One of the stories on tonight’s episode of “Boston Legal” concerns a teenage girl who is raped, becomes pregnant and then wants to sue a Catholic hospital for denying her emergency contraception. Catholic League president Bill Donohue took note of this show today:
“If there is one Hollywood producer who has shown himself to be positively obsessed with Catholicism, it is David E. Kelley. His treatment of Catholicism on ‘Ally McBeal,’ ‘Picket Fences,’ ‘Chicago Hope,’ ‘Snoops,’ ‘The Practice’ and ‘Boston Legal’ is so well known that we have a big fat file on him. This time Kelley has decided to hook up with the equally anti-Catholic folks at the ACLU: the Pennsylvania affiliate is providing a viewing guide that can facilitate discussions at a ‘Boston Legal Viewing Party’ (courtesy of RaisingHerVoice.org, a project of the state affiliate).
“Tonight’s plot is the work of Corinne Brinkerhoff. The 26-year-old started as an intern for Kelley, then became his personal assistant, then was promoted to development manager and now has been hired as a script writer. It is said she ‘won over Kelley and the show’s writing staff on her first attempt,’ which, of course, is entirely believable: the show puts a lousy face on the Catholic Church. What’s not to like?
“The Pro-Life Office of the Bishops Conference, by the way, holds that ‘A woman who has been raped should be able to defend herself from a potential conception and receive treatment to suppress ovulation and incapacitate sperm. If conception has occurred, however, a Catholic hospital will not dispense drugs to interfere with implantation of a newly conceived human embryo.’ But don’t look for the party animals at a ‘Boston Legal Viewing Party’ to be instructed in such nuances.
“Whoever thought that Hollywood and the ACLU would unite to present the Catholic Church with a Valentine’s Day gift? And all along I thought these guys didn’t like to party—I just thought they were always out of their minds.”
