For Immediate Release
Contact:  Brian Reardon
June 27, 2024
[email protected] 

Statement by Sr. Mary Haddad, RSM, President and Chief Executive Officer, Catholic Health Association of the United States

WASHINGTON, DC – "Today’s decision by the Supreme Court does nothing to change Catholic health care institutions’ commitment to protecting the sanctity of life while providing high-quality, compassionate care for mothers and their children. Unfortunately, the highly polarized and politicized nature of abortion has conflated necessary medical interventions with elective procedures.

"To be clear: Catholic hospitals do not offer direct abortions. However, in tragic situations when a mother suffers from an urgent, life-threatening condition during pregnancy, Catholic health clinicians do provide medically indicated treatment, even if it poses a threat to the unborn child or may result in the unintended death of the child. Such treatments are both clinically and ethically required.

"In every community they serve, Catholic hospitals remain committed to providing the highest standards of medically indicated care to women suffering from serious or life-threatening conditions during pregnancy and upholding the dignity and worth of all people, especially mothers in crisis and their unborn babies."

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The Catholic Health Association of the United States is the national leadership organization of the Catholic health ministry, representing the largest nonprofit provider of health care services in the nation.

• 1 in 7 patients in the U.S. is cared for in a Catholic hospital each day.
• Catholic health care, which includes more than 2,200 hospitals, nursing homes, long-term care facilities, systems, sponsors, and related organizations, serves the full continuum of health care across our nation.
• Learn more at www.chausa.org.