Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Report sheds light on abortion, contraception in Catholic hospital network

SAN FRANCISCO, December 21, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Catholic Healthcare West, the owner of a Phoenix hospital that lost its Catholic status following an abortion there, has a long history of disobedience to Catholic moral teaching despite its name, according to a report by American Life League.

The San Francisco-based company owns 41 hospitals and medical centers in California, Arizona, and Nevada, and is the eighth largest hospital system in America.

American Life League (ALL) claimed that within only two days of investigating, they discovered that at least one CHW hospital promotes Planned Parenthood on its website, while another lists contraceptives as a service. In addition, at least 12 CHW members performed tubal ligations as of 2001 and 20 members refer for vasectomies.

The report offered details on several groups funded by CHW grants that are actively opposed to Catholic teaching, such as the San Francisco Health Plan, which covers abortion and contraception.

A 2007 CHW “Preferred Drug List” showing covered medications in the group’s medical plans lists several contraceptives, including emergency contraception, according to a document presented in the report.

(See the full ALL report here.)

The group also noted that the organization’s CEO, like Sr. Carol Keehan of the Catholic Health Association, strongly supported the federal health care plan that was widely condemned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and top pro-life groups as posing a major threat to the unborn.

An April 2010 Business Wire article unearthed by ALL reported that CEO Lloyd Dean “worked directly with Congress and the Obama Administration in supporting passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.”

On Tuesday, Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix announced that St. Joseph’s Hospital, a member of the CHW network, was no longer a Catholic hospital after it refused to alter its practices to comply with the Ethical and Religious Directives of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The bishop specifically condemned CHW for failing to comply with Catholic morality standards of health care.

“In all my seven years as Bishop of Phoenix, I have continued to insist that this scandalous situation needed to change; sadly, over the course of these years, CHW has chosen not to comply,” said Olmsted.

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