Opinion: In defense of Catholic healthcare

Catholic health care came into existence to care for patients like Cathy — people who are not welcome at other hospitals, who are too poor, too risky, too complicated. It caused me great sadness, then, to read about the ACLU's lawsuit against the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The suit alleges that a Muskegon, Mich., woman, Tamesha Means, was put in danger by a Catholic hospital that refused to perform an abortion because it followed the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care. Those are the guidelines, published by the Conference of Catholic Bishops, which outline "the ethical standards of behavior in health care that flow from the church's teaching about the dignity of the human person."