July 30, 2008
Josephine Marcotty, Star Tribune (Minnesota)
A proposed federal rule change to redefine pregnancy and abortion would override a recent Minnesota law requiring all hospitals to offer rape victims emergency contraception.
If approved by the Department of Health and Human Services, the rule would broaden the definition of abortion to include the most widely used forms of birth control, which can prevent implantation of a fertilized egg.
The existing abortion definition used by the federal government and medical groups is the removal of a fertilized egg that has successfully implanted in the uterine wall, where it would continue to grow.
