Seasons of Grace
The American Civil Liberties Union and the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan filed a lawsuit October 1 against the Livonia, Michigan-based Trinity Health Corporation. The offense? The Catholic health care chain, which operates 86 hospitals in 21 states, does not perform abortions.
According to the ACLU lawsuit, Trinity Health is guilty of “denying appropriate emergency care to women suffering pregnancy complications.” They “prohibit Catholic hospitals from terminating the pregnancy of a woman suffering a pregnancy complication, even if such care is urgently needed to protect a woman’s life or health.”
Trinity Health Corp. requires all of its member hospitals to abide by the “Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services” published by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. These directives specify, in part:
45. Abortion (that is, the directly intended termination of pregnancy before viability or the directly intended destruction of a viable fetus) is never permitted. Every procedure whose sole immediate effect is the termination of pregnancy before viability is an abortion, which, in its moral context, includes the interval between conception and implantation of the embryo. Catholic health care institutions are not to provide abortion services, even based upon the principle of material cooperation. In this context, Catholic health care institutions need to be concerned about the danger of scandal in any association with abortion providers.
The Detroit Free Press explained the position of the ACLU:
“We’re taking a stand today to fight for pregnant women who are denied potentially life-saving care because doctors are forced to follow religious directives rather than best medical practices,” ACLU of Michigan attorney Brooke Tucker said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “Catholic bishops are not licensed medical professionals and have no place dictating how doctors practice medicine, especially when it violates federal law.”
Eve Pidgeon, spokeswoman for Trinity Health, responded with a statement claiming that the case has no merit. Pidgeon said, “A federal court already dismissed a similar ACLU claim, and we will seek dismissal of this suit for the same reason.”
How likely is it that this lawsuit will be successful? Not very.
- On June 30, 2015, a federal judge in Grand Rapids dismissed an ACLU-backed lawsuit by Tamesha Means of Muskegon, Michigan. Means had alleged that Catholic anti-abortion doctrine caused her to receive improper care at Muskegon’s Mercy Health Partners before she miscarried in 2010.
- In 2013, the ACLU sued the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for its stance against abortion. That lawsuit was also dismissed.
Image: By Thierry Geoffroy (Thierry Geoffroy) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
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