Ethicist: Science lacking on Plan B
By Mary Chaluplsky
Transcript Reporter
DANBURY – A noted moral theologian and ethicist told an audience of health care providers that the hotly debated Plan B law – requiring all hospitals to dispense an "emergency contraception" pill to rape victims when requested – won’t be reversed "until we have a stronger scientific consensus."

Capuchin Franciscan Father J. Daniel Mindling, dean of studies at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md., put some of the responsibility directly onto the shoulders of the scientific community by calling for collaboration on the issue.

"To proclaim the Gospel of Life does not take a village," he challenged. "It takes a Church. It takes the voices of everyone here."

Father Mindling offered an analysis of the ongoing Plan B debate at a breakfast following the 15th annual White Mass, celebrated Feb. 24 by Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport at St. Joseph Parish.

The annual Mass recognizes the contributions of Catholic physicians, nurses, dentists and other health care professionals in Fairfield County.

A statement by the Catholic Bishops of Connecticut, in which they addressed the law requiring Connecticut Catholic hospitals to administer the emergency contraception Plan B pill to rape victims, occasioned questions because it seemed to reverse an earlier position in which they said that lawmakers were forcing medical personnel to violate Catholic teaching and perform chemical abortions by providing emergency contraception (Plan B goes by the brand name levonorgestrel) to victims of rape. The statement was announced in September.

Under the new law, hospitals administer a pregnancy test, but not an ovulation test. The ovulation test is a sticking point, because if a woman is ovulating, the risk is that Plan B could work as an abortifacient and prevent a fertilized ovum from implanting in the uterine wall.

However, scientific evidence is still inconclusive, and until a consensus is reached, the Catholic position is at a virtual stalemate.

The bishops addressed the new law, explaining in a joint statement that "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," Catholic hospitals will reluctantly provide Plan B to rape victims without first requiring an ovulation test.

"To administer Plan B without an ovulation test is not an intrinsically evil act," the bishops stated.

Father Mindling explained that while Catholic moral teaching is adamantly opposed to abortion, it is not opposed to "emergency contraception" for victims of rape, as set forth in the 2001 Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services issued by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Siding with the Connecticut bishops, Father Mindling called Plan B a flawed law, exacerbated by a lack of consensus on the scientific evidence.

Ticking off a list of reasons, he said, "It’s flawed" because it doesn’t let physicians put into practice their best medical judgment; because it doesn’t give victims of sexual assault all the necessary information to make an informed medical decision; and because it doesn’t respect the "collective conscience" of Catholic health care facilities to make policies which "reflect their corporate conscience."

It’s also flawed, he said, "if it does not recognize the authority of religious leaders like the bishops" to teach the practical consequences of faith without state interference.

"With what right does the state tell bishops that they cannot teach on matters so important as the transmission of human life?" he said indignantly.

Further agreeing with the Connecticut bishops, Father Mindling attested that there is no definitive Catholic resolution of the issue from either the National Conference of Catholic Bishops or from the Vatican.

In fact, he noted that then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger even deferred to U.S. statements, saying that the Americans study the issue of contraception more than any other group.

Health care workers applauded Father Mindling’s analysis. "It was an excellent outline of the issue," said Sister Louise Gallahue of the Daughters of Charity, chair of the board of trustees for St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport, one of Connecticut’s four Catholic hospitals.

"If new scientific information becomes available, then we can reopen discussion," she said. "But until then, the question surrounds the reliability of the ovulation test."

Christine Dombrowski, a nurse-midwife agreed. "It’s a hot topic that will go on for years because there is no definitive scientific consensus."

Pleading with his audience of doctors and nurses, Father Mindling said, "The bishops are not going to give this consensus. You are. Your role in the Church is that important. Without you, we can’t protect innocent life."

"This is a call for collaboration," he said. "The Church relies on the scientific community to read and conduct studies in the light of the Gospel of Life," he said. "The Church cannot proclaim the Gospel of Life without your help."