In the wake of Connecticut’s tyrannical law that requires even Catholic hospitals to provide "emergency contraception" (i.e. abortifacient drugs) to rape victims, Rev. Deacon Tom Davis argues that pro-life advocates in other states should begin preparing even now for the political moves against freedom of conscience that will almost surely be heading their way....The lessons to be taken from the debacle that followed are plain enough: In order to preserve the independence of Catholic health care, a stand must be made in the Plan B debate.
It will require a powerful show of expert and lay witnesses at legislative hearings. Medical witnesses should include obstetricians, gynecologists, fertility experts and radiologists who can explain from existing medical knowledge how post-fertilization effects may be extrapolated.
Catholic hospital staff and administrators, bioethicists, moral theologians, rape victims, representatives of Catholic women’s organizations and waves of laity should testify.
Representatives of the Knights of Columbus and other Catholic societies should amass membership petitions of politically significant numbers and present them to legislators at public hearings.
Early lobbying, careful witness selection, preparation of suggested questions for sympathetic legislators, strict accuracy on medical facts and frank explanation of varying approaches by different state Catholic conferences are essential. Special attention should be given to the ready acknowledgment by the best-known proponents of emergency contraception (Davidoff & Trussell) that Plan B may have a post-fertilization effect, and that in the face of existing doubt women receiving it should be advised that it may prevent implantation...
Read this important advisory article in its entirety right here.
