Attorneys for the leftist American Civil Liberties Union are busying themselves with a campaign that would make Saul Alinsky proud. Their target? Catholic hospitals exercising their religious freedom to refuse to perform abortions.
In a letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the ACLU has asked for an investigation of Catholic hospitals and for “appropriate action” to be taken. This call by the ACLU for the federal government to force Catholic hospitals to perform abortions is their response to Bishop Thomas Olmsted’s public affirmation that Sr. Margaret McBride had excommunicated herself for approving an abortion procedure at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Phoenix, AZ.
The ACLU, being made up of leftist lawyers, may be in need of a basic grammar lesson when it comes to how Catholic physicians deal with a case wherein a pregnant woman’s life is threatened. That is, the difference between “direct” and “indirect” as well as “intentional” and “unintentional.” In a situation where a mother’s life is threatened, Catholic physicians are free to provide life-saving treatment for the mother when it may “unintentionally” result in the death of her unborn child. Examples of this are an ectopic pregnancy or cancer of the uterus wherein the woman’s life can only be saved if the fallopian tube or uterus is removed. Both mother and child must receive care in Catholic hospitals, but if the child dies during the course of treatment of the mother due to an “unintented” consequence, the treatment is “licit.” Direct killing, which is never necessary, is contrary to Catholic teaching.
Anyone who understands the difference between “direct” and “indirect” is intelligent enough to understand that the ACLU isn’t remotely concerned about religious freedom or women’s health. The motivation behind their completely baseless accusation that Catholic hospitals are not concerned with women’s health is solely to force them to perform direct killing through abortion. Yes, Saul Alinsky would be proud.
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