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Second Bishop Breaks with Wisconsin Conference to Oppose Emergency Contraception Bill

Conference action contradicts 1992 Ratzinger instruction and cedes spiritual leadership role to opinion of diocesan lawyers

By John-Henry Westen

LA CROSSE, January 3, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In an interview published in The Catholic Times, La Crosse Bishop Jerome Listecki has publicly acknowledged his break with the Wisconsin Catholic Conference (WCC) of Bishops over a bill forcing all state hospitals, Catholic ones included, to provide abortifacient emergency contraception to rape victims.  Listecki has joined Madison Bishop Robert Morlino in urging legislators to oppose AB 377, but the state bishops' conference maintains a neutral position on the legislation which is to receive a final vote in the state Assembly on January 16.

Bishop Morlino made his stand known last month in a letter to legislators urging them to oppose the bill. (see coverage: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/dec/07121906.html )

Both Bishops Morlino and Listecki say that the neutral stand of the bishops' conference was to show support for a clause which proposed to allow an opt out for institutions and individuals if tests determine pregnancy prior to administration of the abortifacient drugs.  However that opt-out clause was rejected by the legislators, thus making the neutral stance of the WCC "moot".

Despite the change, the rest of the Wisconsin bishops represented by the conference have not joined their two confreres in opposing the legislation.

WCC executive director John Huebscher told The Catholic Times that the Catholic Conference is retaining its current stance of neutrality. "We respect the concerns raised in (Bishop Morlino's) letter," he said. "They certainly underscore the passion of the bishops in affirming human life. At the same time, the Catholic Conference has not changed its position on the bill."

Heubscher said the WCC's neutrality is based on the unanimous opinion of the state's diocesan attorneys that a current conscience exemption contained other state legislation.

Pro-life Catholic activists have pointed out however that any dalliance with emergency contraception, even for rape victims, is impermissible.  Such activists point out that:

- The only public Vatican statement on the morning after pill condemns its use outright.  The Pontifical Academy for Life states that "the absolute unlawfulness of abortifacient procedures also applies to distributing, prescribing and taking the morning-after pill.  All who, whether sharing the intention or not, directly co-operate with this procedure are also morally responsible for it." (see the full Vatican statement here: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_academies/acdli... )

- The Catholic Medical Association, the largest professional organization of Catholic physicians in the U.S. is resolutely opposed to the use of the abortifacient morning after pill even for rape cases in Catholic Hospitals because of its potential to cause abortions.  At its Annual Meeting in 2003, the association passed a resolution on the matter noting that the drug "has the potential to prevent implantation whether given in the pre-ovulatory, ovulatory, or post-ovulatory phase, that it cannot be ethically employed by a Catholic physician or administered in a Catholic Hospital in cases of rape".

However, even the excuse which the WCC is currently using, that of hope for an opt-out clause for Catholics involved is not sufficient for refusing to oppose the legislation.   A Vatican document published in 1992 by the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith and signed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict) states clearly: "where a matter of the common good is concerned, it is inappropriate for church authorities to endorse or remain neutral toward adverse legislation even if it grants exceptions to church organizations and institutions. The church has the responsibility to promote family life and the public morality of the entire civil society on the basis of fundamental moral values, not simply to protect herself from the application of harmful laws." (see the document in full here: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jan/080103a.html)

See the interview with Bishop Listecki here:
http://thecatholicbeat.blogspot.com/2007/12/bishop-listecki-on-emergency.html

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