Bishops and Bodies
eBook - PDF

Bishops and Bodies

Reproductive Care in American Catholic Hospitals

  1. 229 pages
  2. English
  3. PDF
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

Bishops and Bodies

Reproductive Care in American Catholic Hospitals

About this book

Winner of the 2024 Donald W. Light Award for Applied Medical Sociology, American Sociological Association's Section on Medical Sociology

One out of every six patients in the United States is treated in a Catholic hospital that follows the policies of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. These policies prohibit abortion, sterilization, contraception, some treatments for miscarriage and gender confirmation, and other reproductive care, undermining hard-won patients' rights to bodily autonomy and informed decision-making. Drawing on rich interviews with patients and providers, this book reveals both how the bishops' directives operate and how people inside Catholic hospitals navigate the resulting restrictions on medical practice. In doing so, Bishops and Bodies fleshes out a vivid picture of how The Church's stance on sex, reproduction, and "life" itself manifests in institutions that affect us all.

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Yes, you can access Bishops and Bodies by Lori Freedman in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Social Sciences & Gynecology, Obstetrics & Midwifery. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Series Page
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright
  5. Dedication
  6. Contents
  7. Foreword by Debra Stulberg
  8. Prologue: Unsafe and Unequal
  9. Introduction: Doctrinal Iatrogenesis
  10. 1. Growth: How Catholic Health Care Expanded
  11. 2. Inferior: How Catholic Directives Contradict Medical Standards
  12. 3. Consumer Medicine?: Patients and the Illusion of Choice
  13. 4. Emergencies: Patient Loss and Suffering
  14. 5. Mostly Above-Board Workarounds
  15. 6. Under-the-Radar Workarounds
  16. 7. Separation of Church and Hospital
  17. Conclusion
  18. Appendix: Positionality, Methods, and Scholarly Journey
  19. Acknowledgments
  20. Notes
  21. Index
  22. About the Author
  23. Series Titles