In case there were any doubt

The causal link between contraceptives and the abortion industry is clearly visible in these two articles, one from the Washington Post and another from FirstThings.

FirstThings reports the War on Abstinence: In this year’s Planned Parenthood annual report, the group boasts success in getting governors to reject federal funding for abstinence: “The tide is shifting in America, and last year 10 governors refused” federal funding. On their website, you’ll find hyperlinks where you can “help Planned Parenthood bring vital information about birth control and responsible decision making to the classroom” and “tell your elected representatives it’s time to end dangerous abstinence-only programs and to stand up for real sex education!”

The motivations for the campaign are probably legion. Planned Parenthood and their allies stand to make millions of dollars: The federal funding that goes to abstinence education is funding that they would like to be receiving. But the financial interests are secondary. The war on abstinence is the latest battleground in the culture wars. Arguing that it is “one of the religious right’s greatest challenges to the nation’s sexual health,” Planned Parenthood insists that abstinence is “only one tactic in a broader, more long-term strategy” in the conservative arsenal. And Planned Parenthood sees itself as the great opponent to this supposed assault on sexual freedom.

Then note this reaction to Pro-Life Pharmacies by one lawyer, as reported in the WP:
"We may find ourselves with whole regions of the country where virtually every pharmacy follows these limiting, discriminatory policies and women are unable to access legal, physician-prescribed medications," said R. Alta Charo, a University of Wisconsin lawyer and bioethicist. "We're talking about creating a separate universe of pharmacies that puts women at a disadvantage."

What gets me are the claims that contraception has any advantage for women, that contraceptive sex is real (as opposed to sterilised and therefore void), or that it has anything to do with public healthiness or being a responsible decision-maker.

Contraception causes women to be alienated from their own bodies, renders coitus void, ensures the spread of disease, and discourages the virtues of restraint, humility, and chastity. Promoting its use among teens simply creates for PP a wider market of abortion-seekers. Atrocious.

One last quote from an opponent of Pro-life Pharmacies:
"If you are a health-care professional, you are bound by professional obligations," said Nancy Berlinger, deputy director of the Hastings Center, a bioethics think tank in Garrison, N.Y. "You can't say you won't do part of that profession."

Let's pray for health-care providers and their consciences. Let's pray that this profession recover a genuine concept of 'health' and 'care'. Let's pray for new students of this profession that they be guided by natural law and not the deceipt and manipulation of those with a political agenda.

UPDATE:
As if in answer to prayer, I found this article just after publishing my post. One quote:
The bishops' letter said all [Migration and Refugee Services] staff will receive training on "the primacy of Catholic teachings and beliefs as they impact their work or professional ethics ... to assure that such unacceptable incidents never happen again." The incident? Signing off to allow a minor-aged refugee to procure an abortion.

And should you want to dismiss the 'evil' Catholic Church as a bunch of spiteful old men, watch this video and tell me the Church has no respect for women.