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.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

LORI FREEDMAN is a sociologist, bioethicist, and professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences with the Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) program of the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health at the University of California, San Francisco. She is the author of Willing and Unable: Doctors’ Constraints in Abortion Care.

DEBRA STULBERG is a professor and department chair of family medicine at the University of Chicago.

REVIEWS

"Bishops and Bodies takes the reader on a gut-wrenching journey through the consequences of having Catholic bishops determine the options for reproductive healthcare. . . . It should be required reading for healthcare professionals and recommended for anyone interested in reproductive healthcare and human rights."

— Journal of Church and State

"Bishops and Bodies is poised to make a significant impact not just in social science and medical humanities circles, but in broader public conversations about health care, reproductive rights, and the place of religion in society."

— Jessica Martucci, author of Back to the Breast: Natural Motherhood and Breastfeeding in America

"Freedman is a gifted writer: these narratives are superbly written, as is the book overall."— Journal of Moral Theology

"Brilliant. . . . The trust Freedman built with her numerous interviewees is crucial, and readers are lucky they are willing to share their experiences. The book is full of compelling stories from patients and doctors, grounding Freedman's nuanced insights about the workings of Catholic health care. . . . It's all important. It's not a long book, and it is well worth the time spent. In nuanced detail, Freedman shows the dangers to pregnant and birthing people of a world in which medical care comes second to theology and politics, and those who carry pregnancies are treated as vessels. Many more Americans live in that world now, and all of us should be concerned about the consequences."— Nursing Clio

"We would do well to study [Freedman's] work carefully . . . . Bishops and Bodies memorably demonstrates the power of abortion stigma . . . . While we have allowed ourselves to imagine abortion, and really all reproductive healthcare, as somehow distinct from other forms of medicine, Freedman shows this to be a mirage."— Catholics for Choice

“It’s a recipe for disaster—the Catholic Church wants the most births possible, and most American women want to limit their childbearing and protect their health with modern advances in contraception and abortion. Yet in the name of corporate conscience, our anachronistic laws allow Catholic healthcare to require physicians of all faiths to do things that violate medical ethics and often constitute malpractice. Freedman’s compelling research, rich storytelling, and incisive analysis reveal how outrageous Bishop-knows-best medicine really is.”— Katie Watson, author of Scarlet A: The Ethics, Law and Politics of Ordinary Abortion

TABLE OF CONTENTS