Catholic Bishops Launch Campaign Against Freedom Of Choice Act

Main Category: Abortion
Also Included In: Sexual Health / STDs;  Women's Health / Gynecology;  Primary Care / General Practice
Article Date: 08 Dec 2008 - 0:00 PDT

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The Roman Catholic Church next month will coordinate a national postcard campaign to oppose the Freedom of Choice Act, which would codify Roe v. Wade, the Christian Science Monitor reports. President-elect Barack Obama has pledged that he would sign the act if Congress approves the measure. Abortion-rights opponents -- including the Catholic Church -- claim that the bill could override conscience clauses that allow doctors and hospitals to refuse to provide abortion services because of their religious or moral convictions, and some Catholic leaders have threatened that Catholic hospitals would close if the bill becomes law. The Monitor reports that after Roe, "lawsuits began to fly over whether doctors and hospitals could refuse to provide" abortion procedures, and 47 states have since passed conscience clauses that "seek to balance an individual's or institution's freedom of conscience with patients' access to health care."

According to the Monitor, "Scholars are divided on whether the current [FOCA] bill actually jeopardizes conscience clauses -- though they agree it is too vague." Robin Wilson, an expert on conscience clauses at the University of Maryland School of Law, said, "Congress should darn well clarify this, because if we don't, we will be back where we were when Roe came down and everyone was thrown into a tailspin." She added that it is unclear if FOCA would apply to conscience clauses but that if it were interpreted in that way, "the floodgates would be opened" for litigation against physicians and hospitals refusing to perform abortion procedures.

As currently written, FOCA does not specifically mention conscience clauses; a 1993 amendment attempt that would have addressed the issue failed. The bill states that the "government may not deny or interfere with a woman's right to choose" or "discriminate against the exercise of that right." According to Douglas Johnson -- legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee -- and many abortion-rights opponents, the words "interfere" and "discriminate" could be interpreted to jeopardize conscience clauses. The Monitor reports that conscience clauses "tend to protect decisions made by doctors and hospitals, not the state." Nancy Berlinger of the Hasting Center, a bioethics research institution, and some other experts say that this fact means it is doubtful that FOCA would apply to specific physicians and hospitals because it is aimed at government actions.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and other Catholic leaders have stated that they would close hospitals if FOCA passes, which could affect access to safety-net hospitals in inner cities and low-income areas, according to the Monitor. However, the Catholic Health Association, which represents Catholic hospitals, says that although it opposes FOCA, its hospitals would remain open. Carol Keehan -- president of CHA -- said, "In many communities, we are the only health facility. We in Catholic health care are not going to dismantle that." The Rev. John Paris, a Catholic bioethics expert at Boston College, said that both Obama and the bishops are playing to their audiences. "(A)ll this rhetoric is so overblown as to be silly," Paris said, adding, "No political office is going to strike down conscience clauses. That's been in our laws since 1673." Douglas Kmiec, a Catholic law professor at Pepperdine University who controversially supported Obama, believes FOCA does not threaten conscience clauses. He said that Obama's "approach is to give emphasis to reducing the incidents of abortion" (Arnoldy, Christian Science Monitor, 12/5).

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