Connecticut Catholic hospitals agree to comply with new law on Plan B

Published: 2007-09-28

HARTFORD, Conn. (CNS) -- Connecticut's four Catholic hospitals will provide emergency contraception to rape victims without requiring an ovulation test, in compliance with a new state law that takes effect Oct. 1. In a joint statement Sept. 27, the Catholic bishops and leaders of Catholic hospitals in the state said that, although they continue to believe that the law is flawed and should be changed, they would revise current protocols at the hospitals that call for both a pregnancy test and an ovulation test before the "morning-after" pill marketed as Plan B is administered. "To administer Plan B pills in Catholic hospitals to victims of rape, a pregnancy test to determine that the woman has not conceived is sufficient," the statement said. "The administration of Plan B pills in this instance cannot be judged to be the commission of an abortion because of such doubt about how Plan B pills and similar drugs work and because of the current impossibility of knowing from the ovulation test whether a new life is present." Plan B, containing a high dose of birth control pills, usually prevents pregnancy if taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex.

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