HARRISBURG -- Catholic physicians, clergy and health association administrators sounded off yesterday on a plan to require all hospitals to offer emergency contraception to rape victims.

They spoke against the bill during a public hearing of the House Republican Policy Committee.

Proponents say the bill protects women at their most vulnerable.

Some foes, such as physician and psychiatrist Karl Benzio, of the Christian Medical and Dental Association, oppose the use of the so-called morning-after pill in any circumstance.

Ann Marie Manning, head of the obstetrics and gynecology department at Holy Spirit Hospital in suburban Harrisburg, said use of the pill, also known as Plan B, is appropriate to prevent conception if it has not yet occurred, but not to prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus.

The distinction between ovulation and fertilization is monumental, said the Rev. J. Daniel Mindling, ethics consultant to Holy Spirit and theology professor at Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Maryland.

If fertilization already has occurred, Catholic hospitals view themselves as treating not one patient, but two: the woman and her newly conceived child. Emergency contraceptions would cause the death of one of those patients, he said.

If, however, fertilization has not occurred, there is only one patient, and Catholic hospitals in Pennsylvania willingly dispense the morning-after pill, he said.

The dilemma is that there are no medical tests that accurately show whether fertilization has occurred until the egg already is implanted in the uterus and it is too late for the morning-after pill to be effective.

Catholic hospitals in Pennsylvania should and do provide the morning-after pill to rape victims when ovulation has not occurred, Dr. Manning and Mr. Mindling said.

That approach isn't good enough, said the bill's sponsor, Rep. Daylin Leach, R-Montgomery. Ovulation is not an indication that fertilization has occurred, only that it could have, he said in an interview after the hearing.

"If you're going to deny women emergency care and alter their lives forever, you have to have a little bit higher standard of proof," he said.

"Imagine all the horrible situations. Imagine a schoolgirl who gets pregnant because of rape and is being asked over and over who the father is so she has to relive [the rape] in her mind. Imagine a 40-year-old who is told a pregnancy could put her life in danger," Mr. Leach said.

Officials yesterday asked that Catholic hospitals be exempted from providing emergency contraception. The requirement would impede their religious freedom to act in accordance with their belief that life occurs at conception, they said.

State Rep. Tom Tangretti, D-Hempfield, has filed an amendment that would exempt them.

Mr. Leach said that would defeat the purpose of his bill.

"It would be like saying the speed limit is 65 mph -- unless you like to drive faster," he said.

Larry Frankel of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania said rape victims' rights to treatment outweigh hospitals' rights to religious expression.

Rape victims with severe injuries don't choose which hospitals to go to for emergency care and can't be easily transported to non-Catholic hospitals that provide emergency contraception, said Mr. Frankel, an observer at the hearing.

"If they're lucky, they get taken to a we-do-everything hospital. If they're not, they go to one that says, 'We think there's a remote chance maybe you've already gotten pregnant from this so we can't help you.' "

The full House could take up the issue as soon as this week. Earlier this month, the bill passed through the House Health and Human Services Committee by a vote of 20-7.

The issue has left lawmakers such as state Rep. Fred McIlhattan conflicted.

"This is a very challenging situation. There's some good points on both sides," said Mr. McIlhattan , R-Clarion, during yesterday's hearing. "When roll is called, I can't vote 60 percent 'yes' and 40 percent 'no.' "