Doctor calls German bishops misled on morning-after pill
Doctor calls German bishops misled on morning-after pill
Rome, Italy, Feb 22, 2013 / 12:27 pm (Catholic News Agency).- A leading Catholic doctor in Spain says he will write a letter to Germany's bishops to help correct what he believes to be their mistaken views on the morning-after pill.
“I'm going to write a long letter to the German Bishops' Conference to give them some scientific light about this topic,” Doctor Justo Aznar told CNA Feb. 22 after the Pontifical Academy for Life's annual meeting at the Vatican.
The German bishops decided Feb. 21 to allow Catholic hospitals to use the morning-after pill or other contraception in rape cases, provided that the medication acts as a contraceptive and not an abortifacient.
Aznar called it a mistake for German bishops to think a morning-after pill will not act as an abortifacient.
“I would say that approximately in half of the cases it acts as a contraceptive and the other half it has an anti-implantation effect.”
“They need in depth study and Germany's Bishops Conference needs to show the reasoning as to why they believe that pill can be used.”
The doctor believes that the Pontifical Academy for Life, whose world members are in a two-day conference in Rome until Feb. 23, should take action on the issue.
