Germany: Catholics approve 'morning-after pill' for rape victims

Trier - In a stunning reversal, German bishops said Thursday that hospitals run by the Catholic Church in Germany could provide women who had been raped with the morning-after pill.

This revised stance comes following public outrage in January after two Catholic hospitals in Cologne refused treatment to a 25-year-old rape victim because staff members were concerned about having to counsel the woman about emergency contraception, Germany's Spiegel Online reported. Cologne’s archbishop, Cardinal Joachim Meisner, issued an apology on Jan. 22, saying it was shameful for a Catholic hospital to refuse treatment to a rape victims "because it goes against our Christian mission.” At the end of January, Meisner said it was “justifiable” in such cases to provide drugs that prevent conception, the Associated Press reported. He later said he had consulted with Pope Benedict XVI’s secretary, Georg Gaenswein, and was told that “everything is alright.” In a statement issued at the end of a regular meeting in the western city of Trier on Thursday, the German Bishops' Conference announced that they made the same determination, saying they had not been aware that various forms of emergency contraception were available. As part of their discussion, the Catholic News Agency, reported that Cardinal Karl Lehmann, president of the Commission for Doctrine and Faith of the German Bishops’ Conference, illustrated the moral and theological evaluation of using the morning-after pill “on the basis of scientific findings on the availability of new compounds with modified effect.” Older compounds, such as RU-486, terminates pregnancy by causing the embryo to detach from the uterine wall. "Medical-pharmaceutical methods, which result in the death of an embryo, should continue not to be used," the statement specified. But after consulting with medical experts and with the Vatican, the bishops agreed that administering drugs that in no way aborted a fertilized egg was justified in cases of rape, The New York Times writes. As the Associated Press notes, the statement did not specify any timeframe within which (Plan B) the morning-after pill can be prescribed: That pill contains a higher dose of the female progestin hormone than is in regular birth control pills. Taking it within 72 hours of unprotected intercourse can cut the chances of pregnancy by up to 89 percent. But it works best within the first 24 hours.

If a woman already is pregnant, the pill has no effect. It prevents ovulation or fertilization of an egg. According to Germany's Spiegel Online, Robert Zollitsch, head of the Bishops' Conference, said in the statement that the new policy applies to all Catholic facilities in Germany to ensure that “women who have been the victims of rape are provided human, medical, psychological and pastoral support." "In every case, the decision of the woman concerned must be respected," the statement added, Germany's The Local reported.