Bishop Paul Loverde of the Roman Catholic diocese of Arlington, Va., said last week that if the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) should become law and a Catholic hospital in his diocese is forced to provide abortions, he would refuse to let the hospital comply, but he would also not close the institution.Though there are no Catholic hospitals in his diocese, the bishop nevertheless was defiant: “I would say, ‘Yeah, I’m not going to close the hospital, you’re going to arrest me, go right ahead. You’ll have to drag me out, go right ahead. I’m not closing this hospital, we will not perform abortions, and you can go take a flying leap.’ ”
According to the catechism – or official teachings -- of the Catholic Church, Catholics are “obliged in conscience not to follow the directives of civil authorities when they are contrary to the demands of the moral order, to the fundamental rights of persons or the teachings of the Gospel.”
Catholics may refuse to obey civil authorities, “when their demands are contrary to those of an upright conscience.”
Loverde addressed the crowd of mostly young adults at a diocesan event last Monday about the proposed Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA).
In 2007, President-elect Obama publicly promised a Planned Parenthood convention that signing FOCA into law would be one of the first things he would do upon taking office.
The bill has not been approved by Congress, but seems poised to do so when the new Congress convenes in January. It would prohibit government from “interfering” with a woman’s right to bear a child or terminate a pregnancy before fetal viability -- or after fetal viability if a mother’s health is at risk.
The government also may not “discriminate” against or deny the exercise of women’s rights to choice “in the regulation or provision of benefits, facilities, services, or information.”
The legislation has been interpreted by many, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), to mean that all hospitals and healthcare institutions would be mandated to perform abortions – or face the loss of federal funding and likely closure if they refuse to do so.
“It’s quite a title, let me tell you,” Bishop Loverde said, concerning FOCA. “It’s a misnomer, it’s neither free nor choice, so I don’t know where they got the name of the act, because it’s just crazy, because it has no freedom, and it has no choice, nobody has a choice for abortion.”
The bishop said that the law, if enacted, would deprive everyone of conscientious objection to abortion.
“It will take away the right of Catholic hospitals not to do abortions, which I suspect would close them,” Loverde said.
Under the proposed bill, any individual “aggrieved” by a violation of her “right to give birth or terminate a pregnancy” may file a civil suit in federal court.
At the USCCB’s fall general assembly in Baltimore, the bishops approved an 830-word, untitled statement condemning the Freedom of Choice Act, calling it "an evil law that would further divide our country."
One bishop, the Rt. Rev. Thomas J. Paprocki, auxiliary bishop of Chicago, pointed out that, if the government mandates that all health-care institutions perform abortions, it would not be enough for the Church merely to sell a hospital to another organization that would perform abortions.
“We would need to consider taking the drastic step of closing our Catholic hospitals entirely,” Paprocki said.
When asked what the ramifications would be if Catholic hospitals were forced to take a stand against FOCA, George replied, “I think you can guess as much as I can. Sure, you have one-third fewer facilities for health care in the country than you have now, wouldn’t you, at least in the state of Illinois.”
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(Source: CNSN)