The Connecticut bishops have reversed themselves and will now allow Catholic hospitals to dispense emergency contraceptive pills, known as "Plan B" pills, to rape victims. See the Hartford Courant story here. This has naturally caused many tongues to wag. The Catholic World News story quotes a bishops' spokesman as saying that the hierarchy had undergone "an evolution in thinking." Beyond that, there is not much. One wonders how and why their thinking changed, and how this will affect many similar debates, or even what Rome thinks. Illumination welcomed.

David Gibson is the director of Fordham’s Center on Religion & Culture.

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