Force Catholic Hospitals to Perform Abortions!

Time for Comprehensive Reproductive Services at Catholic Hospitals

The Maryland Catholic Conference is running scared. A legislative proposal is being resurrected to force the eight Catholic hospitals in Maryland to put aside their archaic and anti-woman religious tenets and ethical baggage. It is expected that a bill will be reintroduced in the Maryland General Assembly to repeal part of the state's nonsensical "conscience" law and compel Catholic health institutions to provide abortifacients to rape victims on request or refer them to a clinic or hospital that will. Currently, the "conscience" clause violates the civil rights of women needing compassion after assault and the available services to terminate unwanted pregnancies. The so-called "conscience" clause places the bigotries and anti-woman sentiments of health care providers over the needs of hurting women. The clause is a violation of the separation of Church and State. While ours is a secular society, such a clause mistakenly promotes Catholic moral and religious convictions while eroding women's rights in hospitals that receive federal, state, and corporate funding. These bastions of patriarchal oppression even refuse to provide sterilization services. It is time to discard this law, not only in Maryland but throughout the nation as well. Those in Illinois and New York would do well to re-ignite this debate for the sake of victimized women.

We advocate forcing Catholics and others in the anti-CHOICE camp to comply with this list of conditions:

• Perform abortions & sterilizations at Catholic hospitals
• Require partial birth infanticide (abortion) procedures
• Referral to specialists for abortions & sterilizations
• Conduct medical research on aborted embryos & fetuses
• Deny costly medical treatment to defective and/or retarded newborns
• Require abortions of defective and/or retarded unborn "matter"
• Refuse positions to anti-abortion doctors & nurses (at hospitals & schools)
• Criminalize anti-CHOICE speech and activity as dangerous to America
• Allow infanticide for the first 3 years of life (for any cause)
• Perform artificial insemination services for lesbians and others
• Perform amniocentesis for gender screening & selective abortions
• Allow euthanasia in cases of physical and/or emotional distress
• Conduct sex-change operations
• Encourage and conduct stem-cell research from aborted embryos
• Salvage "baby" fetus body parts from abortions for discounts to labs
• Explore technology & do experimentation for cloning
• Require "toleration" classes for all employees