Abortion Advocates Decry Catholic Hospitals’ Policy

KAISER FAMILY FOUNDATION, April 3 — The New York state affiliate of a pro-abortion organization launched a phone campaign targeting two Catholic hospitals in Manhattan that do not provide so-called emergency contraception to rape victims in their emergency departments, reported the pro-abortion Kaiser Family Foundation.

The National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League urged its activists to call the presidents of St. Clare's Hospital and Cabrini Medical Center to pressure them to provide high level doses of the birth control pill to victims of rape, Kaiser reported.

If the birth control pill fails to prevent ovulation, it can prevent an embryo from implanting in his mother's womb.

Susan Fani, director of legal research at the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, said that while rape is a tragedy, offering emergency contraception will only make matters worse for the patient. She said, “Rape is a disruption. Bad things happen but there is no point in doing another evil,” reported the Manhattan Resident in their 3/21 issue.

British Doctors Let Elderly Patients Die

REUTERS, April 2 — Doctors in some British hospitals have allowed elderly patients to die unnecessarily in order to make beds available for new patients, the news service reported.

“I have witnessed doctors who want to keep beds clear by withdrawing treatment or actively assisting in death to the point where it becomes involuntary euthanasia,” a junior doctor told the Sunday London Times, according to Reuters.

Some elderly patients were allowed to die merely on the basis of their age, while others were given high doses of diamorphine, a heroin-based drug, to accelerate their death, Rita Pal, 28, told the wire service. Pal said she was leaving the profession because of such practices, and said she intended to present the General Medical Council with a dossier listing several incidents of abuse and neglect of elderly patients.

Office Building Locks Out Abortion Practitioner

ASSOCIATED PRESS, March 28 — A New Jersey condominium association changed the locks on a set of suites bought by an abortionist because he owes $15,000 in membership fees, AP reported.

Steven Brigham bought six suites for $50,000 last fall in an Erie office building to open an abortion facility. Brigham is finishing a 120-day work alternative program in Albany, N.Y., for failing to file corporate tax returns, reported AP.

“Just because he wants to operate an abortion clinic, that doesn't mean he doesn't have to follow the rules,” said condominium association president Eugene Ware. Brigham said he and his partners have refused to pay because the fees are not itemized.

Nebraska Abortionist Before Supreme Court

ASSOCIATED PRESS, April 4 — The U.S. Supreme Court will hear abortionist Leroy Carhart's challenge to Nebraska's ban on partial-birth abortion on April 25, AP reported. The case will be the high court's first major decision on abortion in eight years.

Carhart maintains the ban is written in such a way that it could be used to ban all abortions, reported AP.

People on both sides of the issue agree that the decision in Carhart's case could have a major impact on abortion in the United States, the news service reported. Similar laws against partial-birth abortion are on the books in 30 states, but courts have blocked enforcement of most of them.

The high court took the case because of conflicting decisions by federal appeals courts. One court struck down the Nebraska law along with measures in Iowa and Arkansas, saying the law was vague and too broad.