Speaking of "making you look ignorant", there is a vast gulf between what is technically allowed and what Catholic hospitals routinely DO in these situations. From the American Journal of Public Health - hardly a radical source! - comes a study of the actual practice in functioning Catholic hospitals, more and more of whom have been merging with and becoming the public-service hospital in many communities:


Nontreatment, Transport and Delay of Care

Obstetrician–gynecologists working
in Catholic-owned hospitals
described cases in which abortion
was medically indicated according
to their medical judgment but,
because of the ethics committee’s
ruling, it was delayed until either
fetal heartbeats ceased or the patient
could be transported to another
facility. Dr P, from a midwestern,
mid-sized city, said that at
her Catholic-owned hospital, approval
for termination of pregnancy
was rare if a fetal heartbeat
was present (even in ‘‘people who
are bleeding, they’re all the way dilated,
and they’re
only17 weeks’’) unless ‘‘it looks like
she’s going to die if we don’t do it.’’
In another case, Dr H, from the
same Catholic-owned hospital in
the Midwest, sent her patient by
ambulance 90 miles to the nearest
institution where the patient could
have an abortion because the
ethics committee refused to approve
her case.
She was very early,14 weeks. She
came in . . . and there was a hand
sticking out of the cervix. Clearly
the membranes had ruptured
and she was trying to deliver. . . .
There was a heart rate, and [we
called] the ethics committee, and
they [said], ‘‘Nope, can’t do anything.’’
So we had to send her to
[the university hospital]. . . . You
know, these things don’t happen
that often, but from what I understand
it, it’s pretty clear. Even
if mom is very sick, you know,
potentially life threatening, can’t
do anything.
In residency, Dr P and Dr H had
been taught to perform uterine
evacuation or labor induction on
patients during inevitable miscarriage
whether fetal heart tones
were present or not. In their new
Catholic-owned hospital environment,
such treatment was considered
a prohibited abortion by the
governing ethics committee because
the fetus is still alive and the
patient is not yet experiencing ‘‘a
life-threatening pathology’’ such
as sepsis. Physicians such as
Dr H found that in some cases,
transporting the patient to another
hospital for dilation and curettage
(D&C) was quicker and safer
than waiting for the fetal heartbeat
to stop while trying to stave
off infection and excessive blood
loss.

Sorry about the format, I copied it twice and it stays this way!

Link to the full report (an informative if academic read): http://www.denvergov.org/...0Heartbeat%20article.pdf

As long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities.  - Voltaire
Edited 1 time by gwhit715 03/09/12 13:19.