BlahaCHARLOTTE — Dr. Stephen Blaha had been practicing medicine in the Charlotte area for several years when he realized that part of his work – prescribing contraception – conflicted with his Catholic faith.
After a long period of discernment and prayer, he decided he wanted to start a practice that followed natural law and God’s plan, he said. After two years of planning, the result is Atrium Health Women’s Care Natural Family Planning OB/GYN clinic, located in Indian Trail in Union County, east of Charlotte.
The clinic opened on Dec. 4 after a blessing and dedication from Father Peter Ascik, director of the Diocese of Charlotte’s Office of Family Life.
“I realized I wasn’t holding to all the tenets of the faith when I was providing contraception, and finally I had a moment where I had to ask myself: What do I believe?” Blaha said. “I buckled down into prayer, praying the rosary every day and asking the Blessed Mother for guidance in what I should be doing. Finally, I resolved through prayer, and I think the intercession of the Blessed Mother, that I needed to change the way I practiced.
I wanted to have a whole practice where we are just following the understanding of natural life.”
He had been practicing with Atrium Health, so he pitched the idea of a women’s health clinic centered around natural family planning to them, and the health care company was very supportive of the idea, Blaha said. The search for a location started and he eventually found the site in Indian Trail.
Blaha, who is originally from California, was first exposed to health care centered around Church teaching while he and his wife were living in Escondido. He was deciding whether or not to go to medical school and was invited to spend time shadowing Dr. George Delgado at Culture of Life Family Services in San Diego.
Eventually he moved to North Carolina to study medicine at Wake Forest University, and then started practice as an OB/GYN in the Charlotte area through Atrium.
A clinic like this has an automatic appeal to women who are practicing Catholics, but Blaha said the natural approach to family planning attracts women from diverse backgrounds.
“The idea of following natural law appeals to a lot of women who like the idea of understanding and working with their bodies, rather than artificially altering the way their bodies work,” Blaha said. “This approach to family planning appeals to women who want to be in their natural state as much as possible.”
— Christina Lee Knauss
About Dr. Blaha’s Practice
The practice offers a complete range of obstetric and gynecologic services, as well as tests and ultrasounds. They are also able to offer women advice about three methods of natural family planning: Creighton and Billings, Marquette, and Symptothermal. One of his goals is to eventually work with NFP instructors to offer lessons about the different methods through the practice. Also, a midwife will join the staff in May.
More online
Visit www.atriumhealth.org/provider-profile/stephen-blaha-1306012679: The practice is currently accepting new patients. It is located at 6030 West Hwy. 74, Suite B, in Indian Trail. For more information, call 980-993-2030.
At www.charlottediocese.org: Blaha’s new practice joins several others in the Diocese of Charlotte that offer women’s health care that is also supportive of NFP and Catholic teaching.