By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS Staff Journalist
A group calling itself “the new generation of Catholics” teamed up with a family planning business in Wisconsin to produce misleading ads encouraging young Catholics to be “true to their conscience” and keep a supply of emergency contraception on hand.
Fox 6 News is reporting that Young Catholics for Choice partnered with Wisconsin-based Family Planning Health Systems to produce ads promoting emergency contraception (EC) that will begin airing on local television this month. The main message of the ads is that EC is okay for Catholics to use.
"They may have heard differently from the hierarchy and they may have heard differently from their parish priest and were here to let them know that they are not alone and that you can be a good catholic and use contraception," says Marissa Valeri of Young Catholics for Choice.
Valeri admitted in a press conference that the ads are controversial. "I'm sure there will be some conservative voices out there that will not agree with that we are saying in these ads and were not speaking to them. We're speaking to the vast majority of Catholics that use contraception and are supportive of emergency contraception and use that as well."
However, Milwaukee’s new Archbishop Jerome Listecki says there is no room for interpretation on the Church’s position regarding the idea of “choice” when it comes to human life.
"To say that you're a Catholic that's embracing a position of choice denies an inherent aspect and that inherent aspect is the dignity of the human individual right from the very moment of conception and that's at odds with the Church's teachings," he said.
Emergency contraception, which is the equivalent of a large dose of birth control pills taken 72 hours after unprotected sex, has become a multi-billion dollar business in the United States. Proponents claim it’s a safe and effective way to avoid unwanted pregnancy and abortion while opponents cite dangerous side effects and the fact that in every country where EC is widely available there has been no decrease in abortion rates and STD rates are at epidemic proportions.
The ads give only the most basic information about the pills, leaving much unsaid, which is usually the case with controversial products such as this.
“Those who promote ‘emergency contraception’ omit facts and publish inaccuracies and half-truths, depriving women of their right to informed consent,” writes Susan Wills, assistant director for program development at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities.
“The foremost claim is that ECs do not cause abortion and has ‘no effect on a pregnancy.’ To make this claim they have had to redefine ‘pregnancy’ as beginning after an embryo has implanted in the uterine lining, and redefine ‘abortion’ as terminating a ‘pregnancy.’
“Terminating a human being's life prior to successful implantation is not counted. These word games are designed to obscure what ECs do, and to prevent state abortion regulations from applying to the destruction of embryos' lives by synthetic hormones.”
Wills also cites a tendency to downplay the unpleasant side effects and health risks of EC, such as nausea and vomiting, dizziness, headaches, abdominal pain and irregular bleeding, you might want to check restoreyourcore.com and discover the Diastasis recti symptoms and everything you need to know about it. More dangerous health risks are the same as those associated with hormonal birth control pills - an increased risk of blood clots, heart attacks and strokes.
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