re: Connecticut Bishops Statement on Plan B & Catholic Hospitals (9/27/07) - UPDATED ON 3/8/09

Despite the Vatican's 10/31/00 “Statement on the So Called "Morning-After Pill'" (10/31/00), the USCCB has been allowing such medications in Catholic hospitals to those who identified themselves as rape victims - if testing indicates that the MAP would act as a contraceptive and NOT as an abortifacient. Yet, Catholic physicians have long protested that it would be IMPOSSIBLE to be certain that such an intervention would not be abortifacient....

• Chris Kahlenborn, MD (2001) maintained that "informed practicing Christian physicians will not give the 'post-rape pill' in any circumstances" <www.lifeissues.net/writers/kah/kah_03howpillworks2.html>.
• As per J. B. Shea, MD (2004), "Catholic hospitals are not free to prescribe or provide anything with abortifacient properties without contradicting their witness" <https://gmcmail.gmc.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://catholicinsight.com/online/bioethics/mornpill.shtml>.

The 9/27/07 Statement by Connecticut Bishops Regarding Plan B seemed to disregard the Vatican's 10/31/00 statement and the aforementioned warnings of the Catholic physicians: “Since the teaching authority of the Church has not definitively resolved this matter and since there is serious doubt about how Plan B pills work, the Catholic Bishops of Connecticut have stated that Catholic hospitals in the State may follow protocols that do not require an ovulation test in the treatment of victims of rape. A pregnancy test approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration suffices. If it becomes clear that Plan B pills would lead to an early chemical abortion in some instances, this matter would have to be reopened” <www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=7836> (Incredibly, the Food and Drug Administration itself readily acknowledged that "If fertilization does occur, Plan B may prevent a fertilized egg from attaching to the womb (implantation)").

On 11/1/07, the Catholic Medical Association (CMA) again weighed in: "scientific evidence supports the conclusion that all these formulations have some potential to prevent the implantation of a newly conceived human being....The crime of sexual assault should not be compounded by an action, the intent or direct effect of which causes the death of a human being in the first days of gestation" <www.cathmed.org/pressreleases/PlanB_and_CCC3.pdf>.

While it's difficult to understand how there could continue to be any question about the abortifacient potential of MAP/Plan B, the Vatican's 12/08 Dignitas Personae certainly should have put them to bed. MAP/Plan B would fall into a category called "interceptives" in Dignitas Personae. Such abortifacients are absolutely excluded by Dignitas Personae, as they have always been.

Caholics of Connecticut have not gained by what appears to have been acquiescence to government pressure. As per a statement by Bridgeport Bishop William Lori, "This past Thursday, the Judiciary Committee of the Connecticut State Legislature...introduced a bill that directly attacks the Roman Catholic Church and our Faith....It forces a radical reorganization of the legal, financial, and administrative structure of our parishes" <www.bridgeportdiocese.com/folder_bridgedocs/Dioc_Statement_on_Leg_1098%5B1%5D.pdf>.

Connecticut Catholics need our support. Yet, how on earth would the legislature get the idea that the Catholic Church in Connecticut was a push-over?

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The Battle Against Pornography: excerpts from "Blessed are the Pure in Heart"

(The following unsettling data was included in Bishop Robert Finn's pastoral letter on pornography:)

“The scope and costs of Pornography
§ According to 2004 IFR research, U.S. porn revenue exceeds the combined revenues of ABC, CBS, and NBC (6.2 billion). Porn revenue is larger than all combined revenues of all professional football, baseball and basketball franchises. The pornography industry, according to conservative estimates, brings in $57 billion per year, of which the United States is responsible for $12 billion. Internet Pornography and Loneliness: An Association? Vincent Cyrus Yoder, Thomas B. Virden III , and Kiran Amin. Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity, Volume 12.1, 2005.
§ The Internet accounted for US $2.5 billion of the adult industry’s revenues. Dirty Downloads Ready to Go on iPods, Ron Harris, http://www.macnewsworld.com/, 2005
§ According to a March, 2004 figure, there were 800 million rentals each year of adult videos and DVDs Overdosing on Porn, Rebecca Hagelin. http://www.worldandi.com/.
§ Current estimates are that $20 billion is spent annually on adult videos (sales and rentals).
Half of all hotel guests order pornographic movies. These films comprise 80% of in-room entertainment revenue and 70% of total in-room revenue. Sex-Film Industry Threatened With Condom Requirement, Nick Madigan. The New York Times, 24 August, 2004 .
§ Cable pay per view amounted to $2.5 billion.
§ Magazines accounted for $7.5 billion.

“Scope of Internet Pornography
§ In 2004, there were 4.2 million pornographic websites; 372 million pornographic pages.
Daily there were 68 million pornographic search engine requests (25% of requests). 2003.
Sex is the number 1 topic searched on the Internet. Overdosing on Porn, Rebecca Hagelin. http://www.worlandi.com/, March, 2004.
§ Daily there are 2.5 billion pornographic emails (8% of total emails). 2004.
§ The most common ways people have accidentally reached pornographic content on the Web are pop-up windows (55%), misrepresented links (52%), misspelled URLs (48%) and auto links within emails (23%) Fifty Percent of Workers Spend Nine days a Year on Personal Surfing at Work. Cerberian Inc. and SonicWALL, 20 July 2004 .
§ There are 100 thousand websites offering illegal child pornography (U.S. Customs Service estimate).

“Adult Internet Pornography Statistics
§ 70% of 18 to 24 year old men visit pornographic sites in a typical month. 66% of men in their 20s and 30s also report being regular users of pornography. First-person: the culture of pornography, R. Albert Mohler, Jr., Baptist Press, 28 December 2005 .
§ 20% of men and 13% of women surveyed admitted to accessing pornography at work. Internet Pornography Statistics. Internet Filter Review, 2004.
§ There are 40 million US adults who regularly visit internet pornography websites
§ One out of three visitors to all adult web sites are women.
§ Women favor chat rooms two times more than men.

“Effects of Pornography
§ 40% of adults surveyed believe that pornography harms relationships between men and women. Consensus Among American Public on the Effects of Pornography on Adults or Children or What Government Should Do About It, Harris Poll, 7 October 2005 . www.harrisinteractive.com.
§ 30 percent of surveyed adults said their partner’s use of pornography made them feel more like a sexual object Marriage Related Research, Mark A. Yarhouse, Psy.D. Christian Counseling Today, 2004 Vol. 12 No. 1. August, 2004.
§ One out of every six women grapples with addiction to pornography. Internet Pornography and Loneliness: An Association? Vincent Cyrus Yoder, Thomas B. Virden III , and Kiran Amin. Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity, Volume 12.1, 2005.
§ 47% of Christians surveyed said pornography is a major problem in the home.
§ As little as six hours exposure to soft core porn (anything designed to arouse one sexually) is enough to destroy the viewer’s satisfaction with his or her spouse; decrease the value of faithfulness; decrease the ability to be with one person and cherish that person; and increase the thought that women enjoy rape. Survey 2004

“Children and the Internet
§ Children use the Internet. 96 percent of kids have gone online; 74% having access at home and 61% use the Internet on a typical day. Kids stay connected, USA Today snapshots. 5 January, 2004 .
§ In a survey reported in 2000, 21 percent of teens say they have looked at something on the Internet that they wouldn’t want their parents to know. A World of Their Own. Newsweek, 8 May 2000.

“Children Internet Pornography Statistics
§ 90% of 8-16 year olds using the Internet have viewed pornography on line (most while doing homework). 2004
§ Eleven years old is the average age of first Internet exposure to pornography. 2004.
§ Among underage viewers of pornography, children 12 years old to 17 years old are the largest consumers of Internet pornography. 2004.
§ A survey of 600 households conducted by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children found that 20% of parents do not know any of their children’s Internet passwords, instant messaging nicknames or email addresses. Only 5% of parents recognized the acronym POS (parent over shoulder) and only 1% could identify WTGP (want to go private?), both of which are used frequently by teens when instant messaging Ads target online victimization of children. USA Today, 20 May 2004.
§ Incidents of child sexual exploitation have risen from 4,573 in 1998 to 112,083 in 2004, according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children Reports of child exploitation up. USA Today Snapshots, 17 February, 2005 .
§ Child Pornography generates $3 billion annually. Internet Filter Review. 2004”

"Medical Treatment" & Always Morally Obligatory "Medical Care"

It was perhaps the situation of Terri Schiavo which highlighted a need for clariffication as to what constitutes "medical treatment" and what constitutes always-necessary "medical care"....

As per an August 2007 statement from Colorado's Catholic bishops, "As long as the person is able to absorb medically assisted food and water they continue to be beneficial in sustaining life. If the person is unable to absorb them, their administration may be discontinued. When inevitable death is imminent, one may cease the administration of food and water if the
administration of them provides the person with no comfort and ceasing their administration will not be the cause of death."

In 1993, Maryland's Catholic Bishops released "Care of the Sick and Dying." The Bishops of the "Old Line State" recently posted an FAQ, in regard to their soon-to-be-available online, updated "Comfort and Consolation: Care of the Sick & Dying":

• What are some of the decisions that people face as they near life’s end on earth?


• One decision has to do with the initiation of certain treatments. Some forms of medical intervention are designed to cure diseases; other to relieve symptoms, retard the progress of a disease, or compensate for the failure of a bodily function.
  

• Whether a given treatment is necessary or useful to a particular patient is a medical question requiring the expertise of health-care professionals. When professional medical care is needed, we must consent to the reasonable use of
  appropriate services so that we do not neglect our own well-being and our spiritual and family obligations. Beyond these normal efforts, we are at liberty
  to employ or refuse the techniques of modern medicine that may entail excessive difficulty or risk.
  
  Whether a particular treatment may be excessively burdensome to an individual patient is a moral question requiring the faithful application of Church teaching. An ethical judgment may be required as to whether or not the benefits of the proposed treatment justify significant difficulties and suffering that the treatment may bring to a particular patient.
  

• Another decision has to do with the cessation of treatment. We must not stop medically
  useful interventions because we are tired of living, or feel that we no longer have a contribution to make, or believe we are a burden to others.
  
  

  Yet it is morally acceptable to interrupt such treatments when they are no longer beneficial or have become disproportionately difficult. That said, it is important to note what Pope John Paul II taught us -- that basic care including medically assisted nutrition and hydration in the case of a patient who is unable to take food or drink orally) must not be stopped or interrupted.
  
  

Should We Strenuously Avoid "Imposing Our Morals" or Show the Way that Leads to Fulfillment?

"Thus the word of the LORD came to me: Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel. When you hear a word from my mouth, you shall warn them for me.

"If I say to the wicked man, You shall surely die; and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his wicked conduct so that he may live: that wicked man shall die for his sin, but I will hold you responsible for his death.

"If, on the other hand, you have warned the wicked man, yet he has not turned away from his evil nor from his wicked conduct, then he shall die for his sin, but you shall save your life.

"If a virtuous man turns away from virtue and does wrong when I place a stumbling block before him, he shall die. He shall die for his sin, and his virtuous deeds shall not be remembered; but I will hold you responsible for his death if you did not warn him.

"When, on the other hand, you have warned a virtuous man not to sin, and he has in fact not sinned, he shall surely live because of the warning, and you shall save your own life"

(Ezekiel 3: 17 -21)

What say ye?

NFP vs. Contraception

NFP Awareness Week 2007

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