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Romney does flip-flop and forces Catholic hospitals to distribute morning-after-pill [2005]
Lifesite News ^ | December 9, 2005 | Gudrun Schultz

Posted on 01/31/2008 11:37:43 AM PST by AFA-Michigan

BOSTON -– In a shocking turn-around, Massachusetts’s governor Mitt Romney announced yesterday that Roman Catholic and other private hospitals in the state will be forced to offer emergency contraception to sexual assault victims under new state legislation, regardless of the hospitals’ moral position on the issue.

The Republican governor had earlier defended the right of hospitals to avoid dispensing the “morning-after pill” on the grounds of moral dissent. The Boston Globe reported that Romney’s flip on the issue came after his legal counsel, Mark D. Nielsen, concluded Wednesday that the new law supersedes a preexisting statute related to the abortifacient pill.

The pill, a high dose of hormones, acts as an abortifacient by preventing a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterine wall, thereby causing the death of the child.

The Department of Public Health issued a statement earlier in the week allowing hospitals to dissent from the new law, under a previous statute that protects private hospitals from being forced to provide abortion services or contraceptives.

Daniel Avila, associate director for policy and research for the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, said yesterday in an interview with the Boston Globe that Catholic hospitals still have legal grounds to avoid providing the pill, despite the new legislation. The new bill did not expressly repeal the original law protecting the rights of Catholic facilities.

“As long as that statute was left standing, I think those who want to rely on that statute for protection for what they’re doing have legal grounds.” (Boston Globe)

The Conference has been fighting this new legislation for several years. In 2003, in a statement to the Joint Committee on Health Care, they outlined their concern over the proposed Emergency Contraception Access Act (ECAA), stating: “It will force Catholic medical personnel to distribute contraceptives even in cases involving the risk of early abortion. It also furthers a national strategy ultimately directed towards coercing Catholic facilities to provide insurance coverage for, and to perform, abortions.”

The governor’s turnaround is especially unexpected since Romney has been presenting himself as a conservative on social issues in anticipation of a possible run for the presidency in 2008. This decision will certainly undermine the credibility of his conservatism with Republican Party members that may have been inclined to support him up to now.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: abortion; catholic; catholichospitals; conscienceclause; massachusetts; morningafterpills; romney
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To: Abbeville Conservative; Saundra Duffy
You are correct it is a birth control pill. The idiocy on here can be amazing at times.

No, you are defending the indefensible. One of the ways the morning after pill (as well as all forms of chemical contraception) works is making the uterine wall unfavorable for the implantation of an embryo that has already been conceived.

41 posted on 01/31/2008 11:54:42 AM PST by Pyro7480 ("Jesu, Jesu, Jesu, esto mihi Jesus" -St. Ralph Sherwin's last words at Tyburn)
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Comment #42 Removed by Moderator

To: Abbeville Conservative

You never read the fine print, eh, genius! No personal attacks!


43 posted on 01/31/2008 11:56:54 AM PST by Pyro7480 ("Jesu, Jesu, Jesu, esto mihi Jesus" -St. Ralph Sherwin's last words at Tyburn)
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To: madison10
There are many Conservatives that don’t agree with the Catholic rather extreme position on birth control.

It's a First Amendment thing.The open contempt that our politicians have for Catholics....*real* Catholics (as opposed to KennedyCatholics)....is nauseating.

44 posted on 01/31/2008 11:57:31 AM PST by Gay State Conservative (Wanna see how bad it can get? Elect Hillary and find out.)
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To: Saundra Duffy; AFA-Michigan
Again, the “morning after pill” is not an abortion.

YES it is, it prevents implantation of the fertilized egg.

And don't talk about Mormon bashing or anything like that, because this has ALWAYS been the pro-life position.

45 posted on 01/31/2008 11:57:38 AM PST by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: Abbeville Conservative

So, it’s only abortion after implantation? Ha!


46 posted on 01/31/2008 11:57:40 AM PST by Pyro7480 ("Jesu, Jesu, Jesu, esto mihi Jesus" -St. Ralph Sherwin's last words at Tyburn)
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To: madison10

That’s fine. You don’t have to agree with the Catholic position on birth control (although this is abortion we are talking about) so don’t go to a Catholic or religious based hospital for your abortion pills and don’t try to force them to provide them. If all the private religious based hospitals in the US closed their doors it would crush the health industry like a bug.


47 posted on 01/31/2008 11:57:48 AM PST by Integrityrocks
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To: N3WBI3
Look, get real for a second. The President, or a Governor does not make the law. The legislators do. The people elect legislators to (hopefully) do their will. It is a sad fact that some states want very liberal abortion laws and others do not. Unfortunately Roe v Wade has forced abortion on all states. The only way to fix this is through the courts. Romney will support the right kind of justices to make that happen. The next step is to change the hearts and minds of the people so they will elect legislators that will make laws that are pro life.

This is Romney's position, and it is the right coarse of action.

48 posted on 01/31/2008 11:58:22 AM PST by chaos_5 (The Republic is doomed!)
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To: Abbeville Conservative; Pyro7480
It’s not abortion you idiot.

So what term would you use for KILLING a fertilized egg?

49 posted on 01/31/2008 11:58:40 AM PST by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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It is abortion. Name calling won’t change that.


50 posted on 01/31/2008 11:59:05 AM PST by Integrityrocks
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To: AFA-Michigan

Thanks for this info. I was not aware. Sad to say, but I’m done with Romney.


51 posted on 01/31/2008 11:59:27 AM PST by el_chupacabra (They say it's always calmest before the storm. That's not true. It isn't calm. Stuff happens.)
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To: chaos_5
Look, get real for a second. The President, or a Governor does not make the law. The legislators do.

Romney signed the law.

52 posted on 01/31/2008 11:59:38 AM PST by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: N3WBI3
This proves mitt will do nothing to work on abortion he will always use existing law as an excuse and does not care enough to spend any political capital on the issue..

Substitute any other politician's name and a liberal issue into your statement and notice how the logic sounds exactly like it came from DU.

The President, and governors too, swears an oath to uphold the law. Mitt has always done his level best to live up to that oath.

The Morning After pill is not Mitt's fault. The law requiring Catholic hospitals to make it available is not Mitt's fault. None of that was up to him.

Mitt obeyed the law.

53 posted on 01/31/2008 11:59:44 AM PST by TChris ("if somebody agrees with me 70% of the time, rather than 100%, that doesn’t make him my enemy." -RR)
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To: AFA-Michigan

He’s an opportunist who has no principles. But other than that, he’s a great guy.


54 posted on 01/31/2008 12:00:03 PM PST by livius
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To: Pyro7480

When they resort to name calling, they’ve already lost.


55 posted on 01/31/2008 12:00:08 PM PST by eastsider
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To: Integrityrocks

If it’s taken “the morning after” I doubt if the eggs have had time to be fertilized...but that’s getting too down and detailed isn’t it?


56 posted on 01/31/2008 12:00:29 PM PST by madison10
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To: wagglebee

If that is all you got our of my post you missed the whole point of what I was saying.


57 posted on 01/31/2008 12:00:43 PM PST by chaos_5 (The Republic is doomed!)
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To: TChris; N3WBI3
The law requiring Catholic hospitals to make it available is not Mitt's fault. None of that was up to him.

He SIGNED the bill into law!

Substitute any other politician's name and a liberal issue into your statement and notice how the logic sounds exactly like it came from DU.

Take your blinders off, the pro-life movement was opposed to this long before anyone knew who Romney was.

58 posted on 01/31/2008 12:01:43 PM PST by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: JohnnyZ

So you’re a McCain guy, huh?


59 posted on 01/31/2008 12:01:50 PM PST by Constitution Day (Ray Smuckles for President)
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To: TChris

TChris: “So, Governor Romney’s good-faith effort to comply with the law is somehow non-conservative??”

You mean overruling his own Department of Health attorneys and contradicting the Massachusetts Catholic Conference attorneys?

Guess you missed the rest of the story...from the original post:

“The Department of Public Health issued a statement earlier in the week allowing hospitals to dissent from the new law, under a previous statute that protects private hospitals from being forced to provide abortion services or contraceptives.

“Daniel Avila, associate director for policy and research for the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, said yesterday in an interview with the Boston Globe that Catholic hospitals still have legal grounds to avoid providing the pill, despite the new legislation. The new bill did not expressly repeal the original law protecting the rights of Catholic facilities.

“As long as that statute was left standing, I think those who want to rely on that statute for protection for what they’re doing have legal grounds.”


60 posted on 01/31/2008 12:01:55 PM PST by AFA-Michigan
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