Romney administration is interjecting some rules for Catholic hospitals in light of the "morning after pill" legislation that is supposed to go into effect next week.
http://news.bostonherald.com/localPolitics/view.bg?articleid=115873&format=textGov may let Catholic hospitals deny morning-after pill to rape victims
By Jessica Heslam and Maggie Mulvihill
Wednesday, December 7, 2005 - Updated: 08:01 AM EST
The Romney administration is about to issue rules allowing Catholic hospitals to evade compliance with the state’s controversial new emergency contraception law.
“Mitt Romney has been trying to stand in the way of this law from Day One and this sounds like the next step in his campaign to undermine necessary health care for rape victims,” said Angus McQuilken, spokesman for Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts.
The new law goes into effect next week and requires Bay State hospitals to offer rape victims the so-called morning-after pill. It also allows pharmacists to give out the pill, called Plan B, without a prescription. Massachusetts becomes the eighth state with such a law.
Commissioner of Public Health Paul Cote said yesterday the department is drafting regulations regarding the implementation of the law to be sent to hospitals “as close to Dec. 14 as possible.”
But Cote said private hospitals, including Catholic hospitals, will have the right to “opt out” if the new law is “at odds” with their mission. Cote cited a decades-old morality law that says private hospitals aren’t required to provide services, such as abortions or contraceptive devices, if “contrary to the religious or moral principles” of the hospital’s charter. <snip>
A third of the state’s Catholic hospitals already offer the morning-after pill, which can halt pregnancy if taken within 72 hours.
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