New Hampshire Pro-Life Group Worries About Catholic-Dartmouth Hospital Merger
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
May 13, 2009
Concord, NH (LifeNews.com) — A New Hampshire pro-life group is concerned about the impending merger between Catholic Medical Center and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Clinic. New Hampshire Right to Life says the proposed affiliate could compromise the Catholic values of the Medical Center and allow abortions.
Barbara Hagan, former president of the Right to Life group, told the New Hampshire Union Leader that a medical facility staffed and run jointly by the two centers could result in abortions and other objectionable practices.
"If you’re not protecting the moms and the babies, what good is it?" Hagan told the newspaper.
Hagan says she worries that Dartmouth-Hitchcock has no plans to curtail its objectionable practices and she wants assurances that the combined clinic will not make abortion referrals.
CMC and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Clinic are in discussions but have not finalized a proposed affiliate, but Hagan indicated the New Hampshire Right to Life board voted to oppose any merger plans.
CMC spokesman Gail Winslow-Pine also talked with the Union Leader and said that three meetings are planned with pro-life advocates to discuss the direction the hospital is heading.
"We have been consistently and openly engaged with the right-to-life community, and we continue to be open and have conversations," she said.
She added that CMC is apprising Catholic Bishop John B. McCormack of the progress on the affiliation and has received approval from three medical ethicists who are Catholic.
Still, Hagan told the newspaper she is encouraging pro-lie New Hampshire residents to contact Bishop McCormack with opposition to the affiliation.
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