Catholic World News News Feature

Colorado bill would mandate "morning-after" pill February 14, 2005

Colorado's legislature is considering a proposed law that would mandate that all hospitals in the state give the abortifacient "morning-after" pill to rape victims. There would be no provision for religious objections.

In a commentary appearing in the Denver Post last week, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput condemned the measure and responded to criticism from state Rep. Fran Coleman, who during debate in the House on January 31, said, "I absolutely resent the Catholic Church preaching to me because I represent people of all faiths." Coleman was reacting to a letter from the state's bishops 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," Coleman said, according to the Rocky Mountain News .

"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 letter from the Colorado Conference of Bishops said.

"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."

He added, "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."

Archbishop Chaput also wrote that the measure defines 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, he said, it should also require that hospitals inform the patient of the nature of the "drug or device" so they will know if it is abortifacient. The archbishop 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.