Religious refusals to long-acting reversible contraceptives in Catholic settings: a call for evidence

No-cost contraceptive provisions as in the Affordable Care Act have substantially reduced the financial burdens that patients previously faced with long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) access. Such efforts have contributed to improved LARC uptake and substantial declines in unintended pregnancy and abortion rates. However, governmental protections that allow religious restrictions to care to be implemented at institutional and systemic levels currently limit equitable access by healthcare consumers. A significant proportion of the US healthcare market is controlled by Catholic healthcare systems, which use moral teachings to inform guidelines to care. Many patients do not realize that their healthcare choices will be affected by attendance at a Catholic institution, in part because such facilities do little to inform patients of restrictions to common reproductive services including LARC. Limited data demonstrate that often hormonal intrauterine devices are provided through workarounds, but that implants and copper intrauterine devices are rarely available or approved in Catholic settings. The scarcity of data, particularly on patient outcomes, is in part explained by research barriers within Catholic settings. This Call for Action sets forth the notion that we should no longer remain complicit with allowances for institutional religious refusals of care unless we understand medical and ethical outcomes.