DENVER, February 11, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In a commentary appearing in the Denver Post Tuesday, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput condemned a potential bill that would mandate that women victims of rape automatically receive the abortifacient morning-after pill by all hospitals, Catholic and non.
Archbishop Chaput responded to criticism from Colorado State Representative Fran Coleman, who during debate of the bill in the House January 31, said, “I absolutely resent the Catholic Church preaching to me because I represent people of all faiths,” in reaction to a letter from the Church condemning the Bill. “I question their ability to continue to be in a tax-exempt status. We don’t need to be preached or read to,” according to a Rocky Mountain News report.
“If enacted, HB 1042 would have the dubious distinction of being the first law in Colorado to require a Catholic entity to actively violate its own teachings . . .,” the Colorado Conference of Bishops letter stated.
“Genuine emergency contraception – i.e., steps to prevent ovulation following a rape – poses no problem for Catholics,” the Archbishop explained in his commentary. “The Church and her health-care institutions already allow for this as an act of defense against violent sexual assault. But ‘emergency contraception’ is one of those expressions that sounds compelling but easily gets twisted. HB 1042 does a bad job of defining it.”
“But many backers of emergency contraception intend much more than simply blocking conception. They define it to include methods that are abortifacient – in other words, that kill the fertilized egg after pregnancy has begun by preventing it from implanting in the uterine wall.”
“For Catholics and Catholic hospitals, this creates a grave moral problem. The size of an unborn human life doesn’t matter; the scientific fact that a human life has begun, does.”
“HB 1042 describes emergency contraception as ‘any drug or device approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration that prevents pregnancy after sexual intercourse, including but not limited to contraceptive pills.’ But the bill should also state that, for purposes of informed consent, the health-care facility must inform the patient of what the ‘drug or device’ is, and what it does. A victim of sexual assault surely has the right to know what is being administered to her and what its potential effects are.”
Archbishop Chaput also points out that there may be married rape victims who are unwittingly aborting children conceived with their spouses.
Bill 1042 passed the House 46-19 and now moves on to the Senate for final approval.
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