Having meaningful agency over childbearing depends on access to reproductive healthcare. However, one-sixth of hospital beds nationally are in Catholic facilities, which prohibit key reproductive health services, including sterilization, reversible contraceptives, certain obstetric treatments, and abortion. The prevalence of being turned away from Catholic healthcare settings without receiving desired reproductive services is unknown, but documenting the effects of Catholic healthcare systems on reproductive health is necessary to help uphold patient autonomy.
To address these gaps, this study including HIP Investigator Dr. Marguerite Burns fielded a probability-based survey of reproductive-aged women in Wisconsin – the state with the highest concentration of Catholic hospitals in the country – to examine how religious restrictions in Catholic hospitals affect patients’ reproductive lives.
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