Dear Abby: Catholic hospitals don’t value baby over mom

Catholic hospitals operate with the same standards of safety in maternity care and are inspected by the same organizations that inspect non-Catholic maternity programs such as the Joint Commission and the licensing agency of each state. Catholic hospitals must adhere to the same robust standards as every other maternity service in the country. The dignity of the life of both mother and baby are critically important to all those serving in Catholic health care. Dear Sister Carol: Since printing that letter, I have received a crash course in ethics at Catholic hospitals. Either allow a dysfunctional labor to continue until the child died and could be forcibly dragged or dissected through the birth canal, or perform the surgery that would cause the mother’s death. About the only time such an issue could arise in contemporary America would be in the rare case of a pregnant woman who is discovered to have an aggressive cancer, and has to decide whether to start chemo or radiation therapy that could abort or harm the fetus, or delay until after delivery, which could allow the tumor to grow or metastasize. Devout Catholics are pro-life in every instance, and, of course, efforts to save both mother and infant are always the rule.