To receive the endorsement of the powerful Northern Kentucky Right to Life, candidates must now state that they think the use of the standard birth control pill — not just the morning-after pill — constitutes abortion.

        Kenton County Commissioner Barb Black, a registered nurse recognized in 1999 by Northern Kentucky Right to Life “for the tremendous works she has already accomplished for human life,” is furious.

        “To get the endorsement of Northern Kentucky Right to Life, you had to have been willing to grit your teeth, shut your eyes, turn off your brain and mark "yes' because you're scared to death not to get the endorsement,” said Mrs. Black, who added she did not return her candidate questionnaire.

        “If you have to sell your soul to get an endorsement, maybe people need to take another look. Eventually you've got to stand up for your beliefs.”

        What has her so upset is a new question on Right to Life's 2002 candidate questionnaire that asks, “Will you actively support ... legislation which prohibits all use of state, federal and/or Medicare funds for abortion, including chemical abortions, such as RU-486, and the so-called "morning after pill,' and the so-called "standard birth control pill?'”

        The question continues: “It is now acknowledged that the pharmaceutical manufacturers agree that the so-called "standard birth control pill' carries an abortifacient function” (causes an abortion).

        That's not only misleading, Mrs. Black said, it's an attempt to intimidate candidates for public office in Northern Kentucky.

        She said she doesn't know of anywhere else where a group has tried to redefine the standard birth control pill as causing abortion.

        Fred Summe, vice president of Northern Kentucky Right to Life, denied that saying “yes” to that question meant that a candidate was saying standard birth control pills could cause an abortion.

        However, he later said, “we have furnished ample evidence that the standard birth control pill can impede implantation of the newly conceived child into the mother's uterus. If you stop the implantation of the newly conceived child, the child is aborted out of the body. It can't implant.”

        But noting “you can't have it both ways,” Mrs. Black said the conservative Christian Medical and Dental Associations state that scientific data don't “establish a definite causal link” when it comes to proving that birth control pills cause abortions.

        Mr. Summe said the organization didn't mislead anyone in its questionnaire.

        He said the group's political action committee was to meet Thursday night to discuss political endorsements, and will release candidate endorsements, “including some in primary races where there's a pro-life distinction, very soon.”

        Mrs. Black, so upset by the question about the birth control pill, is nonetheless, as a member of the Northern Kentucky health board, trying to get a policy adopted to prohibit the health district from spending money on or distributing RU-486. Manufacturers label that drug clearly as causing abortions.

        She tried to get the RU-486 policy enacted about 18 months ago, but a board member who supported Northern Kentucky Right To Life President Robert Cetrulo's position including the birth control pill amended her motion. In revision, the motion stood to “basically ban all artificial means of birth control,” and it was defeated by the health board.

        Mrs. Black said her disagreement with Mr. Cetrulo over that issue, as well as her disagreement with him when he publicly called her a “liar” at the Northern Kentucky Right to Life's annual Celebration of Life in fall 2000, “infuriated Mr. Cetrulo,” prompting him to make an unsuccessful try to have Kenton County Judge-executive Dick Murgatroyd remove her as his representative on the health board last winter.

        “Judge Murgatroyd courageously, even knowing he was going to be attacked, said, "Mrs. Black is not only qualified, but she represents me. I agree with what she says and the pro-life stand she has taken and she will stay on that board,'” Mrs. Black said.

        Mr. Murgatroyd could not be reached for comment Thursday.

        Mrs. Black also characterized a proposed resolution on county funding of birth control options as too extreme. Under the proposed resolution by Mr. Cetrulo, any type of artificial birth control would be construed as pro-abortion.

        “This goes way beyond public officials,” Mrs. Black said. “He's saying that all artificial means of birth control are wrong, that they cause abortions, particularly the standard birth control pills.”

        “The implication is you're condemning couples who use standard birth control pills as pro-abortion. And you're condemning doctors who prescribe them and the pharmacists who dispense them,” she said.

        Mr. Summe denied that the proposed resolution was a condemnation of the above groups. Kenton Fiscal Court adopted its own resolution Tuesday restating its beliefs that taxpayer money should not be used for abortions and opposing the distribution of contraceptives to minors without parental consent and notification.

        However, Mr. Summe said Right to Life had wanted a written assurance from Kenton Fiscal Court that it would not fund any agency that distributed contraceptives to teen-aged girls without parental notification or consent.

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