The U.S. bishops’ “Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services ” guide Catholic health care facilities in addressing ethical questions such as abortion, euthanasia, care for the poor, medical research and other issues.
Although the CHA gathering “was essentially a planning retreat,” the board re-emphasized “some actions taken at previous board meetings,” Lynch said. CHA “will join with the church and all other pro-life parties to vigourously oppose any and all attempts by this Congress or administration to broaden abortion access,” he said.
“Catholic hospitals will not allow abortions to be performed in their facilities” and will not comply with any laws mandating abortion or other procedures that violate the ethical and religious directives, “even if our actions constitute civil disobedience,” he added. “No Catholic institution or employee of an institution can or will be made to violate the dictates of their conscience resulting from federal or state legislative action.”
He said Catholic hospitals “won’t comply” with laws that violate conscience “but we will not close.”
Among the reasons he cited were that:
- Catholic hospitals are sometimes the sole provider of health care in a large geographical area, especially in rural areas;
- The hospitals have an obligation to their physicians, nurses and other employees; to their bondholders; and “to the poor, unprotected and to our communities which benefit from our presence.”