FIC Blog

Too rare for our state officials is the sort of courage displayed by Victim Advocate James Papillo in his public testimony yesterday:

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — State Victim Advocate James F. Papillo called on lawmakers Monday to oppose a bill requiring Connecticut hospitals, including Catholic institutions, to provide the “morning after pill” to rape victims.

Papillo, an ordained deacon in the Roman Catholic Church, also accused private victims’ rights groups of attacking the church and religious freedoms.

He questioned any need for the bill and told the legislature’s Public Health Committee that he has never received a complaint from a rape victim who was denied the pill from a Catholic hospital. Papillo has held the job for more than six years.

“What’s being proposed here is a solution in search of a problem. Victims are not being denied services,” he said, adding that Catholic hospitals refer victims to places where they can obtain the pills.

Papillo, who told legislators he was speaking as the victim advocate and not as a deacon, accused private advocacy organizations of using crime victims to further an anti-Catholic agenda.

“I see this for what it is. It is not a victims’ rights issue. It is not a victims’ services issue,” Papillo said. “Victims here are being used as a hook to further an agenda they are hiding … The issue is an attack on the Catholic institutions.”

Activists for the bill are quoted questioning the “motivation” of Papillo’s testimony and the AP responds by noting that he is a gubernatorial appointee, when his term expires and what his salary is. We can likely expect future pro-abortion efforts to remove from office this man who has so bravely spoken the politically incorrect truth in a place where such forthrightness is frowned upon.