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On Being a Breed Mare

This one speaks for itself, or will have to because I can’t come up with anything remotely un-profane to say about it:

Imagine two rape victims taken to the same hospital emergency room. Imagine them put in adjoining examination rooms.

Let’s say they have identical injuries.

Presume everything about them is the same except for where they are in their menstrual cycles.

Do they deserve access to the same medical treatment?

At most Catholic hospitals in Colorado, they can’t get it.

The protocol of six Catholic hospitals run by Centura calls for rape victims to undergo an ovulation test.

If they have not ovulated, said Centura corporate spokeswoman Dana Berry, doctors tell the victims about emergency contraception and write prescriptions for it if the patient asks.

If, however, the urine test suggests that a rape victim has ovulated, Berry continued, doctors at Centura’s Catholic hospitals are not to mention emergency contraception. That means the victim can end up pregnant by her rapist.

HT: First Draft


14 thoughts on On Being a Breed Mare

  1. Um, isn’t there something somewhere about “equal protection under the law” or something like that?

    This is like, conspiracy to force someone to undergo a pregnancy she doesn’t want.

    And aside from that, I can’t find anything un-profane to say either.

  2. and people wonder why i don’t bother being a practicing catholic. more than angry, i’m saddened by this, for the women who are kept in the dark. ugh. i have a feeling, though, that once i’m done being depressed i’m gonna be really pissed off and unable to talk to anyone about this without using a lot of curse words.

  3. If you don’t want to be profane, I’ll do it. THOSE GODDAMNED MISOGYNIST SHIT-HEADED FUCKTARDS! Doesn’t really make me feel better, but hopefully they’ll ge the pants sued off them.

  4. They are forcing the possibility of conception? That is beyond reprehensible. If they refuse treatment or referral for treatment under these circumstances, they should be required to PAY for either any abortion the victim chooses to have should she become pregnant OR all medical costs related to a pregnancy she chooses to continue as well as child support shoould she choose to raise any resultant child. There is no logical reason to think a high dose of progesterone would make the uterus inhospitable to implantation of a zygote (I’d think quite the opposite to be honest), so if there is a secondary mechanism of action to EC that renders an ova more resistant to penetration (or negatively impacts the ability of sperm to fertlize an egg) post ovulation they cannot claim it as an abortifacient. While I understand they consider “spilling” of the seed a sin, by treating victims this way they make themselves complicit in the rape as well as any resultant abortion (which, I believe, are much bigger sins). No doubt this guy will insist the biological father (aka the rapist) must not be forced to pay any child support but should be permitted rights and access to his child (and/or the right to be the final arbiter of the decision regarding terminating or continuing the pregnancy)

  5. The worst part about this, at least in my geography..is the fact that Catholic hospitals practically have a monopoly around here.

    To my knowledge, there is one public teaching hospital that’s not religiously affiliated. The rest here are all Catholic. The closest one to me is one of them.

  6. It seems to me that Catholicism (a) doesn’t respect women, (b) doesn’t respect anyone who isn’t Catholic’s decisions that might not coincide with their dogma, (c) doesn’t respect anyone’s right to choice… why on earth should I respect a religion that doesn’t respect me?

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