Plan B news

The Hartford Courant reports:

In a major softening of their position, the state's Roman Catholic bishops announced Thursday that Catholic hospitals would comply with a new law taking effect Monday that requires all hospitals in the state to dispense emergency contraceptive pills to rape victims.

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The bishops said Thursday that it is sufficient to require a pregnancy test - and not an ovulation test - before the emergency contraceptive is administered to the rape victim. The law does require a pregnancy test.

"The administration of Plan B pills in this instance cannot be judged to be the commission of an abortion because of such doubt about how Plan B pills and similar drugs work and because of the current impossibility of knowing from the ovulation test whether a new life is present," the bishops said in a statement. "To administer Plan B pills without an ovulation test is not an intrinsically evil act."