University of California plans to cut ties with certain Catholic hospitals
The University of California Board of Regents recently voted on an amendment aimed at Catholic hospitals.
The amendment would require that UC disaffiliate with hospitals that restrict care based on religious guidelines by 2023.
The University of California Board of Regents recently voted on an amendment to cut ties with hospitals that do not promote certain procedures, such as assisted suicide and abortion. The amendment would require that UC disaffiliate with hospitals that restrict care based on religious guidelines by 2023.
As reported by the Daily Bruin, the amendment would apply specifically to Catholic hospitals, which adhere to the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services. The “ERDs” currently prohibit “intrinsically evil” procedures, including abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide and gender-affirming procedures.
Hospitals and healthcare institutions who do not comply with the University of California’s non-disrcimination policy will have their relationships terminated.
The Alliance of Catholic Health Care released a statement in response explaining that this amendment would strip certain communities of access to needed healthcare.
”Disengagement from these partnerships would unravel much of the health care safety net that provides access to care and addresses health inequities impacting thousands of Californians across the state.”
The Catholic “health systems operate 51 acute care hospitals in California, which represent nearly 15% of all hospitals and over 16% of the hospital beds in the state,” the statement also said. “In many cases these partnerships represent the only locally available care of its kind.”
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The statement also points out that Catholic hospitals are especially important in rural and remote communities, and UC’s disaffiliation would leave these communities with little access to local, quality health care.
“These partnerships arose out of the shared values of the UC System and our faith-based providers to ensure care – particularly to vulnerable patients in underserved communities – that no one else can, or is willing to, provide,” said the statement.
In the next two months, the board will draft and sign the final amendment.
