Boston Catholic Hospital System Yields to Pro-Abortion FOCA Before it Happens
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
March 2, 2009
Boston, MA (LifeNews.com) — Abortion advocates have yet to re-introduce the radical Freedom of Choice Act in this Congressional session, but the effects of the pro-abortion bill are already taking hold. That’s because one Catholic hospital in Boston has agreed to go back on its pro-life policies in a merger that ultimately promotes abortion.
FOCA is a dangerous bill that, in its last form, would overturn hundreds of pro-life state laws and could be used to force medical centers to do abortions.
The nation’s Catholic bishops have warned that one of the dangerous effects of FOCA is that it could result in shutting down Catholic hospitals that do not want to allow abortions on site.
However, the Caritas Christi Health Care network is moving in the opposite direction.
A St. Louis-based company, Caritas has joined in a bid to provide government-subsidized health insurance in Massachusetts. Caritas Christi, is joining with Centene Corporation in a bid for the government contract that would include coverage for abortion.
In an interview with the Boston Globe, Nancy Turnbull, an associate dean at the Harvard School of Public Health, complained that Caritas doesn’t do abortions. As a result, she opposes its bid to provide state-subsidized health insurance through the Commonwealth Care program.
In response, Caritas released a statement last month saying the new venture "will contract with providers, both in and out of the Caritas network, to ensure access to all services required by the authority, including confidential family planning services."
Deal Hudson, a prominent Catholic author, says Catholic hospital officials must resist the urge to build bridges with a pro-abortion government.
"The first Catholic hospital system to bend to the pressure is Caritas Christi, owned and operated by the Archdiocese of Boston," he writes.
"Only a few days ago, maybe eager to cozy up to the Obama administration and Sebelius, Caritas Christi announced a joint venture with the Centene Corporation to join a state-mandated health-insurance program that would include coverage for abortion and contraceptives — what the Catholic hospital system calls ‘confidential family-planning services," he explained.
Hudson says FOCA may not become law, but he sees the Obama administration as doing everything possible to implement it and to frighten Catholics hospitals like Caritas.
"Although the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) has not yet been introduced, the strategy of the Obama administration appears to be pursuing the equivalent outcomes of FOCA without passing FOCA itself," he says.
"Putting someone like Governor Sebelius at the helm of Health and Human Services will put tremendous pressure on all health-care institutions to provide abortions under the cover of ‘women’s health care,’" he said.
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