Catholic bishops to 'review' position that fetuses aren't people after all

Oops, we just screwed ourselves Well, this certainly didn't take long:

Three Colorado bishops said on Thursday they will review a Catholic Church hospital's defense of a lawsuit that argues fetuses do not have legal status - apparently contradicting the Church's teaching on life issues.

The case stems from a malpractice and wrongful death lawsuit filed by Jeremy Stodghill in the 2006 death of his seven-month pregnant wife Lori at a Catholic hospital in Canon City, Colorado. Her twin fetuses also died.

In defending itself from the lawsuit, defendant Catholic Health Initiatives, the Church-affiliated organization that runs the Church-affiliated St. Thomas More Hospital where Lori Stodghill died, argued:

[T]he court "should not overturn the long-standing rule in Colorado that the term 'person,' as is used in the Wrongful Death Act, encompasses only individuals born alive. Colorado state courts define 'person' under the Act to include only those born alive. Therefore Plaintiffs cannot maintain wrongful death claims based on two unborn fetuses."

Let's take a moment to appreciate just how stunning an argument that really is. After all, the entire movement to strip women of their reproductive rights'in which the Catholic Church is a very prominent voice'is based on the belief that the courts should absolutely overturn long-standing law. That's their whole argument, in fact. The law is wrong and should be overturned. That's why they keep introducing blatantly unconstitutional legislation all over the country, for the explicit purpose of provoking litigation that will ultimately allow the courts to overturn those very laws.

And now a Catholic institution is arguing that, contrary to everything the Catholic Church has ever said, a fetus is not a person, has no rights or protections, and'and this point is particularly important'that's how it should stay.

Now, lest you think that an attorney representing a Catholic organization that manages a Catholic hospital does not actually speak for the Church, and therefore, the arguments in legal documents do not represent the Church itself, au contraire, smarty pants. Let's go below the fold to review the Taco Bell rule, shall we?