Hurray for the Governor! Viva Chaput!

Lost in the coverage of John Paul II's passing is Colorado Governor Owen's veto of a mandatory "emergency contraception" bill which would have required all hospitals to give out information about sometimes abortifacient medication to women who have been raped.

Just as the pro-lifers have used the hard case of partial-birth abortion to attempt to shift the debate, so too are other political groups using rape victims to justify their compulsion of conscience. See this Denver Post column, "Owens' veto, Chaput's voice" by Jim Spencer. Spencer actually argues that one wrong against one innocent justifies another wrong against another innocent. He even says right out that the governor and bishop-not the rapists-are responsible for their victims becoming pregnant.

If they end up pregnant by their rapists because the hospitals that treated them refused to make them aware of emergency contraception, they can thank their governor.

And the archbishop of Denver.

I used to think that I could write a newspaper column. Now I realize that not only would my natural prolixity in writing be a barrier, but I also do not have the discipline to continuously throw out complex thinking in favor of scoring rhetorical points. I can only manage it on occasion.