Posted on 02/13/2012 1:34:35 PM PST by topher
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, February 13, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) As politicians in both political parties debate Mitt Romneys role in implementing a 2005 statute requiring Catholic hospitals in Massachusetts to dispense Plan B - an emergency contraceptive that studies and the pills manufacturer have suggested can cause early abortions - a leader in the states pro-life movement puts the blame squarely on the former governor.
The injury to the conscience rights of Catholic hospitals was not done so much so much by the churchs ideological enemies on the Left but by the Romney administration, C.J. Doyle, executive director of the Catholic Action League, told LifeSiteNews.com. The real harm, he says, came from Romneys private counsels interpretation of a 1975 law that would have respected their religious views.
It wasnt the liberals. It wasnt some liberal court. It was not liberal legislators that caused this interpretation of law, Doyle said. It was the Romney administration that injured the conscience rights and religious freedom rights of Catholic hospitals here.
(Excerpt) Read more at lifesitenews.com ...
I guess Christians should expect to be dumped on if Romney becomes president...
Did Mitt Romney force Catholic hospitals to provide Plan B? Mass. Catholic leader says yes
If Romney gets the nomination, and there is a “we have to rally behind Romney” wave on Free Republic at that time, I will very likely be banned.
Because I will NEVER support Romney.
I know that it occurred during Romney’s governorship, but my understanding is that he vetoed the legislation, but the veto was overridden by the legislature.
One week before the law was to take effect, Romney held a press conference saying, I have instructed the Department of Public Health to follow the conclusion of my own legal counsel, calling it a sounder view. The Boston Herald described Romneys turnabout as an Olympic-caliber double flip-flop with a gold medal-performance twist-and-a-half. Romney told the Herald the new legal analysis represented his private view on the issue, as well. My personal view in my heart of hearts is that people who are subject to rape should have the option of having emergency contraceptives or emergency contraceptive information. The new position allowed the Romney administration to have its cake and eat it, too, Doyle told LifeSiteNews.com. His support for a new religious exemption, which could never pass the Democratic legislature, meant Governor Romney could then run for president as a friend of religious freedom rights and traditional morality, while his lieutenant governor, to whom he was very close, Lt. Gov. Kerry Murphy Healey, could run for election as governor in 2006 in liberal Massachusetts without any downside from liberals and feminists on the emergency contraception issue. Healey opposed Romneys veto and supported the reversal. Romney, through his legal counsel, came up with this entirely novel, unprecedented, unheard of interpretation of the 1975 statute to indicate that it didnt apply, Doyle told LifeSiteNews. This surprised, and astonished, and perplexed everyone.
I emphasize the problems with Romney's position with underline and the color RED. Whenever a Republican gives the Boston Globe that type of ammunition, it is very bad for Republicans...
And sanctimonious Santorum knew this and supported Mitt loudly in '08. And he still knows it and silence.
He voiced that tactic in the debates - he pushes an agenda then backs off so his fingerprints aren’t on it.
So did they cave or not?
This article is saying that Romney and his legal counsel overruled this 1975 statute with the 2005 law -- thus forcing Catholic Hospitals to dispense these drugs.
Though Romney vetoed the 2005 law (only to have the veto overriden), he did the about face in terms of the interpretation of the 2005 law and doing away with the 1975 conscious clause.
Thus Romney's Flip-Flop hurt the Catholic Church.
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