Sarah Varney:
During a hearing in February to dismiss California’s case, a lawyer for St. Joseph argued providing abortion care violates the hospital’s religious freedom and First Amendment rights.
Providence St. Joseph turned down our request for an on-camera interview, but in a statement said it’s committed to delivering care in accordance with federal and state law and maintaining its faith-based mission, even if that results in fetal death.
In recent years, the conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court has increasingly favored institutions seeking these kinds of religious freedom exemptions. Since 1986, a federal law has required hospitals to stabilize patients in medical crisis, even if that means ending a pregnancy. But after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned federal abortion rights, states that banned abortion have argued they shouldn’t have to follow the law.
These changes have put a new spotlight on how Catholic hospitals have operated for a long time.
