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    Catholic health care's wide reach can make it hard to get birth control in many places

    Religious rules guiding Catholic health care systems often mean their doctors can't prescribe contraceptives or perform tubal ligations. And sometimes that leaves patients with few other options.
    by Maria Godoy Sep 04, 2022 5 minutes
    Carmen Twillie Ambar, president of Oberlin College, said Oberlin had only recently learned that contraception restrictions would be enforced by the Catholic health system whose subsidiary was hired to run the college's health services. Earlier in August, she joined a meeting with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and other university and college presidents on access to reproductive health care.

    Last week, students returning to campus at Oberlin College in Ohio got a shock: A local news outlet reported that the campus' student health services would severely limit who could get contraception prescriptions. They would only be given to treat health problems — not for the purpose of preventing pregnancy — and emergency contraception would only be available to victims of sexual assault.

    It turned out the college had outsourced its student health services to a Catholic health agency – and like other Catholic health institutions, it follows religious directives that prohibit contraception to prevent pregnancy. They also prohibit gender-affirming care.

    "I would characterize the student's reaction as outrage," says Remsen Welsh, a fourth-year Oberlin student and co-director of the student-run Sexual Information Center on campus. "A lot of people in my circles were sending [the news story] around like, what is happening?"

    Although the college quickly came

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