Reply #7: "notice" isn't good enough when there's no alternative

[bain_sidhe]

The ACLU did a good study on "conscience clauses" a few years ago - the press release is here: http://archive.aclu.org/features/f012202a.html

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In its framework for analyzing religious refusals, the report notes that it is often possible and appropriate to accommodate an individual health professional's refusal to provide a service, but only if the patient is ensured safe, timely, and feasible alternative access to treatment.

An institution claiming a right to refuse, however, raises significantly greater concerns. According to the report, it is crucial to consider if an institution, like most religiously affiliated hospitals, is operating in the public world and serving and employing a religiously diverse population. If it is, then it ought to play by public rules.

and the actual report is here (pdf format): http://archive.aclu.org/issues/reproduct/refusal_report.pdf

When you combine conscience clauses with the ever-expanding Catholic take over of public hospitals, you have literally hundreds of thousands of people left with no alternative BUT Catholic hospitals. See Women's eNews reports on that here: http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/316/context/archive

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Catholic hospitals now constitute the nation's largest single group of non-profit hospitals, according to the Catholic Health Association of the United States, with 621 hospitals and 85 million patients in 1999. Of the 20 largest non-profit systems, 10 of them are Catholic. The mega-system, Catholic Healthcare West in California, added 12 hospitals in 1999 for a total of 48 hospitals, 8,172 beds and $5.9 billion in assets.
Catholic Hospitals Expanding Fast, Denying Vital Care for Women

Catholics for a Free Choice, a pro-choice advocacy organization in Washington, D.C., reports that in the past 10 years, the number of Catholic medical care centers has grown rapidly through acquisitions, mergers, business arrangements and now consolidations. In 1998, the group says, Catholic hospitals were the sole providers of medical care in 91 communities--a 20 percent increase in a single year.

This is occurring at the same time that other hospitals, public and private, are shutting their doors or eliminating services.