Hospital Mergers Hurt Women in NYS

ALBANY, NY (06/12/2007)(readMedia)-- Community hospitals are increasingly under strain to stay afloat economically. Full mergers, joint ventures and affiliations are often the only option to keep such hospitals up and running. Merging or affiliating with another health organization may seem to be a positive step in such circumstances. But this is not necessarily true when reduced reproductive health services are the cost of preserving these hospitals.

Catholic faith-based hospitals adhere to doctrines of the church which ban abortion, contraception and even infertility services such as in-vitro fertilization. Catholic hospital practices on administering the morning after pill are inconsistent. As far back as 1999, Catholics for a Free Choice reported that 82 percent of Catholic hospitals do not provide emergency contraception to survivors of rape and 31 percent of those refused even to provide a referral. This is just not acceptable. Victims should not be the individuals who suffer.

Upon merging with a Catholic hospital, a secular hospital may be required to take on these restrictions. In small communities, mergers can create a monopoly of health facilities run on Catholic doctrine, leaving women with no access to birth control or abortion.

"When Catholic hospitals play God, the results are devastating to women's health," said NOW-New York State President, Marcia A. Pappas. "Women's lives are at stake when access to reproductive health services are limited or denied."

In some communities reproductive health services are an unequivocal casualty of merger negotiations between Catholic and secular hospitals. Elsewhere, patients must rely on "don't ask, don't tell" policies, under which doctors may provide banned reproductive health services so long as no one in authority finds out.

Today, the National Organization for Women-New York State and its 40,000+ contributors stand in support of Bellevue Hospital and all hospitals across New York State that are at risk of having their doors closed, ultimately denying women full and comprehensive health care.

“The recommendations by and the conclusions by the Berger Commission Report are deeply flawed. It is important that we recognize that women have special health care needs. Those needs have been obviously ignored by the Berger Commission,” Pappas further stated.

Today, we call upon Governor Spitzer and the NYS Legislature to save Bellevue and other hospitals around NYS state. Decisions must be made on facts and not false reports.

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