Want a tubal ligation? It's a significant but relatively straightforward surgical procedure, and a lot of women "tie the tubes" when they don't want have any more babies. It's often an option provided when delivering a baby by C-Section.
But don't ask for one if you're at a Catholic-owned or -operate hospital. The US Bishops think sterilization is a sin, and, even if you're not Catholic, it's going to be off the surgical table. And the Catholics own or operate an increasingly large proportion of hospitals in the US.
Originally shared by +Kee Hinckley:
It's scary that so many hospitals are controlled by a group whose religious beliefs trump your medical care.
U.S. Bishops Take Aim at Sterilization
A toughening of Catholic medical directives could include enforcing a ban on tubal ligations.
It's hilarious, this circus of men in dog collars. Theatre of the Absurd
Is there anything in the Bible to support this view, or is it an extension of the Commandment prohibiting killing/murder?
+Scott Randel Biblical discussions of contraception per se are lacking; ones about abortion are far less rigid than Catholic (or Evangelical) doctrine.
The main arguments taken here seem to be both the Genesis injunction to go forth and multiply, the reference (in the Psalms, I believe) that God knows you before you were born (therefore anything that stops your being conceived is wrong), and things like that. And while it's been a century or two since Biblical scholars thought the sin of Onan was masturbation (rather than using coitus interruptus to not fulfil his religious duty to service his brother's widow), I suspect that whole episode plays a role, too.
I've never quite gotten why "natural family planning" (the rhythm method) is okay, given that general argument, but even with centuries of theological discussion it's not clear to me that the Church position on all of this is all that coherent.
+Dave Hill I would imagine it would be most incoherent on these things.
This is the same group that disallows an abortion for tubal pregnancies, but OKs the removal of the fallopian tube, making the death of the fetus, just collateral damage. So, birth control is bad, but removing a woman’s fertility so you can pretend an abortion didn’t occur is just fine. A pox on the USCCB and all who sail in her.