Protest at Mercy Regional Medical Center exposes the relationship of abortionist Richard Grossman with the Catholic hospital...

Lila Rose leads crowd decrying abortionist privileges at Colorado Catholic hospital

by Jeremy Kryn

DURANGO, Colorado, August 10, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Last Thursday, more than 70 people attended a protest at Mercy Regional Medical Center to expose the relationship of abortionist Richard Grossman with the Catholic hospital located in Durango.

Grossman is the longest-serving physician at the hospital, which was founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1882 and is owned by Catholic Health Initiatives. The abortionist does abortions on Fridays at Planned Parenthood of Durango.

“The reason I perform abortions is because I’m a Christian,” said the Quaker abortionist amid a similar protest last year.

The pro-life organization LifeGuard organized the protest on public property in front of the Catholic hospital. Lila Rose, the founder of Live Action Films, led the protest. Joe Scheidler, of the Pro-Life Action League, who led last year’s protest, has encouraged Catholics to sign a petition against the scandal.

Rose is well-known for spearheading a string of undercover investigations exposing Planned Parenthood employees across America helping young girls avoid the law, ignoring statutory rape, and helping sex traffickers get abortions and STD treatment for their underage prostitutes.

The Catholic Diocese of Pueblo, whose jurisdiction encompasses Durango, expressed support for the protestors’ stance.

At the same time, the Diocese said that Mercy adheres to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Ethical and Religious Directives for health care facilities as it neither offers nor performs abortions in the hospital.

Mercy spokesman David Bruzzese told the Durango Herald that Grossman is not employed by Mercy, does not receive monetary compensation from Mercy and works for a private practice in a medical office that is not owned by Mercy. He is a member of the medical staff, meaning he has privileges to work at the hospital, Bruzzese said.

Pro-life medical expert Dr. Gerard Nadal responded that denying Grossman is an employee was “rather disingenuous of the hospital.”

“There is a reason why physicians gain ‘privileges’ to practice medicine at a given hospital, and not mere ‘permission,’” said Nadal. “Having an MD, or DO does not constitute an automatic prerogative.

“The character of the physician, as written in the history of how they practice medicine, factors into whether or not a physician is deemed worthy of practicing at the hospital in question.”

Pro-life leaders nationwide oppose Mercy’s cooperation with Grossman, including Ignatius Press founder Rev. Joseph Fessio, SJ, American Life League founder Judie Brown, the star of “Bella” the Movie Eduardo Verastegui, pastor Walter Hoye, and I Am Whole Life founder Jason Jones.

“We’re sending a clear message to the rest of the country that you cannot call yourself a Catholic Hospital while opening your doors to outspoken enemies of the Church, like a proud Planned Parenthood abortionist,” said LifeGuard Executive Director Dan Anguis in an interview with LifeSiteNews.com.

“We would like to encourage everyone to take action, please sign the petition,” he said.  “This will be an ongoing awareness campaign about the scandal here in Durango.”

Anguis also pointed to Live Action’s video evidence showing a girl being referred to Planned Parenthood for an abortion from hospital grounds.

“God’s laws, and the laws of the Church are far greater than those of this world, so just because this man is killing humans ‘legally’ through abortion, doesn’t mean that he should be allowed to have privileges to practice at a Catholic Hospital,” said Anguis.

The pro-life leader also noted that the group’s “truth truck” was vandalized days before the protest.

“The graphic image was lashed and stolen, and condoms were stuffed under the windshield wipers. Whoever did this was obviously trying to send a message,” said Anguis.