Catholic bishops OK Plan B for rape

Roman Catholic bishops have agreed to let hospital personnel provide emergency contraception to all rape victims, church officials said in Hartford.

The church, which runs four of the state’s 30 hospitals, had fought a new state law requiring medical personnel to provide rape victims emergency contraception, sold as Plan B. It had wanted its hospitals to test victims to ensure they weren’t ovulating. (Though Plan B works primarily by preventing ovulation, it may also prevent implantation of a fertilized egg.)

Church officials had said the treatment was tantamount to abortion.