against Catholic teaching and our consciences. It is not the medicine that is the problem, but its use.
Respectfully,
Marie Moya
senior
Cavanaugh Hall
Nov. 6
