Critics, however, worry that the practices are segregating medicine along religious lines and may be providing inadequate care by failing to fully inform patients about their options. The critics are especially alarmed about the consequences in poor or rural areas with few alternatives.
First of all, accept some uninsured patients yourself, lady, if you're so concerned about "choices" for the poor. Tepeyac Family Center, profiled here, goes out of its way to turn no one away --which would seem to be a boon to the poor rather than a restriction on them.
Secondly, the untold story of the contraceptive approach to "feminine problems" --apart from the moral and social consequences-- is that it's put detailed understanding of the female reproductive system decades behind where it ought to be. It's the guys who are profiled here --Dr. Hilgers in Omaha in particular-- who are doing yeoman's work in medicine because rather than treating symptoms with the pill (and there's no moral problem with taking the pill for medical reasons), they're investigating and treating underlying causes. Anyone who's experiencing difficulty conceiving, for example, would be infinitely better served going to an NFP-only doctor who can read a sympto-thermal chart and know whether to suspect a progesterone problem or something else --than to a standard doctor who's just going to put you on fertility drugs right away. Sheesh. Talk about not giving women the full range of options.
Speaking of which, I completely relate to this lady:
I found it unspeakably irritating to be greeted at the post-partum check-up for each child (and this in the office of a pro-life doctor) by nurses who refused to believe I did not want a prescription for contraceptives. Such harrumphing you've never heard. The eye-rolling was the best --as if I'd said I didn't know where babies come from. I could never understand it. A, for all they know, I just preferred condoms; I don't wear an NFP light-up badge. B, do obstetric nurses not understand where their salary comes from?"I really like their whole approach," said JoEllen Murphy, 37, of Falls Church, who started going to Tepeyac after she got fed up with her previous doctor repeatedly asking her what kind of contraception she was using.
"It got annoying, so I decided to switch to Tepeyac," said Murphy, who is Catholic. "They share the same beliefs. You go there and know no one is going to try to talk me into something that I'm not morally comfortable with. I feel understood and not judged for my views."
Thirdly (curtsy to open book, where I found this), it's a good story, but WaPo might have told us their critic is not exactly a neutral observer.
Too bad [the author] didn't mention the left-wing abortion-advocacy credentials from her own biography: a member of the board of Planned Parenthood's Alan Guttmacher Institute and the "National Medical Advisory Committee" of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Perhaps there's a little ideology in her interpretation, not just a devotion to health care.
