Contraception: not on campus

By Andrea Barrack

Some students say Santa Clara's Catholic-based policy that prohibits distributing contraceptives in the Cowell Student Health Center is too conservative for a college campus.

The university's Catholic affiliation mandates that Cowell does not provide any form of contraception.

"It's pretty common knowledge on campus that because this is a Catholic university, we're not able to prescribe birth control pills, or hand out condoms or provide any type of prescription purely for the purposes of contraception," said Nancy Turek, a physician's assistant at Cowell.

Over 25 percent of Turek's gynecology patients mention their interest in obtaining birth control. She also said it is not uncommon for women to list birth control as a prescription they currently use.

Last week, the Housing Office also removed condoms and contraception advertisements from campus packs that will be issued to students across campus.

"The university does not distribute such materials or information, and Housing is not going to be the first to start that on campus," said Luke Smith, the Housing facilities and operations manager.

Senior Hallie Gleason disagrees with the prohibition of contraception distribution on campus.

"I feel like it's very unfair to not give out contraception to everyone," she said. "I feel like everyone loses. I feel like contraception does not promote sex. It promotes safe sex and discussion and openness and equality, not promiscuous sex."

Though Turek cannot directly prescribe or provide contraception to students, she can help students in a more indirect manner.

"There's nothing stopping us from providing students with the information that although contraceptives aren't available on campus they are available at any local Planned Parenthood office."

Some students, however, believe patients at Planned Parenthood suffer an unspoken stigma. Freshman Lydia Johnson understands the positive aspects of the office, but does not wish to ever utilize their services.

"I don't know if anyone would feel comfortable walking down there and being seen walking in," she said. "People assume so many things about people walking in there, like you have STDs, you know?"

The local Planned Parenthood office, located at 1691 The Alameda in San Jose, is currently under construction for maintenance.

"It was designed in the late 50s and there are some maintenance issues, so it was just time to upgrade the building," said Brian Moore, who is the facilities and service supervisor working on the project. "The Alameda is a very high profile street so we're just trying to keep up."

Though the site will remain open during the process, some students wonder if the site's new appearance will, in fact, increase the number of patients to the office or minimize the negative sentiment students like Johnson associate with Planned Parenthood.

"I don't know if it would make people more willing, but at least it will look nice and you won't feel like you're going to the sketchy Planned Parenthood down the street instead of going to a doctor farther away," Johnson said.

"But I think the same feel is going to be connected with it."

Johnson and her roommate, Julie Guy, believe pregnancy is prevalent at Santa Clara, which is another reason why they're in favor of campus distribution.

Turek believes more women, namely female students, would use birth control if available on campus, or at sites other than those similar to Planned Parenthood.

"They really cater to an enormous number of people trying to do as much good as they can for a great number of people, so it probably does seem like Grand Central Station if you're in and out of the Planned Parenthood," Turek said.

"So I'd say if people have a choice, given a preference, they would prefer to come to a place that seems smaller, quieter, a little more peaceful, with not so much traffic in and out of the door."

She still believes that if women have to choose between not having contraception or taking the trip to Planned Parenthood, they will more than likely take the trip.

"My sneaking suspicion is that the desire to not become pregnant with a child that you're not ready for or wouldn't be able to manage at this point in your life probably outweighs any resistance to the problem of going to kind of a busy place where the service seems different from a private office environment," Turek said.

Guy disagrees with the school restricting contraception distribution, but does believe that Planned Parenthood can offer a similar, and quite powerful, message about responsible sexual behavior.

The message, she said, is clearly stated in the name of the organization.

"It's basically implying that you should plan out these things and you shouldn't just take sex lightly," Guy said. "Sex isn't just about pleasure, it's about creating."

Meanwhile, Turek advises students not to expect any changes in university procedure soon.

"We all know it's a Catholic school and unless the Pope unexpectedly changes his decision on contraception, it's not likely that the priests here on campus would ever be able to make it any easier to obtain here on campus," she said.

*Contact Andrea Barrack at (408) 554-4546 or abarrack@scu.edu.