Should A Gynecologist Be Able To Refuse To Prescribe Birth Control?

VERMILION, Ohio, Posted 4:56 p.m. EST February 13, 2002 -- Tapes and pamphlets preaching against contraceptives are not what most people expect to find in the waiting room of a gynecologist's office.

But NewsChannel5's Paul Kiska reported that a Vermilion doctor believes in what he's not doing.

"A constant teaching of the Catholic Church is that birth control is immoral," Dr. James Matheson (pictured, left) said.

Some family doctors do not prescribe birth control for religious reasons, but it's virtually unheard of for a gynecologist to do so.

"As far as I know, I'm the only OB-GYN in the country (who) doesn't prescribe birth control," he said.

Marcia Dudziak quit taking the pill so she could have a baby, and her views differ from her doctor's.

"He was highly recommended," she said. "I met him and I like him."

"I don't judge somebody and say, 'You're a bad person; I don't want to see you anymore because you take the pill,'" Matheson said. "In my heart, it's not the right thing for me."

New father Kurt Schreiber and his wife don't agree with all of Matheson's views either.

"Our decision to choose Dr. Matheson wasn't really based on the contraception, because he's a great guy," Schreiber said.

Matheson promotes natural family planning, which is based on a woman's fertile or infertile cycles.

"I think sex in this culture is looked at as a sport, as a game, and (it's) not treated with a great deal of respect," Matheson said. "If you're not having intercourse when you're ovulating, then it's impossible to get pregnant."

Medical ethicist Dr. Stuart Younger is the director of the Center for Biomedical Ethics at Case Western Reserve University.

"I think he's within his rights not to want to prescribe it," Younger said. "I would be a little more upset if he was lecturing women who wanted the pill, telling them it was wrong. I don't think that's his role."

Younger suggested that if Matheson doesn't tell new patients over the telephone that he doesn't prescribe the pill, then the patient should not have to pay for the appointment.

But Matheson said that patients are told up front about his beliefs.