The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Michigan filed a federal
lawsuit against Trinity Health Corporation.
"We’re taking a stand today to fight for pregnant women who are denied potentially life-saving care because doctors are forced to follow religious directives rather than best medical practices,” said ACLU of Michigan Staff Attorney Brooke A. Tucker. “Catholic bishops are not licensed medical professionals and have no place dictating how doctors practice medicine, especially when it violates federal law.”
Trinity Health Corporation, which is headquartered in Michigan and owns and operates more than 80 hospitals around the country, and receives public funding, requires that all of its facilities abide by the Ethical and Religious Directives promulgated by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. These directives prohibit a doctor working at a Catholic hospital from terminating a woman’s pregnancy even when the failure to do so puts her health or life at risk.
The ACLU recently butted heads with the Catholic medical community when they threatened a lawsuit against Mercy Medical Center, where a doctor refused to sign off on a patient's post-partum tubal ligation ("tube tying").
The hospital relented. Trinity Health
responded to Al Jazeera America:
“This case has no merit,” Trinity Health spokeswoman Eve Pidgeon said in an email. “The Ethical and Religious Directives are entirely consistent with high-quality health care, and our clinicians continue to provide superb care throughout the communities we serve.”
This is true because while God created all of the hocus pocus machines that allow people to breathe and blood to pump while surgeries are going, He totally freaks out when you save a woman's life.