Did Romney Lie About Cardinal and Contraception During Wednesday Debate?

Way to go quoting a liberal blog called the “boston catholic insider” blog at wordpress.com. I’m sure the people writing this blog pretending to be a legit news source are really true catholics…yea, sure they are.

This is a liberal blog and it is very apparent why –it takes what it likes and gets rid of the truth. The truth is Cardinal O’Malley called Romney the “better friend to the Catholic church than any other MA governor in decades, and he was about the only one that wasn’t Catholic.” Ask him, even to this day he supports Romney because of all he did.

Truth is, the link that BCI posted from the Catholic Conference praised Romney for all he had done.

Truth is Mass Citizens for Life still endorses him. Yes Romney did give money to them, but that is because he supported their cause.

Truth is, BCI gives more credit to the liberal Boston Globe, instead of the, not Pilot News, but the Pilot Catholic News, funny how he removed that from the article. I trust the Catholic Newspaper that was there at the time working around the administration than a blog with no credibility.

Truth is the Vatican Envoy back him, yes one is now on his team, good for them and him. The rest don’t have reason to back him yet they did over the two other Catholics running in the 2012 election.

Truth is, this is a blog that is trying to smear Romney with liberal sources, while attacking Catholic and Conservative sources that defend Romney.

Regarding this BCI blog-post stating Romney lied in the February 2012 debate on emergency contraception, the Massachusetts law stated that hospitals must “provide information on and access to” emergency contraception in the case of rape. This is very different than saying they must “provide contraception to.” When Romney said… “the Catholic Church to provide morning-after pills to rape victims was entirely voluntary on their part,” while it was voluntary for them to actually provide the pill and give access to it, they were now required by the law to “provide information on and access to” emergency contraception in the case of rape. While this may be legalese parsing of words, it’s not a lie as the blog-post claims.

So did Romney lie? I’m not sure he could have considering most hospitals would have already been ok with handing out birth control in emergency situations such as rape. But the question gets asked and phrased very particularly to convince people that conservatives (and Catholics) wouldn’t properly treat a rape victim. This is how the media distorts the positions of groups or individuals. They’ve taken a complex moral issue and try to simplify it to one or two phrases.

It is a fact that Catholic teachings do no allow the separation of the “unitive and procreative” which is why birth control is not allowed. However, in the case of sexual assault the dual nature has already been distorted, thus the typical prohibitions don’t apply. (In fact, per normal moral theory the sperm represent a continued assault and should be stopped)

Per the Ethical and religious directives (ERDs) for Catholic hospitals (#36): “Compassionate and understanding care should be given to a person who is the victim of sexual assault…If, after appropriate testing, there is no evidence that conception has occurred already, she may be treated with medications that would prevent ovulation, sperm capacitation, or fertilization. It is not permissible, however, to initiate or to recommend treatments that have as their purpose or direct effect the removal, destruction, or interference with the implantation of a fertilized ovum.”

Catholic hospitals are opposed to the morning-after pill on the grounds that it could be an abortifacient – a drug that induces abortion – though the drug does not terminate an established pregnancy. It’s essentially a high dose of the birth control pill that will delay ovulation (as Dr. Ron Paul, OB-GYN, also said in the February debate on this topic.) But the drug can also prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus. It’s that possibility that prompts anti-abortion groups to object, though they don’t always take a clear stance on the drug. The National Right to Life Committee specifically states on its website that emergency contraception is not “the abortion pill.” The president of Massachusetts Citizens for Life would only call the pill “a possible abortifacient.” See: http://factcheck.org/2012/02/pac-strains-abortion-facts/

See Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, Directive 36: http://nccbuscc.org/bishops/directives.shtml

See The “Morning-After Pill”, Rape Victims and Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/resource.php?n=968

Most hospitals accept a simple urine pregnancy test (and a medical history) to satisfy the requirement that fertilization has not occurred. (There is an older protocol called the “Peoria Protocol*” which requires a blood test, but you rarely see that outside of some pretty conservative areas, of which anywhere in MA is probably not). Provided the hospitals do not have to provide RU-486 or Ella (the latter not have been invented at the time Romney was governor, and the former may not be medically indicated until positive proof of conception and implantation has been shown, which is really not possible at the stage at which these drugs are given, unless the pregnancy is prior to the rape by days or even weeks).

Disclaimer: The Peoria protocol exists still because some groups still hold that Plan B causes an abortion. Per “Health Care Ethics: A Catholic Theological Analysis” 5th Edition (Ashely, Deblouis and O’Rourke) there is moral certainty (based on several scientific studies) that this is not the case. This argument was presented to the USCCB (Bishops) who agreed, and thus Plan B is acceeptable in Rape cases for Catholic hospitals, you still have a few hold outs, but that’s internal Church Politics. But the Peroria protocol doesn’t stop the handing out of the pill, it only requires more extensive testing to determine if fertilization has occurred. See: http://legalinsurrection.com/2012/02/did-romney-really-lie-about-forcing-catholics-to-violate-their-consciences/#comments

In 1994 Ted Kennedy attacked Romney for being “multiple-choice” on abortion, Romney responded, “On the idea of ‘multiple-choice,’ I have to respond. I have my own beliefs, and those beliefs are very dear to me. One of them is that I do not impose my beliefs on other people. Many, many years ago, I had a dear, close family relative that was very close to me who passed away from an illegal abortion. It is since that time that my mother and my family have been committed to the belief that we can believe as we want, but we will not force our beliefs on others on that matter. And you will not see me wavering on that.” See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_positions_of_Mitt_Romney

Romney worked closely with Massachusetts Citizens for Life. The president of MCL recently issued a statement saying that since being elected governor, Mitt Romney has had a consistent commitment to the culture of life. See signed newfound pro-life supporter letter by pro-life advocates: http://www.lifenews.com/2012/01/30/romney-gains-support-from-florida-pro-life-advocates/

In 2005 Romney wrote an editorial in the Boston Globe stating why he was now pro-life. Flip flop or change of heart? From his statements earlier than 2005, he supported abortion laws as the law but never believed in abortion personally. See Romney’s interview with Tim Russert: http://youtu.be/NT0FNfJjimg