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Some Catholic Bishops To Close Hospitals If FOCA Is Enacted, St. Louis Post-Dispatch Reports

Roman Catholic bishops are threatening to close more than 600 Catholic hospitals if the Freedom of Choice Act, which would codify Roe v. Wade, is enacted, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. FOCA's sponsor, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), intends to reintroduce the bill, which failed to pass out of subcommittee in 2004, now that its former co-sponsor President Obama is in office and the Democrats control Congress, according to Ilan Kayatsky, a spokesperson for Nadler.

Catholic bishops who oppose FOCA argue that it will force Catholic hospitals and health care workers to participate in abortions. According to the Post-Dispatch, there is some debate on whether closing Catholic-affiliated hospitals is the most effective response to FOCA rather than simply ignoring the law. Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Chicago said during the fall meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops that it would "not be sufficient to withdraw our sponsorship or to sell" Catholic hospitals to groups or organizations that would provide abortion services. Paprocki said that to do so "would be a morally unacceptable cooperation in evil."

According to the Post-Dispatch, there are 624 Catholic hospitals in the U.S., and the Catholic Health Association says they make up 13% of the country's nearly 5,000 hospitals and employ more than 600,000 people. In addition, CHA says that one out of every six Americans hospitalized in the U.S. is cared for in a Catholic hospital. Sister Carol Keehan, president and CEO of CHA, said that she does not think the language of the more recent version of FOCA would force Catholic hospitals to participate in abortion services. However, she said, "From the other side we hear consistent talk about being pro-choice. If FOCA passes, the concept of being pro-choice will not be incompatible with our position -- our choice would be not to participate." Bishop Robert Lynch of St. Petersburg, Fla. -- a member of CHA's board of trustees -- said that "even in the worst-case scenario, Catholic hospitals will not close." He said that the hospitals "will not comply" with FOCA, "but we will not close." Lynch encouraged a strategy of "civil disobedience."

Of the 11 Catholic hospitals in the Archdiocese of St. Louis, seven are run by SSM Health Care, which said in a statement that it opposes FOCA "because it attempts to increase access to abortion and remove restrictions to abortion." SSM Health Care's statement said that the group does not "believe our Catholic hospitals would be forced to participate, and we would advocate strongly for our right of conscience to refuse to provide abortion services" if FOCA were to become law. Keehan said that closing Catholic hospitals in response to FOCA would be detrimental to the U.S. health care system. She said, "Catholic health care plays such an important role in communities across this nation," adding that U.S. residents are "not going to sacrifice their heath care facility, which employs so many, cares for so many, and has been part of their community for many years, by forcing them to do abortions."

Prior to Obama's inauguration, the National Right to Life Committee warned its members that congressional Democrats were ready to work with him "to push an expansive pro-abortion agenda" and said that the "pro-life movement is bracing for battle." Pam Fichter, president of Missouri Right to Life, said FOCA is a "top priority" for the group, which is working to pass a resolution in both houses of the state legislature that would urge Congress to reject FOCA. The resolution passed the state's House and is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate, the Post-Dispatch reports.

According to the Post-Dispatch, abortion-rights groups say that the Democratic Congress and Obama's position in the White House make FOCA less of a priority for them and that religious conservatives are using the bill as a scare tactic. Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said, "Anti-choice groups know that there are not enough votes to move [FOCA], yet they continue to engage in a divisive campaign demonizing FOCA to distract the public from their opposition to birth control and accurate sex education" (Townsend, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 3/6).

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