The news is full of the tough choice Governor Bill Owens faces in deciding whether to sign House Bill 1042, requiring Colorado hospitals to tell rape victims about emergency contraception during their post-assault examinations. Tough choice? For whom, exactly? Not for most victims of sexual assault. As Representative Fran Coleman said, "This bill is for someone who has just been sexually assaulted, who did not welcome that sperm into her body...It's just like wanting a bullet removed from your body." But supposedly it's tough because the governor is Roman Catholic and he campaigned on "conservative values." I have a lot of Catholic friends, none of whom buy the church's anti-contraceptive, mandatory-be-fruitful-and-multiply doctrine. It's an anachronistic vestige of the agricultural past, regardless of what Archbishop Charles Chaput wants his flock to believe. And the bill isn't about prescribing abortion pills. It requires hospital emergency rooms to offer INFORMATION about EMERGENCY CONTRACEPTION. ER's don't even have to stock the pills--they are simply required to tell women that the pills exist if they don't want to be impregnated by a hideous, violent rapist. Women themselves can decide whether EC is for them or not. Catholic hospitals are in the business of offering medical treatment and advice. I highly doubt these institutions are recommending self-flagellation for depressed patients or other acts of barbarism practiced by members of various Catholic sects over the centuries. Giving information to traumatized women is compassionate--it's very New Testament. Catholic hospital administrators should feel comfortable about offering this kind of help to suffering rape victims. Because forcing women victims to carry and bear the child of their rapist is barbaric. Period. This is about real people and real lives. It's not theater of the absurd, where Monty Python's mega-parody "Every Sperm is Sacred" is actually true. And surely even the most ardent pro-lifer, whether Catholic or a "conservative values" activist, can understand that preventing an unwanted pregnancy prevents abortion, something we can all agree is a good thing. And for those pregnant rape victims who want to stay that way--like the mom who played an audio tape of her rape-conceived child singing "Jesus Loves Me"--there is nothing that prevents them from choosing that path. Amanda Mountjoy, fellow Catholic, fellow Republican and spokeswoman for Republican Majority for Choice confirms that this shouldn't be a tough choice for the governor. Fellow conservatives Senator Nancy Spence and Representative Lynn Hefley agree. Hmmm...all women. Very interesting. Can it be that only women can conceive of the pain, violence, violation and degradation of rape? Maybe I'm not suitably realistic, but I don't believe that. I think men can at least begin to understand. As far as I can see, this is a no-brainer for the governor, even though he has yet to take a position on the matter. C'mon Governor Owens...do the right thing for the women of Colorado.