Patricia Miller

Patricia Miller is the author of Bringing Down the Colonel: A Sex Scandal of the Gilded Age & the “Powerless” Woman Who Took on Washington and Good Catholics: The Battle Over Abortion in the Catholic Church. A former editor of Conscience and the Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, she writes about the politics of sex and religion for Religion Dispatches.

Anti-Choice Groups Prove It’s Not Just About Abortion Anymore

Patricia Miller

Anti-choice groups are highly critical after learning that one of their own has agreed to contraception referral in order to qualify for Title X funding.

Catholic Bishops Fund Anti-Choice ‘Clinics’ Set to Receive Trump Title X Funding

Patricia Miller

The Trump administration is funneling $5.1 million in federal Title X family planning funding to a chain of faith-based anti-abortion medical clinics called Obria. Turns out that the Catholic Church has funded them too.

Catholic Bishops’ Religious Liberty Fight Enables Anti-Jewish Discrimination (Updated)

Patricia Miller

It’s not hard to extend the bishops' logic on discrimination against LGBTQ foster parents to the assertion that Christian social services agencies shouldn’t be “discriminated” against for refusing to work with Jews and Muslims.

[Photo: Karl Racine in a suit in front of microphone.

DC Attorney General Goes ‘Religious Freedom’ Route to Investigate Catholic Church

Patricia Miller

Any felony activity the DC attorney general discovers in the course of his investigation could be forwarded to the U.S. attorney.

Is This Finally the Reckoning for the Catholic Church on Sexual Abuse?

Patricia Miller

A Justice Department investigation marks a major turning point in the decades-long sexual abuse crisis, but there are indications the Church will not surrender without a fight.

‘Son Worry’ and the Hypocrisy of the ‘Purity’ Movement

Patricia Miller

Those in the throes of "son panic" contend that the greatest danger regarding sexual assault is to the reputations of innocent men. But there's a problem here.

This Radical Religious Freedom Dissent Reveals Kavanaugh’s Views on Sex and Power

Patricia Miller

Both the sweeping religious liberty claims defended by Kavanaugh and the assertions of his defenders come from the same place: a desire to reassert traditional, patriarchal sexual mores.

[Photo: A black-and-white photo of Pope Paul VI who reaffirmed the church's ban on modern contraceptives in Humanae Vitae]

The Story Behind the Catholic Church’s Stunning Contraception Reversal

Patricia Miller

Behind the official explanation for the continued ban on birth control was the need to maintain the link between sex and procreation, which was essential to the maintenance of the traditional, subordinate role of women, a key concern of the Catholic Church.

New York’s Abortion Rights Bill, Then and Now—and a Warning for the Future

Patricia Miller

Reproductive rights advocates in New York are split over how to move forward with the Women's Equality Act, which is being held up over a provision on abortion that would align state law with Roe v. Wade. The fight is reminiscent of arguments over the state’s original 1970 abortion reform law.

The War on Women: Back to the Future?

Patricia Miller

The Republicans seem to think they can erase the past four months and their “war on women,” but if history is any guide, this is wishful thinking. In fact, the historical record suggests we may be witnessing a reawakening of the reproductive rights movement.

Patricia Miller

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