Hospital Merger In Albany, N.Y., Region Prompts Concern Over Access To Abortion

Main Category: Abortion
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 22 Aug 2007 - 12:00 PDT

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Many community health leaders in the Albany, N.Y., area are concerned about access to abortion in the region after the state mandated changes to three local hospitals, the Albany Times Union reports (Wechsler, Albany Times Union, 8/17). New York Gov. George Pataki (R) and the state Legislature in 2005 formed the Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century to recommend changes to the state's health care system, which is the most expensive in the country.

The commission in a December 2006 report recommended closing nine hospitals -- including Bellevue Woman's Hospital in Niskayuna, N.Y. -- and reconfiguring 48 hospitals in the state -- including merging St. Clare's Hospital with Ellis Hospital in Schenectady, N.Y. (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 12/8/06). Officials from Bellevue and Ellis last month said that Bellevue will remain open for an undetermined amount of time under Ellis management. The New York State Department of Health has recommended that Ellis take charge of all Bellevue's services by Nov. 1, according to hospital officials (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 7/23).

According to the Times Union, Ellis plans to sign an agreement to merge with St. Claire's in the next two months (Albany Times Union, 8/17). St. Clare's, a Roman Catholic hospital, does not perform abortions, while Ellis and Bellevue provide abortion services. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops prohibits Catholic hospitals from providing abortions, condoms, birth control, assisted reproductive technology, tubal ligation or vasectomies (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 12/8/06).

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At an Aug. 1 meeting, more than 70 physicians and staff from Bellevue gathered to discuss the hospital's future after the merger with Ellis CEO James Connelly and David Liebers, Ellis' medical director, the Times Union reports. Mary Joyce McGinnis, an ob-gyn at Bellevue and St. Clare's, said that at the meeting Connelly "was very clear that at some point there would be no abortions done on Ellis property." She added Connelly said that "so long as any facility in the community provided abortions ... that Ellis was under no obligation to offer any provisions for them."

Bellevue CEO Anne Saile said Connelly's message at the meeting was that Ellis would serve as a backup to the Planned Parenthood Mohawk Hudson clinic in Schenectady during emergencies. Paul Drisgula, executive director of PPMH, said he was told in recent talks with Ellis officials that Ellis would "continue to provide in-hospital back-up for all" PPMH patients but would not offer abortions on a regular basis.

Connelly said plans have not been finalized, adding that there currently are no plans for "discontinuing any services that are offered at Bellevue." According to Connelly, St. Clare's Catholic doctrines will not play a role in determining policies for abortion and other reproductive services.

Donna Evans, a spokesperson at Ellis, said while there are no immediate plans to make changes to the services offered at Bellevue, the hospital is "examining and evaluating options" to make long-term changes. Evans added that future plans for abortion could include working with Planned Parenthood or offering abortions at Ellis' Medical Arts Building, a separate facility operated by the hospital. Bellevue performed about 180 abortions, and PPMH's Schenectady clinic performed about 1,600 in 2006, the Times Union reports (Wechsler, Albany Times Union, 8/17).

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