How Does the Church Control Me?

Jill Stanek featured the following at her blog today:

Mr. Luckovich, how, exactly, does the Church control me? If I want contraception, there are three stores within a mile of my house that sell condoms and have pharmacies that dispense the Pill. That doesn't include the Wal-Mart less than three miles away, where I can purchase hormonal contraceptives at $10 for a 90-day supply.

The Church does not physically prohibit me from going to these stores and availing myself of said contraception, nor does she prohibit me from visiting an OB-GYN and obtaining a prescription for same. I don't have Swiss Guards standing at my door and following me around whenever I leave the house, making sure I don't buy contraceptives.

If I did, that'd be pretty sweet -- think I could rope them into free babysitting?

Does the Church teach that contraceptives are intrinsically immoral? Yes. But the Church does not force me to be a Catholic, and the Church does not force me to adhere to Her teachings.

I wasn't always a Catholic, and I knew full well what I was getting into when I became one. I chose, of my own free will, to be a Catholic. I chose, of my own free will, to adhere to those teachings.  If a person was born and raised Catholic, there is nothing stopping him/her from denying the Church and going to another denomination, or leaving Christianity altogether. Again, everyone has free will.

If the Church is trying to "control" women with Her teachings on contraception, She's failing pretty miserably. Granted, the statistic that "98% of Catholic women use contraception" has been proven false, but there's still an abysmally high number of women who self-identify as Catholic that also use contraception.

I think Mr. Luckovich needs to consult with his colleague, Dana Summers. She has a more accurate viewpoint: