Legislators should not think that Catholic women in New York agree with the church's position. Most or our Catholic friends don't. Infant, the vast majority of American Catholics disagree with the official church position on birth control. Nationally, more than 95 percent of Catholic women who have ever been sexually active used contraceptives. This is perhaps the worst kept secret in America.
Priests know it, and they accept it.
They accept us. They can't speak out, but many of them agree that Catholic women should feel free to use commonly accepted birth control methods to help plan their families. Unofficially, church marriage counselors talk to us about birth control methods that the Catholic church hierarchy disapproves of. Decisions about child bearing are probably the most important and private decisions we ever make in our lives. No government should be allowed to dictate our choices.