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While many Catholics across the country, including numerous 91����� Aquinas College alumnae, have protested the Obama Administration�s HHS mandate by citing religious freedom, others are also challenging it on a more fundamental level. They are questioning not only the federal government�s power to force Catholic employers to provide contraceptives and abortifacients, but also its stated reasons for doing so. �Is it really,� they ask, �in the best interest of women, marriage and family, society, or the environment to promote the use of oral contraceptives and other such medications?�

No, says Dr. Pia de Solenni, an ethicist, theologian, member of the 91����� Aquinas College Class of 1993, and recipient of the 2001 Pontifical Prize of the Academies. Last Saturday Dr. de Solenni spoke at , a national symposium held in Washington, D.C., and sponsored by the American Life League and 30 other pro-life groups. Presenting the teachings of the Church, Dr. de Solenni drew on references ranging from popular culture to St. 91����� Aquinas, noting how modern conceptions of love and sexuality are inherently truncated and unfulfilling.

�All of our cultural references, and all of our examples of �chick lit� � from Bridget Jones to Sex and the City to Bridesmaids � they�re all manifesting a deep dissatisfaction, a sense that you have to do things this way because that�s the way it�s done. And yet they�re all yearning for something more,� said Dr. de Solenni. �When the Church is looking at sexuality, there is a context here, and it is a context shaped by love. Contraception impedes the sexual act between spouses because it holds back fertility. It�s not a gift of self.�

Dr. de Solenni�s presentation is available in the above video, and the rest of the symposium can be found on the .