AB377/SB129 (the "Rape Victim" bills) are unconstitutional on their face under the Wisconsin constitution (and, arguably, under the US constitution.)
They should be rejected.
Wisconsin law protects the right of hospitals to refuse to participate in morally objectionable practices such as abortion and sterilization. The proposed legislation appears to be in conflict with Wisconsin Statutes 253.09(1) because of the abortion causing effect of so-called emergency contraceptive drugs, as well as with the Wisconsin Constitution that expressly protects the rights of conscience. Under Article 1, Section 18 of the state constitution “any control of, or interference with, the rights of conscience” shall not be permitted. The legislation also violates the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guarantees the right to freely exercise one’s religious convictions.
Despite propaganda to the contrary, these bills will place practitioners in a situation which is impossible.
...the National Catholic Medical Association passed a resolution stating that the term “emergency contraception” is "a misnomer as it does not consistently prevent fertilization.” The resolution concludes since the drug "has the potential to prevent implantation whether given in the pre-ovulatory, ovulatory, or post-ovulatory phase that it cannot be ethically employed by a Catholic physician or administered in a Catholic hospital in cases of rape.” All four Wisconsin Guilds of the Catholic Medical Association ( Milwaukee , La Crosse , Chippewa Valley & Central Wisconsin) specifically oppose AB 377 and SB 129. Their legislative memo concludes that “the law will mandate the use of medication that actually causes early abortions by preventing embryos from implanting on the wall of the uterus.”
The facts are simple. The bills (as currently written) are both "abortion-enabling" AND un-constitutional.
They should not pass.
(Research from Pro-Life Wisconsin.)
The Wisconsin and US bishops think this bill is okay, isn't that good enough for you? Or are you saying that the bishops are incompetent on this issue?
ReplyDeleteThey're entitled to their opinion.
ReplyDeleteAnd, no, it's NOT good enough for me--nor for the Catholic Medical Guilds in this State.
Frankly, I think the MD's are better-informed on the science of the matter, and the Bishops are hamstrung by the Peoria Protocol.
So it's up to the laity (as usual) to raise Hell.