WI Bishops drop opposition to plan-b bill and Fr. Kubat responds

Franz Klein of The Catholic Beat has published a story he wrote for the Wisconsin Catholic Times.

He explains:

This talk is very notable here in Wisconsin, since our bishops have officially dropped opposition to a bill that will force Catholic hospitals to provide emergency contraception after the administration of a pregnancy test. For reasons Father Kubat lays out quite clearly, this legislation is unacceptable, as is the bishops' current position.

Notable passages:

A doctor who practiced urology in Milwaukee before he became a priest, Father Kubat is a nationally recognized bioethics expert.

“If there’s doubt of fact, you don’t act,” said Father Christopher Kubat, M.D., Oct. 17 in regard to providing the morning-after pill to victims of sexual assault.

Father Kubat said addressing the issue of providing emergency contraception to rape victims is “timely,” given that Wisconsin is currently considering legislation that would require hospitals to administer the morning-after pill, also known as Plan B, to sexual assault victims.

Although the Connecticut law took effect Oct. 1, Father Kubat said Oct. 17 that it’s not too late in Wisconsin, where the proposed law has yet to pass. To help guide bishops, he said the current USCCB statement’s ambiguity on what type of certainty is acceptable before dispensing the potentially fatal morning-after pill needs to be clarified.

But Father Kubat emphasized that “there is no appropriate testing,” and neither would there be appropriate testing until medical science comes up with a way to determine if fertilization has occurred. He said a pregnancy or urinary test won’t show up as positive until two to three weeks after fertilization, and ovulation testing isn’t completely reliable either. “So if you give Plan B,” even if these tests have come back negative, “it could cause an abortion,” he said.

According to Wadas’ testimony, the WCC’s lack of opposition to SB 129/AB 377 is conditioned upon being able to “follow testing protocols that establish with moral certitude that a pregnancy has not occurred.” The WCC argued that pregnancy and ovulation testing can and do establish the necessary certitude that a woman is not pregnant.

But Father Kubat vehemently disagreed. “If we are morally certain about anything, it is that the risk of an abortion using these drugs is significant based on the scientific data presented,” he said. “That’s what we can be morally certain of if we want to talk about moral certainty.”

“If you take an honest look at the scientific data, reliable testing” to establish absolute certitude “does not exist,” Father Kubat added. “But now, unfortunately, most hospitals regularly dispense emergency contraception, including Catholic hospitals.”

The entire article is worth a read.

It's clear that Catholic hospitals across the country are quickly introducing Plan B into their rape protocols, often through legal coercion. I think this growing movement all the more demands that an official clarification from a competent Ecclesiastical body be issued.

Catholic hospitals must be allowed in law to practice medicine according to their principles and without violating the consciences of prudent physicians and care givers. Catholic hospitals deserve the support of the Church when they attempt to challenge unjust intrusive laws. At the same time, before Catholic workers stick their necks out, they should be told if this is actually an issue that demands their heroic witness.