Question Title | Posted By | Question Date |
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emergency Birth control pill in case of rape??? | Linda | Monday, May 21, 2007 |
Question: Dear Brother Ignatius; Here is a quote made by the Bishop in the local Catholic paper: "Let me say from the outset that if the bill were only about emergency contraception, there would not be a problem. Traditional Catholic moral theology allows for emergency contraception for a woman who is the victim of rape. What we cannot allow is abortion......If the woman is not preagnant or is not ovulating, Plan B, the hormonal pill, may be administered as a contraceptive, preventing ovulation." If it is allowed could you tell me the sources of the "traditional Catholic moral theology". |
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Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM
Dear Linda: Well the Pontifical Academy for Life says that any agent that may have an abortifacient effect cannot be used. Read their statement. In the New York case of the so-called "morning after" pill, John B. Shea, M.D., FRCP in the Social Justice review gives an excellent analysis of the whole issue including on whether or not it is really possible to know of the woman has not ovulated yet. Read his article here. Another good article on this issue is on the Lifesite Website. A discussion of the Bishops advisory for health care service is found here (pdf). In the situation where a women knows she is pregnant and purposely takes the morning-after pill, she incurs an automatic excommunication according to Fr. Gino Concetti writing in the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano. He said that like abortion, pills that prevent a fertilized egg from attaching to the uterine wall "destroy a human being already called into existence even if it was not wanted and was conceived in a casual encounter." According to canon law, "a person who procures a completed abortion incurs an automatic excommunication." There is no such thing as a non-abortifacient contraceptive pill that I know of. But if there were, what are the moral imperatives? Well, the Conference of Bishops say:
God Bless,
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