A new study suggest that nuns should take birth control to prevent medical problems associated with a lifelong vow of celibacy.

Studies of 32,000 Catholic nuns between 1900-1954 indicated that women who had more menstrual cycles were prone to an “increased risk of breast, ovarian, and uterine cancers”. Since nuns potentially will never have kids and thus have more menstrual cycles, they are at a higher risk of developing some form of ovarian or uterine cancer.

The use of birth control pills have been shown to reduce the risk of ovarian and uterine cancer by up to 60 percent. So why all the fuss over allowing nuns to take the pill? Well basically it goes against one of the most well-known Catholic teachings which states that all forms of contraceptives are forbidden.

Oddly enough the Church feels that any form of medical treatment should be between a nun and her doctor. This makes sense since the use of the pill is not to prevent pregnancy but is merely to aid in the prevention of certain forms of cancer.