Hartford Courant Sun  Apr 29  2007

OTHER OPINION

Church Hospitals Draw Line on Abortion

One casualty of the debate in the Connecticut General Assembly on case for victims of sexual assault was truth. Leading up to the passage of the bill, the bishops of Connecticut were portrayed as being opposed to contraception for victims of sexual assault. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Catholic health care is guided by the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services. Directive 36 deals with “compassionate and understanding care” that must be given to victims of sexual assault. It states clearly that “she may be treated with medication that would prevent ovulation . . . or fertilization.” Catholic hospitals have always provided “emergency contraception.”

Then what was the controversy all about? The church is opposed to the direct taking of innocent human life. This takes us to another provision of Directive 36. “It is not permissible to initiate or to recommend treatments that have as their purpose or direct effect the . . . interference with the implantation of [an embryo].”

In their hospitals, bishops allow contraception for victims, but not abortion. Should a child be conceived, they want to avoid there being two victims of violence, the woman and the child. 

One and the same medication (Plan B) given to the woman can have two different effects. High doses of the drug can either (1) prevent ovulation or (2) prevent the implantation in the womb of a new life. At the admission of the victim, evidence and bodily fluids are collected for analysis to provide the best treatment possible.

Again, the Catholic Church permits the use of medication to prevent fertilization. A simple test on the fluids collected will tell doctors whether the medication they are considering administering will have its desired effect. If ovulation has already occurred, the drug will not have its anti-ovulation effect. Why, medically speaking, would one even administer a drug before determining with a simple test whether the drug will have the desired effect?

This new Connecticut legislation forbids the administration of a simple test to guide the physician in the treatment of the victim. Doctors should be objecting to such legislation since it could prevent them from acting in accord with their best medical judgement. 

The debate surrounding this legislation was not over emergency contraception. That had already been permitted in Catholic hospitals. The debate was about abortion.