Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Catholic hospitals and life issues

JAMA publishes little research blurbs either too short or too weak for prime time in the back of the journal as "Research Letters." March 19, 2019, vol. 321, no. 11 has one that Catholic hospitals should note. . . they are coming for you. First an ominous note on how Catholic hospitals increased by 16% between 2001 and 2011, and then a search to see if Catholic hospitals mentioned in their websites and mission statements that they were Catholic, so patients knew ahead of time about the Church's moral teaching on the "reproductive" and end of life care.

I make 2 observations here. One would have to know zip nada zilch about Christianity and Catholicism to miss it since 79% had the word "Saint" in their name. And 77% of the ones that didn't have Saint, had Jesus, Christ, or Gospel in their name. And if you don't know the Catholic Church's position on contraception, sterilization, abortion and euthanasia, you really should, since it's about the only church in America that actually has strong documents on life issues.

Also, the paper was funded by a grant from the Society of Family Planning, an organization that advocates for abortion and contraception and which is lobbying for new guidelines for facilities (clinics, offices) that offer abortions (or maybe in this case working up to battling facilities that DO NOT offer abortions).

Also, 3 of the 6 the articles cited are by one of the authors, Maryam Guiahi who seems very concerned about Catholic hospitals and "reproduction." I looked up her name, and found a much more extensive article on this topic (it's common to reuse and massage information so you can show more publications on your vita). In another one of her articles, "Mystery callers phoned 144 clinics nationwide that were found on Catholic hospital websites between December 2014 and February 2016, and requested appointments for birth control generally, copper IUD services specifically, tubal ligation and abortion." When pro-life people do that sort of research, they end up in court and sometimes jail.

She has a cottage industry in just her many publications for finding "concerning" behavior and rules in Catholic hospitals. The Left has driven the Catholic Church out of the adoption business; it wouldn't surprise me if her research is much more sinister.

1 comment:

Dan Nieman said...

Growing up we had 3 Christian hospitals St. Joseph, St. Luke's and St. Vincent. Now we have Mercy One and Unity Point. Very loosely affiliated with their Christian roots.