"But, the ability to walk away is a real and tangible privilege. I could seek spiritual and material options. I had an understanding-if-startled family, was educated, could support myself, was healthy, had no children. I was reliant on the church for nothing. That is not the case for many, including non-Catholics, who are closely tied to the church through culture, conscience, faith, marriage, need or employment."

relegate those who are less educated, less affluent, and had children to a virtual mental prison?

Just wondering.

to stay with or leave a specific institution.

And that some people have more privilege and that gives them greater latitude.

Just as the author does.

and parents of many children have just as much free will and opportunity to make a "choice" when held under a contrived threat of punishment for not obeying and adhering to what they were taught? This is more true for women than for men, as the author also points out, because the religion teaches the women that they are less powerful than men. Yet you feel that such a "choice" is their own to freely make?

What part of that assures people that they all have free will, that they all are equally capable of making such "choices"?

Thanks for posting this. It's an interesting and well thought out article.

I received an email from my alma mater today (a Jesuit university) with all kinds of claptrap about the bill and how we should oppose it. Here's the letter I wrote back to them:

"As an alumni of both _______ University and ______ University, I am disappointed that the Catholic Church still does not recognize women’s right to decide about their own bodies. Therefore, I still cannot contribute in any way to either institution or any arm of the Catholic Church.

It is inappropriate for male bachelors to tell women what to do. Since they have no life with women or children, in the sense of working on a marriage or raising a family, they should just keep quiet and let women decide what they need to do for themselves and their families. It is between women, their families, and their God. It is no one else’s business!

This situation, along with the Catholic Church’s refusal to allow women to fully participate in leadership positions, means that I still will not be able to participate in the Church. It is very disappointing to me that the Church is still stuck in ancient practices.

I am sorry about that, but I have tried too many times to reconcile with the Church and have found that I simply cannot support a Church that denies women full expression of their God-given talents and that denies them the right to make choices over their reproductive life.

Please don’t ever again contact me on these issues. "

and haven't been for half my life now.