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Email: "ACLU Demands Feds Investigate Catholic Hospitals Refusing “Life-saving” Abortions"

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BY LifeSiteNews.com By Peter J. SmithNEW YORK, July 6, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) –“Rights for me, but not for thee” seems to be the theme of the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) latest duel with the U.S. Catholic Church. In an effort to get the federal government to mandate abortion as an emergency medical service in certain situations, the group has sent a letter to the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services demanding it investigate Catholic hospitals for “potential violations” of U.S. law by failing to provide what the organization asserts are “life-saving” abortions."The government must ensure that the well-being of the patient does not take a back seat to religious beliefs," said Vania Leveille, ACLU Legislative Counsel, who additionally noted that federal law requires hospitals “to provide life-saving medical care to their patients."The ACLU is seeking that the federal government adopt its interpretation of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) and the Conditions of Participation of Medicare and Medicaid (COP), which mandate that hospitals provide emergency medical treatment to all comers, and at least stabilize their condition, regardless of ability to pay. In the ACLU’s interpretation, “emergency reproductive health care” would be included, and the letter makes clear the ACLU wants the government to require Catholic hospitals to perform abortions on pregnant women in emergency situations as a valid means of reproductive care.The Catholic Church, which operates about 15% of U.S. hospitals, has resisted these efforts on the basis that one cannot legitimately intend to directly kill one person (the unborn child) for the sake of another (the mother). However, the Church says that in certain circumstances it is morally permissible to treat directly the cause of the mother’s medical condition, even if those efforts unintentionally and indirectly cost the baby’s life.The ACLU said it was sending its letter in response to the controversy surrounding a Catholic nun and administrator of St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, who was excommunicated by Bishop Thomas Olmsted for approving an abortion on a woman who was 11-weeks pregnant. Sister Margaret McBride and hospital officials alleged they were trying to save the woman, who had a deteriorating condition due to pulmonary hypertension, and was additionally diagnosed with right-sided heart failure and cardiogenic shock. The hospital’s ethics committee then decided to approve a direct abortion as the only way to save her life.McBride justified the decision, saying that their intention was to save the woman’s life, not kill the baby; but the defense did not fly with Bishop Olmsted who pointed out that the act of abortion always directly intends the killing of a human life, even if it is for the sake of some other goal. Additionally, Olmsted noted that they were not treating the woman’s underlying medical condition, but treating the pregnancy and the unborn child instead as the “disease.”While various media gave the impression that abortion would cure the woman’s pulmonary hypertension, Catholic medical experts pointed out that this is not the case. In fact, Dr. Paul Byrne, a pioneer in the field of neonatology, explained to LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) at the time that with pulmonary hypertension, an abortion, although it may relieve some of the stress on the heart, may also make the situation worse due to the stress of the abortion procedure. Byrne also explained that the literature on the condition indicates that there have been successful interventions for pregnant women with pulmonary hypertension that have enabled both mother and child to survive. The ACLU also accused three other Catholic hospitals of endangering or permanently harming the lives of women who were miscarrying badly and sending them to other hospitals without having first stabilized their condition. Again, the ACLU contended that direct abortion was the most appropriate medical treatment.“Religiously affiliated hospitals are not exempt from complying with these laws, and cannot invoke their religious status to jeopardize the health and lives of pregnant women seeking medical care,” declared the letter. “To the contrary, the federal laws mentioned above protect patients’ right to receive emergency reproductive health care.”The ACLU then said they wanted the CMMS to take “appropriate action” and “issue a transmittal, that denying emergency reproductive health care violates federal law.”The Catholic League, a Catholic civil rights group, said that given the ACLU’s history of antagonism toward the Catholic Church, it is “not at all surprising” that it would oppose the religious freedom of the Church or its right to operate its hospitals by its own doctrinal and moral beliefs.“This kind of intolerance will surely be tried in the courts as well as the court of public opinion,” Bill Donahue, president of Catholic League, told LSN. “Indeed, all the data show that a majority of Americans are pro-life so what the ACLU is doing is going against the grain." Read the ACLU letter here.See related coverage by LifeSiteNews.com:Bishop Says Nun is Automatically Excommunicated for Rubberstamping Hospital Abortion http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/may/10051712.htmlCatholic Doctors Support Ariz. Bishop's Rebuke of Nun over Abortion http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/may/10051907.htmlU.S. Bishops Back Phoenix Bishop in Nun Excommunication Abortion Case http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/jun/10062501.html http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/aclu-demands-feds-investigate-catholic-hospitals-refusing-life-saving-abort/

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