Catholic Hospitals and Contraception

link (0.00 / 0)

http://www.nytimes.c...

Excerpt:

Subjecting patients to ovulation testing for the sole purpose of denying care that could make a difference to them is of questionably morality, regardless of how Catholic hospitals defend their practices. Do they inform women in advance that the blood or urine they are being asked to relinquish will be used only to withhold a medication from them?

A Quinnipiac University poll taken last April showed that 78 percent of Connecticut residents, including 74 percent of Catholics, believe that all hospitals should be required to administer emergency contraception to victims of rape. Hospitals that wish to uphold the dignity of life might begin by considering the dignity that crime victims deserve.

---

by: drowsy @ Sun Feb 18, 2007 at 17:00:23 PM UTC

I'm sorry, but the word "fascist" comes to mind n/t (0.00 / 0)

---

by: greenpeas @ Sun Feb 18, 2007 at 17:21:20 PM UTC

No Longer Catholic (4.00 / 1)

This is one reason why I -- a former altar boy and Catholic School student for 12 years -- am no longer a practicing Catholic. 

These kinds of rules by the Catcholic Church are meanspirited, oppressive, and outdated. This one in particular leads to more abortions than it prevents. The Church's rule forbidding condoms worsens the AIDS epidemic in Africa. Its rule against priests marrying prevents well-adjusted men from entering the priesthood.

The Church's rules, however, should not be allowed to screw up the lives of the rest of us. Any hospital, Catholic or not,  that does not freely offer the Plan B pill to rape victims should lose its license to operate in Connecticut.

---

by: CaptCT @ Sun Feb 18, 2007 at 17:35:41 PM UTC

Also, (4.00 / 1)

the latest TIME mag which came yesterday, has a large section on the Pregnancy Crisis centers,  around the country, which now outnumber the number of Abortion Clinics, and Planned Parenting centers which counsel on birth control, etc.  (map shows 15 in this state of our's)

There is a very scary movement going on behind the scenes against women and their rights.  I was around pre-Roe v Wade, and trust me, it was not pretty what a desperate female will do if she thinks she has an unwanted pregnancy.  All that is going to happen is we go back to these days.  These Religious zealots must be stopped.  this is NOT what the forefathers imagined for this country.

---

by: PamB @ Sun Feb 18, 2007 at 17:38:26 PM UTC

Call me naive, but (0.00 / 0)

Once a right is given, it is very hard to take it away. This is what drives the conservatives' passion. This is their great fear. This is why they fight tooth and nail to deny others the "inalienable rights" (although not written into law, yet) people already should deserve (e.g. emergency contraception, gay marriage, etc.).

The right of a woman to have an abortion has been the law of this land for a long time. This inalienable right to a woman's privacy--her basic right to her body is highly improbable to be overturned. Even the new conservative Chief Justice, John Roberts has expressed great respect for this precedence and will likely not side with the right-wing on overturning Roe vs. Wade.

The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice. --Martin Luther King, Jr.

---

by: connecticutyankee @ Sun Feb 18, 2007 at 20:19:01 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I hope you are right, yankee, but (0.00 / 0)

this is why Bush and the right wingers are so anxious to fill up all the US courts with extremists.  little by little, case by case, precedence by precedence, as these extremists overturn laws, it may not be all that far to make it to the SCOTUS.  And alito's wife is Head of an anti-abortion league.  This is why it is such a big deal to get a Democrat in the WH, so no more of these judges can be placed who are on the side of the Religious Right.

Education and birth control (including Plan B) is the key to cutting the numbers of abortions. 

---

by: PamB @ Sun Feb 18, 2007 at 20:40:09 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Yes, we need to "fight tooth and nail" to get a Dem back in the WH. n/t (0.00 / 0)

The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice. --Martin Luther King, Jr.

---

by: connecticutyankee @ Sun Feb 18, 2007 at 23:14:41 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

legislation on compassionate care (0.00 / 0)

Anyone up on the trail of legislation?  The Human Services recently voted to raise (draft) a bill for "compassionate care" for sexual assault victims. There was some discussion (as noted in the minutes above) about why Human Services was raising the bill and that the Public Health Committee has primary oversight in this area.  I have heard that Public Health co-chair Rep. Peggy Sayers (Windsor Locks & Windsor) will not allow the proposed Senate bill to be voted on in Public Health.  I assume that Human Services is trying to do an end run on her to ensure a compassionate care bill gets a public hearing, though I think it would have to go to Public Health anyway.

At the Human Services Committee meeting, Rep. Christel Truglia (who is anti-choice) opposed the bill.

---

by: mikect @ Mon Feb 19, 2007 at 10:17:37 AM UTC

More Pressure needed (0.00 / 0)

A Phone bank will be conducted at Planned Parenthood of CT in New Haven on Wednesday 2/21
  Planned Parenthood of CT
  345 Whitney Ave
  New Haven CT  06511 
  Starts at 5:30 PM

We call supporters of Planned Parenthood to explain the Compassionate Care issue, and ask them to call their legislators on the Human Services Committee.

Please come help. You should all be back from Hartford Marriage Equality Day by 5:30.

Last week we had square pizza!  Life is always an adventure.

"I am not a Blogger...But I play one on the internet."

---

by: tessa @ Mon Feb 19, 2007 at 13:47:46 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

someone needs to stage a protest outside one of these hospitals (0.00 / 0)

I wonder if this balloon is available for rent, kind of like the giant rat that you see when teamsters are on strike...??

.Adding Another Dimension of Vituperation Toxicity to Blogging since 1999!.

---

by: nolopro @ Tue Feb 20, 2007 at 00:51:22 AM UTC

There was one (0.00 / 0)

New Haven students staged a protest in front of St. Raphaels a little over a week ago.  WTNH did a good story, although the New Haven Advocate gets it wrong, calling Plan B "the abortion pill".

Whatever happened to fact checkers?

---

by: kat @ Tue Feb 20, 2007 at 13:46:09 PM UTC