“I urge the FDA to reject this recommendation,” Barron said.
“Fertility is a gift, not a disease,” Barron’s statement on behalf of the USCCB continued.
“Contraceptives exist to suppress the healthy functions of human reproduction. The mounting evidence of the many harmful side effects of hormonal contraceptives demonstrates that they are not good medicine,” the statement said.
To allow hormonal contraception access without medical supervision, he said, is “antithetical to the Hippocratic Oath that guides physicians to first ‘do no harm.’”
In Nov. 14, 2022, comments submitted to the FDA advisory panel, the USCCB joined the National Catholic Bioethics Center, the Catholic Medical Association, and the National Association of Catholic Nurses, who represent thousands of health care providers and medical ethicists, to oppose allowing over-the-counter use of Opill.
“The failure rate of the minipill is higher than that of other hormonal contraceptive methods and will result in many unintended pregnancies, leading to potentially more abortions,” the letter said. It warned of serious harm to teens who will have access to the drug without parental notification.