With President-elect Obama promising to sign the Freedom of Choice Act, which would nullify all existing laws and regulations that limit abortion in any way, Catholic hospitals have threatened to shut down.
Bishops are saying that “any one of us would consider it a privilege to die tomorrow . . . to bring about the end of abortion.”
This can have major health policy implications as Catholic institutions comprise almost one-third of all hospitals, many in underserved areas.
The future president better be careful to sidestep a culture war this issue is sure to ignite.
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{ 8 comments }
If Catholic hospitals close down, it will not be because of Obama, but because of the convocation of bishops or whoever runs the Catholic hospital system; let’s be clear on that.
The day that I am forced to be complicite in killing in any way to be allowed to practice as a physician is the day that I will stop practicing. I would rather be a non-practicing physician than an imposter who practices in violation of his oath. I will not refer or otherwise participate in this abomination against common decency and the Hippocratic Oath.
That this is even a consideration is as good example as ever that democracy is also capable of tyranny.
Zealots on the left will be delighted if Catholic hospitals close. For example, the Archdiocese of Boston used to be the largest adoption agency in New England. The bishops were clear that the Church would not comply with any mandatory gay adoption law. The left saw to it that the law passed anyway; now the agency is closed, and orphans go unplaced.
I’m somewhat confused where this affects the Catholic hospitals. I assume they do not do any abortions. Maybe I’m mistaken on this.
Will the Freedom of Choice Act require Catholic hospitals to do abortions if they are not doing them now?
Although I’m pro-life, I don’t see the threat of shut-down as too dire in the long run. Say the Catholic hospitals shut down. Then we have a huge vacuum in the market. What should theoretically happen then is lots of secular hospitals will pop up in their place, filling the niche in the market.
Yes, I know it’s not really a free market, but according to Regina Herzlinger, lots of Catholic hospitals are loaded. If you shut them down, someone’s going to want to take that market share.
Anon 11:25
In the linked article you will find:
” While there is strenuous debate among legal experts on the matter, many believe the act would invalidate the freedom-of-conscience laws on the books in 46 states. These are the laws that allow Catholic hospitals and health providers that receive public funds through Medicaid and Medicare to opt out of performing abortions. Without public funds, these health centers couldn’t stay open . . .”
Something tells me that if there is demand for these hospitals’ services, and they choose to shut down, somebody else will take over them. Good riddance! Practicing medicine according to religious laws and not according to what’s best for the patient (an acquaintance had to get a separate tubal ligation surgery because her c-section was done at a catholic hospital) is the real abomination here.
Thanks Anon 4:13 PM
Helpful, though I’m sorry to say I remain somewhat puzzled. There are services some hospitals just don’t do. I know Catholic hospitals that just don’t do obstetrics at all. Or pediatrics, or neurosurgery, or hearts, or trauma, etc.
Would they be forced to offer a service they do not currently offer? And heck, I daresay it’s a minority of hospitals that do abortions at all.
It’s been quite a while, pushing 20 years and maybe half a dozen-plus hospitals, since I’ve worked in a hospital that did abortions. Unless they were doing a good job hiding them.
Catholic or otherwise, seems to me it would be a big deal to force nearly all USA hospitals to start doing abortions.
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