You're the Only One I've Told: The Stories Behind Abortion

by Meera Shah

I spoke to Lois Uttley, the director of MergerWatch, about this issue. MergerWatch is an organization that is working hard to identify the impact of religious health care organizations on reproductive health access. In some states, more than 40 percent of hospital beds are in Catholic-run facilities and Catholic mergers with non-Catholic hospitals are becoming more frequent. She explained to me that hospitals that are Catholic-sponsored follow a set of directives that have been issued by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and are enforced by local bishops.3 These include rules about withholding contraception information, a mandate to avoid any talk of abortion, and forbidding of sterilization. Furthermore, the directives specifically state that a person’s decision is to be followed “so long as it does not contradict Catholic principles.” In other words: Catholicism trumps personal agency, every time.