BERLIN (AP) — German bishops have agreed that Roman Catholic-run hospitals should be allowed to prescribe the morning-after pill to rape victims to prevent conception.
The German Bishops Conference issued the ruling at a regular meeting Thursday in the western city of Trier. But it said Catholic hospitals still can't prescribe drugs that would lead to the death of an embryo.
The German church was under pressure to clarify its stance after a recent case in which two Catholic hospitals in Cologne turned away a rape victim because of concerns over the pill. Cologne's archbishop, Cardinal Joachim Meisner, said last month that the church was "deeply ashamed by this incident because it goes against our Christian mission."
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