Washington D.C., Jul 14, 2023 / 09:55 am
Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, unequivocally condemned the FDA’s approval of the first over-the-counter oral contraceptive “Opill” in a short but strongly worded statement released Thursday on behalf of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The use of artificial contraceptives of any kind is directly contradictory to Catholic moral teaching and is “intrinsically evil,” according to paragraph 2370 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
As head of the U.S. bishops’ Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth Committee, Barron decried the FDA’s latest action as a violation of the Hippocratic Oath, a vow health providers take to “do no harm.”
“Allowing this hormonal contraception to be dispensed ‘over the counter’ — without the supervision of a doctor and contrary to the mounting evidence of many harmful side effects — violates the Hippocratic Oath by putting the health of women at grave risk,” Barron said.