Medical Malpractice - What's the deal with FOCA and it forcing the shut down of all Catholic hospitals?

What's the deal with FOCA and it forcing the shut down of all Catholic hospitals?

I've heard different things. I've heard that it will require ALL hospitals to perform abortions, and the bishops have decided to shut down all the catholic hospitals if it passes. i've also heard that since catholic hospitals are private institutions they aren't bound by it and FOCA doesn't force them to do anything. Which side is right? I want facts. Not your personal opinion.

Public Comments

I've heard that too. It's a pretty fine line that would end up being decided by the courts. Someone will certainly attempt to sue, and the Church will NEVER allow abortions to be performed by a Church-run institution. So if it comes down to it, Catholic hospitals, Catholic Charities, and the like would certainly be in jeopardy. Official word though, is that Catholic hospitals won't shut down. Guess I'll just have to pray that it won't pass so we don't have to find out.
Well, how about the Catholic Hospital in California that was sued because it refused a boob job on a transvestite? It didn't seem to matter that it was a private hospital or not so I would say that it is too bad but they will have to shut them down or fall victim to the asinine judgments of evil judges.
My first thought would be it depends on whether the hospital operates with federal funding or is a privately-financed hospital. But I did hear that it will affect them, and they have no choice but to shut down, because we aren't talking about a Church being asked to tell a little white lie - we are talking about a Church opening its doors and arms to the slaughter of babies, some fully viable and at nearly full-term. The FACT is that if they don't shut down, they are selling out their Creator for a price. You wanna guess how well thats gonna fly?
>>Which side is right? I want facts. Not your personal opinion.<< This could well end up at the Supreme Court, and I don't have a crystal ball. I will say this -- it looks bad. States already force Catholic hospitals and Catholic charities to provide contraceptive coverage, and Catholic Charities has been forced out of adoptions in Massachusetts. Freedom of religion is dead in this country. http://socialissues.wiseto.com/Articles/183419558/ http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/012/191kgwgh.asp?pg=1
I would think any institution that receives no federal funding has nothing to worry about. The law is to protect women. A woman that is raped should have the right to the morning after pill. A woman going to an emergency room with a ruptured ectopic pregnancy deserves to have her life saved. Any pregnant woman has a right to different opinions. If she asks about birth control or abortion, even if the hospital refuses to help, they should refer her to someone who will. So unless the hospital takes no medicaid patients and is totally private, well it is their own choice to shut its doors. Any hospital that accepts federal money should be expected to play by the laws of the land. If they refuse to save the life of a woman with an ectopic pregnancy, they deserve to be pushed out of business. Think of it this way: if the hospital refuses to save a Muslim having a heart attack, they should be forced out of business. Hospitals would not be forced into providing elective abortions. It is a scare tactic being used to strike down the FOCA. Hospitals have an obligation to provide health information. At the very least, they should have to give referrals. Any health care provider that intentionally lies to patients should be illegal, including "Crisis Pregnancy Centers", that tell untruths.
From what I understand here's the deal. They are private and could refuse to perform the procedures if it passes, BUT they would lose all government funding which includes insurance paid by medicaid and medicare, which would force them to close anyway. So, before that occurs the Church said they would close the doors based on principle. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_Choice_Act http://www.catholic.org/politics/story.php?id=29839 http://www.nypost.com/seven/12082008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/obamas_holy_hell_143201.htm?page=0 Yes, they very well could lose their ability to accept medicare and medicaid.
Typical Pro-life and Catholic propaganda. There's NOTHING in FOCA that requires anyone to perform abortions. The ONLY thing that FOCA does is make it illegal for the Government to pass laws that limit reproductive choices. It contains nothing about hospitals or funding--it merely says that Roe vs. Wade has established the standard, and the government (state and federal) can't undermine it through the back door.
i hope they dont shut it down im all for abortions but a hospital being shut down is the last thing we want
As I understand it, currently states can enact their own laws on abortion as they see fit, like requiring parents to be notified of a minor child wanting an abortion, doctors able to refuse to perform abortions based on religious conviction, requiring abortion clinics to disclose all medical and pyschological risks to the patient (like in N. (or south?) Dakota), or even banning certain abortion procedures like partial birth abortion. The FOCA would eliminate the ability of the states to regulate abortion within their own borders. It would raise abortion to the federal level and even establish it as a civil right with access to tax payer dollars. As a civil right, if a doctor refused to perform one, he could be sued for violating a person's "civil right" and lose his medical license. Minor children could have abortions without their parent's knowledge. Also, any attempt by a state to regulate or restrict abortion would be deemed illegal and unconstitutional. Yes, that means private, religion-founded hospitals would be faced with the possibility of going out of business, since their refusal to perform abortions would put them in violation of federal law. My question is this: I have a friend who is a devout Cathoic and just finished medical school. When Obama takes office on the 20th and signs the FOCA, will my friend risk losing his license if he refuses to abort a baby? Does that mean he will have wasted all those years of study and money? What about future medical students who are religious? How many doctors and nurses will we not have because the law will make it pointless for them to pursue medical degrees? God bless.
FOCA would mean that any doctor can not refuse a woman's request for abortions and Catholic hospitals do not perform abortions so they would be shut down because they will refuse to perform an abortion for any reason.
Well, our local Catholic hospital is still pretty much under control of the Sisters of Mercy. I figure they'll both refuse to perform abortions and also refuse to shut down. My godmother, who is a nurse at the hospital, said that it's not possible, partially because of the separation of church and state and partially because, she said, the Bishops don't have that kind of power, and that it will be entirely up to each individual Bishop what to do in his particular diocese, and that ours won't allow either to happen. I don't think anybody knows all of the exact facts, right now. However, what you have heard regarding the basics of FOCA is true. It would overturn ALL parental notification laws and require ALL hospitals to provide abortions, ALL doctors and nurses to take part, and ALL pharmacists to distribute birth control pills/patch/Plan B/etc. (My favorite pharmacist, also a Catholic, currently refuses to distribute any birth control, and her company is backing her up in her choice.) Fortunately, President Bush signed a law that will help block at least this particular part of FOCA, at least for a while, because it makes it completely illegal to force any medical professional to take part in an abortion or in the prescription or distribution of contraceptives, as well as making it illegal to punish them for refusing to do so because of their religious beliefs. The democrats have bemoaned it, as usual, claiming that it will destroy the whole "freedom of religion" thing, but that is really false, considering anything that protects someone from being fired or persecuted because of their religion isn't destroying the freedom of religion but protecting it. It's just the left-wing extremist wackos trying to push the evil that is abortion down everybody's throats.
The letter of the Freedom of Choice Act (2007 S. 1173 IS and 2007 HR. 1964 IH) is to remove all state and Federal restrictions on performing abortions. This does not mandate all health care providers to perform abortions, but rather acts to repeal all state and federal legal barriers to performing abortions. Therefore, abortion would be universally legal in the United States but not universally mandated. However, a potential legal fight emerges in whether health care providers refuse to provide abortions at their facility. If this is the only facility in the area, this could tacitly be seen as a rejection of Federal law. While currently, private hospitals are not seen as "state agents" despite receiving federal funding, it is possible that this area of the law could change, particularly if a universal-provider health care reform is enacted. The US Council of Catholic Bishops hasn't so much promised to shut down all Catholic hospitals if the law passes (technically, they're currently protected under conscience laws), but you would see stern protests from them, and if it came down to requiring providing abortions and closing down, the hospitals would probably close down (albeit involuntarily, ie the Federal Government would have to come in and physically seize the property). I should also note that conscience laws are currently under attack as well - the most prominent of these are laws that protect a pharmacist who does not wish to fill a prescription for abortives. Ultimately, it comes down to what develops AFTER FOCA, if FOCA is passed (it wasn't acted upon in the last Senate at all). The more entrenched the Federal Government becomes in health care, the more control they are likely to wield and thus the more invasive FOCA mandates would become.