The post Catholic Medical Association Deeply Concerned About FDA’s Approval of First OTC Oral Contraceptive appeared first on Catholic Medical Association.
]]>“Given the extensive medical studies demonstrating the risks and adverse effects of hormonal contraceptives, CMA is disappointed and concerned for the health and safety of women across the United States with this initial approval,” said Craig Treptow, M.D., President of CMA.
Supporters are already talking about this decision paving the way for additional contraceptives more potent than the ‘minipill’ and even the abortion pill to become available over the counter. And this approval comes despite some concerns by FDA scientists about the manufacturer Perrigo’s results, including whether women with certain underlying medical conditions would understand they should not take the drug like those who have or have had breast cancer, certain liver diseases, unexplained uterine bleeding or take certain medicines for tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS or to control seizures.
“This shows a total lack of regard for a woman’s health to offer a hormonal contraceptive available over the counter, without medical supervision. Women should be seen by a physician to make sure a drug as potent as a birth control pill is safe for her to take. These women deserve authentic medical care,” said Kathleen Raviele, M.D., an OBGYN and member of CMA’s Board of Directors.
Over the past twenty years, a range of medical publications such as The Lancet and The American Journal of Psychiatry have reported increased risk of a wide variety of problems, including breast cancer, brain tumor, HIV transmission, and suicide, none of which are lessened with Opill even if it is a single synthetic hormone.
“More troubling are statements by the World Health Organization that classifies oral contraceptives as a Class 1 carcinogen. Even the National Cancer Institute reports increased risk of breast and cervical cancer with these drugs,” said Tim Millea, M.D., Chair of CMA’s Health Care Policy Committee.
“The social impact of this decision is dramatic. More women, particularly adolescents and young adults, will develop these adverse effects. In addition, as they will no longer need medical evaluation to receive contraceptives, the delayed and missed diagnosis of cancer and sexually transmitted infections will become common. Sex traffickers will be free to purchase OTC contraceptives for the women under their control. This is not a victory for women’s health,” added Dr. Millea.
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]]>The post Catholic Medical Association Calls for Authentic Catholic Health Care appeared first on Catholic Medical Association.
]]>Recent troubling news reports claim that several hospitals and medical centers under the auspices of the largest Catholic health system in the U.S. are providing referrals for hormone interventions and puberty-blocking drugs to children, as well as conducting abortions, dispensing contraception, and performing sterilizations.
When Catholic health care institutions do not remain consistent with the Church’s social doctrine, scandal and confusion abound.
“Catholic health care is a ministry rooted in a commitment to promote and defend human dignity. When we fail to respect the sacredness of every human life from the moment of conception until natural death, we fail in our purpose and mission that has been our legacy,” said CMA President Dr. Craig L. Treptow.
Catholic health care makes up the largest group of nonprofit health care providers in the nation. Therefore, Catholic medical professionals have a responsibility to be a leading voice in the national discussion currently taking place around policies and actions that are contrary to the dignity and vocation of the human person.
“It is a legacy we must work hard to preserve despite the attacks and pressure to conform to unproven and unethical clinical practices in vogue today,” said Dr. Greg F. Burke, co-chair of the CMA Ethics Committee.
CMA is committed to helping medical professionals understand this special vocation in carrying forth Christ’s healing ministry. One way is through the high-quality annual conferences that have been inspiring and supporting such professionals for nearly a century. This year’s conference, “Be Not Afraid: Courageous Catholic Medicine,” will be held in Phoenix, Arizona. Click here for more information.
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]]>The post Catholic Medical Association Statement on FDA Support of Making Birth Control Available Over the Counter appeared first on Catholic Medical Association.
]]>“Given the extensive medical studies demonstrating the risks and adverse effects of hormonal contraceptives, CMA is disappointed and concerned for the health and safety of women across the United States,” said Craig Treptow, M.D., President of CMA.
Over the past twenty years, a range of medical publications such as Lancet and the American Journal of Psychiatry have reported increased risk of a wide variety of problems, including breast cancer, brain tumor, HIV transmission, and suicide.
“More troubling are statements by the World Health Organization that classifies oral contraceptives as a Class 1 carcinogen. Even the National Cancer Institute reports increased risk of breast and cervical cancer with these drugs. Cavalier approval of these drugs for OTC sale seemingly ignores these conclusions,” said Tim Millea, M.D., Chair of CMA’s Health Care Policy Committee.
“If fully approved by the FDA, the social impact of that decision would be dramatic. More women, particularly adolescents and young adults, will develop these adverse effects. In addition, as they will no longer need medical evaluation to receive contraceptives, the delayed and missed diagnosis of cancer and sexually transmitted infections will become common. Sex traffickers will be free to purchase OTC contraceptives for the women under their control. This is not a victory for women’s health,” added Dr. Millea.
“This shows a total lack of regard for a woman’s health to offer a hormonal contraceptive available over the counter, without medical supervision. Women should be seen by a physician to make sure a drug as potent as a birth control pill is safe for her to take. These women deserve authentic medical care,” said Kathleen Raviele, M.D., an OBGYN who is on CMA’s Board of Directors.
Lester Ruppersberger, D.O., who like Dr. Raviele is an OBGYN and former President of CMA, said “This FDA decision to make powerful hormonal contraceptives as over the counter medications is an egregious affront to the health and welfare of all women of childbearing age who may avail themselves of these risky and potentially life threatening and cancer causing medications. We strongly oppose this decision on the basis of risk vs. benefit as applied to all medically professionally prescribed medications.”
Earlier this week, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force issued a recommendation that women should be checked for breast cancer at age 40, rather than the previous 50. With the potential availability of OTC contraceptives and the recognized risk of breast cancer, such a recommendation would be necessary to save women’s lives.
The provision of OTC contraceptives is a decision based on convenience. America’s women deserve a decision that is focused on their best interests.
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]]>The post Catholic Medical Association Stands With Catholic Health Care Clinic Asking Court to Reverse Law Making it Illegal to Offer Women Natural Hormone to Reverse Abortion Pill appeared first on Catholic Medical Association.
]]>Bella Health and Wellness, a member of CMA, is a Catholic healthcare clinic and asserts in its case that the law “targets clinics that have a religious duty to help all pregnant women in need, including those who decide to continue their pregnancies after willingly or unwillingly taking the abortion pill.”
“We commend the courage that Bella Health and Wellness displays as it fights to stand up for what is right for women, as well as to protect the religious liberty and conscience of health care providers in Colorado and beyond,” said Craig Treptow, M.D., CMA President.
CMA also commends Becket Law, which represents Bella Health and Wellness.
“We support and echo Becket’s mission which states in part that it ‘exists to defend the free exercise of all faiths’ and pray for justice as this case moves through our court system,” said Tim Millea, M.D., Chair of CMA’s Health Care Policy Committee.
CMA and its expert membership, which is comprised of more than 2500 health care professionals, stands with Bella Health and Wellness as it urges the federal court to “strike the law down and uphold its right to serve women who choose to continue their pregnancies.”
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]]>The post Catholic Medical Association Applauds Court Decision to Halt FDA Approval of Chemical Abortion Drugs appeared first on Catholic Medical Association.
]]>The lawsuit, filed by Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine (of which CMA is a founding member), was argued by attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom in Amarillo, TX.
“The FDA’s approval of these dangerous chemical abortion drugs stands in direct violation of the right to life and inherit dignity each of us has from the moment of conception,” said Craig Treptow, M.D., CMA President.
ADF released a statement on April 7, sharing in part:
“By illegally approving dangerous chemical abortion drugs, the FDA put women and girls in harm’s way, and it’s high time the agency is held accountable for its reckless actions,” said ADF Senior Counsel Erik Baptist, who argued before the court (https://adfmedia.org/press-release/adf-court-protect-women-girls-dangerous-chemical-abortion-drugs) on March 15. “Pregnancy is not an illness, and chemical abortion drugs don’t provide a therapeutic benefit—they can pose serious and life-threatening complications to the mother, in addition to ending a baby’s life. The FDA never had the authority to approve these hazardous drugs or to remove important safeguards. This is a significant victory for the doctors and medical associations we represent and, more importantly, the health and safety of women and girls.”
Dr. Michael Parker, OBGYN, Immediate Past President of CMA and CMA’s board representative at Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, said “These types of drugs not only put our patients’ health in jeopardy, but they directly violate our Hippocratic oath to ‘do no harm,’ by taking the lives of the pre-born child.”
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]]>The post Catholic Medical Association Applauds USCCB Doctrinal Note on the Moral Limits to Technological Manipulation of the Human Body appeared first on Catholic Medical Association.
]]>“We commend the USCCB for its prudent effort in establishing important moral criteria and echo the need for ethical discernment as technology continues to advance,” said Craig Treptow, M.D., CMA President.
“Furthermore, CMA and its more than 2500 expert members maintain that biological identity is of paramount basis for treating patients,” added Dr. Treptow.
In its doctrinal note, USSB wrote in part that “careful moral discernment is needed to determine which possibilities should be realized and which should not, in order to promote the good of the human person,” stressing the concerning “range of technological interventions advocated by many in our society as treatments for what is termed “gender dysphoria” or “gender incongruence.”
“The USCCB reinforces the Church’s teaching that ‘the human person, body and soul, man or woman has a fundamental order and finality whose integrity must be respected’ and surgical or chemical interventions to feminize or masculinize the body ‘do not respect the fundamental order of the human person,’” said Michelle Stanford, M.D., Vice President of CMA and pediatrician.
Dr. Michelle Cretella, CMA member and former executive director of the American College of Pediatricians endorsed the doctrinal note publicly, saying it “is in line with both the best science and the ancient medical ethics principle of ‘first do no harm.’”
Dr. Cretella stressed that these types of technological manipulations
“disrupt normal healthy processes and physically destroy normal function of healthy body systems.”
“While we welcome technology and all of the good it can do for science and medicine, we must maintain moral integrity and ensure we are using it in line with our conscience,” said Dr. Treptow.
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]]>The post Catholic Medical Association Applauds AMA Recognition of Hormonal Contraceptives Link to Risk of Breast Cancer appeared first on Catholic Medical Association.
]]>AMA shared the findings of a study which indicate that certain types of hormonal birth controls are associated with the increased risk:
“…the relative risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer was 20% to 30% higher among women who use or recently used birth control pills with a two-hormone combination, progestogen-only pills or hormonal IUDs compared to women who did not.”
“We applaud the AMA for sharing the truth with its members- and with women- to make clear and transparent the true risks of these drugs,” said CMA President, Craig Treptow, M.D.
“It is long overdue for the AMA to acknowledge what the WHO stated as early as 2005[1] that hormonal contraceptives increase a woman’s risk of breast cancer,” said Kathleen Raviele, M.D., an OBGYN, CMA board member and past president.
Dr. Raviele, who also said these drugs increase a woman’s risk for cervical cancer, stressed that women deserve to know all of the risks involved in taking them.
CMA and its expert members have long warned of these risks and other ethical issues with hormonal contraceptives.
In a 2016 statement, CMA said “Contraception has many harmful physical effects. Oral contraceptives are associated with an increased risk of breast cancer, including one of the deadliest and most difficult to treat subtypes, premenopausal Triple Negative Breast Cancer. Hormonal contraceptives (HCs) of various types are also associated with increased risk of venous thromboembolism, myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke, depression, and reduced sexual functioning and interest, among other serious medical issues…”
“This information is shocking but not new and the increased risk for breast cancer in women who are taking the pill, and for several years after, has been known for a long time. Attempts to make it more widely known have been thwarted for almost 25 years and millions of women have been affected, unfortunately,” said Lester Ruppersberger, D.O., OBGYN and past president of CMA.
When women widely learned in 2002 that combined hormone replacement therapy increased their risk of breast cancer by 26 percent, about half immediately stopped taking them. This resulted in significantly lowering the incidence of postmenopausal breast cancer that has remained to this day. There are 12 million premenopausal women taking hormonal contraception in the U.S. today,” said Angela Lanfranchi, M.D,, CMA State Director for New Jersey and President of the Breast Cancer Prevention Institute.
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]]>The post <strong>CMA Opposes FDA Decision Allowing Retail and Mail Order Abortion Pills</strong> appeared first on Catholic Medical Association.
]]>Prior to the pandemic, mifepristone had to be dispensed in-person by a certified abortion provider. Under this new rule, a retail pharmacy can dispense the medication in-person or by mail after receiving a prescription. The second drug used in chemical abortions, misoprostol, is already available in retail pharmacies. This action on the part of the FDA will greatly expand the number of women and girls choosing to abort their unborn children, resulting in numerous complications.[1] Because of the potentially dangerous side effects of these drugs, the medical liability for these pharmacists and pharmacies will increase.
Many retail pharmacies and grocery stores with pharmacies have clinics associated with them. The prescription for the abortion drugs could be dispensed by a certified prescriber in the clinic and filled by the pharmacy, thus converting a retail business that sells many other products into an abortion clinic. This will violate the rights of conscience of those opposed to abortion, including pharmacists and store employees. In addition, customers of the pharmacy who oppose abortion will be rightfully motivated to seek a pharmacy that does not participate in this activity.
Not only is access to this drug through the mail allowed, but dispensing it via a telemedicine visit only is permitted as well, which facilitates the potential for even further harmful effects. “Mail order abortions” will leave women without a nearby provider for follow-up care or management of complications, which occur in more than seven per cent of cases [2]. In addition, such impersonal provisions of the drugs will allow many other tragic consequences, including: the concealment of the rape of a minor; inability to diagnose an ectopic pregnancy; obtaining the drugs for someone other than the alleged patient; and, use of the drugs for a pregnancy beyond the ten weeks gestation allowed by the FDA.
As health care professionals, medical ethicists, pharmacists and patient advocates, the Catholic Medical Association is strongly opposed to these actions that will harm the quality of care that women need and deserve, and also ignore the rights of those working in and patronizing the businesses that may participate. These decisions must be reconsidered and rescinded for the benefit of all concerned parties.
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[1] ACOG Practice Bulletin, Number 225. Medication abortion up to 70 days of gestation. Obstet Gynecol. 2020; 136(4): e31-e47.
[2] Carlsson I, Breding K and Larsson P-G. Complications related to induced abortion: a combined retrospective and longitudinal follow-up study. BMC Women’s Health. 2018; 18:158. https//doi.org/10.1186/s12905-018-0645-6
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]]>The post Catholic Medical Association to Join Tens of Thousands in First Ever Post-Roe March for Life appeared first on Catholic Medical Association.
]]>WASHINGTON, DC- January, 20, 2023- Members of The Catholic Medical Association (CMA) will take to the streets of Washington, DC today to participate in the 50th annual March for Life.
“Today we join thousands in the first ever post Roe March for Life, a truly historic day in our country,” said CMA President, Craig Treptow, M.D.
The theme of the 2023 March for Life is Next Steps: Marching in a post-Roe America. March for Life says its theme “advocates to continue boldly marching in defense of the unborn – both on the state and federal level – and advocating for a minimum federal standard to protect innocent life against radical pro-abortion legislation. ”
The theme resonates greatly with CMA and the work of its members.
In the years and months leading up to the historic Supreme Court of the United States decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, CMA contributed moral and medical expertise to the discourse.
“Our members worked tirelessly to share the science and promote the truth that life begins at conception,” added Dr. Treptow.
Members of the CMA participating in the March for Life will wear their white coats to underscore the important role science plays in the recognition of the unborn as a person.
CMA is proud to march this year to show its gratitude to God for the overturning of Roe and as a reminder to legislators and others that we will continue to advocate for the life and dignity of all persons whether on a state or federal level.
We continue to pray for the lives lost and affected by abortion.
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]]>The post Catholic Medical Association Applauds Court Ordered Decision to Restore FABMs Insurance Requirements appeared first on Catholic Medical Association.
]]>Catholic Medical Association applauds a court ordered decision to restore insurance requirements for fertility awareness-based family planning methods to the Affordable Care Act after the Biden administration illegally removed it last year.
The court sided in favor of CMA member, Dr. Cami Jo Tice-Harouff, who sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in the matter.
In November of 2021, CMA issued public comments about FABM, recommending that instruction in fertility awareness-based methods continue to be provided for women desiring an alternative method in tracking fertility.
Dr. Tice-Harouff was represented by attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom who issued the following statement regarding this legal victory:
ADF attorneys secure favorable settlement in federal lawsuit for Dr. Cami Jo Tice-Harouff, countless women
TYLER, Texas – A federal court issued an order Tuesday restoring fertility awareness-based methods of family planning to health insurance plans nationwide that cover at least 58 million women. The court’s order restores language to requirements issued under the Affordable Care Act that provide women coverage for these alternative family planning methods after the Biden administration illegally eliminated it one year ago without responding to any public objections or giving any explanation for the change.
Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys had argued for that result in the lawsuit Tice-Harouff v. Johnson, in which they represent a Texas licensed nurse practitioner. Dr. Cami Jo Tice-Harouff provides patients with instruction in several different evidence-based fertility awareness methods of family planning.
“The Biden administration can’t illegally impose its own preferred contraceptive methods on all women without even allowing them to express their views. When it comes to family planning, countless women depend on fertility awareness-based methods to help them raise families in a manner consistent with their unique needs,” said ADF Senior Counsel Julie Marie Blake. “We’re pleased to favorably settle this case on behalf of our client, Dr. Tice-Harouff, who is providing experienced care to women across the country, and on behalf of all the women who use fertility awareness-based methods and can now keep their preferred doctor and insurance coverage.”
In August, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division, issued an ordertemporarily blocking the Biden administration’s procedurally flawed attempt to eliminate language requiring health insurance coverage of fertility awareness-based methods of family planning. Tuesday’s order undoes the administration’s illegal action and finally restores the key language requiring that coverage of “instruction in fertility awareness-based methods … should be provided for women desiring an alternative method.”
The Affordable Care Act prevents insurance plans from imposing any cost-sharing requirements on women seeking “preventative care and screenings,” as defined by a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In 2016, HHS included “instruction in fertility awareness-based methods” as part of this requirement. However, in December 2021, HHS removed that language from its list without using the notice-and-comment process or giving any rationale, both of which are mandated by the Administrative Procedure Act.
Tice-Harouff, who is a licensed nurse practitioner in Tyler with a doctorate in nursing practice, is also licensed in several other states. She donates the proceeds she receives from insurance providers to a non-profit clinic through which she provides health care to patients in need.
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.
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