Editor’s Note: This story includes language some may deem offensive.
Here’s a delightful item from the tolerant left. Yesterday,
Seattle left-wing alternative newspaper The Stranger wrote an
attack piece on Catholic healthcare so bigoted it would warm the heart of a
1920s Klansman or 1850s Know-Nothing.
“Catholics are taking over local hospitals, imposing their faith on your health care, and planning to deny certain treatments for patients who are pregnant or dying,” ran the headline. Scared yet? Liberal site Jezebel also reported on the article with the aptly titled headline, “Your Hospital Might Be Catholic and That Might Be a Problem.”
The article cited a case in Ireland where a woman died because the hospital would not perform an abortion, and linked it to a case in Washington where a woman miscarried and the hospital made her wait to deliver instead of performing an abortion, which went against the hospital’s religious guidelines. Later, however, the piece casually mentioned that this same hospital was partnered with a Planned Parenthood across the street, (which, of course, could’ve given the woman the abortion she wanted.)
On the entirely reasonable assumption that it’s pierced and tattooed readership hadn’t come across many actual Catholics at the artisan coffee shop, the article explained:
“To understand Catholic health care, it's important to know the rules that guide Catholic hospitals, otherwise known as Ethical and Religious Directives (ERDs). These directives are drafted and tweaked by the rotating cast of mostly white, mostly celibate bishops couch-surfing at the Vatican…As you'd expect, the directives pertaining to women's fertility read like a misogynist romance novel or found art from the Middle Ages.”
The mocking condescension of The Stranger isn’t surprising. It features the “sex advice” column of the nasty, bullying gay advocate Dan Savage. When Pope Benedict XVI announced his retirement, Savage ran a headline that read: “That Motherfucking Power-Hungry, Self-Aggrandized Bigot In the Stupid Fucking Hat Announces His Retirement.”
Citing the growing mergers between Catholic hospitals and secular healthcare centers, the article warns, “The mergers wouldn't just affect women's health care, they would affect end-of-life care for everyone and, potentially, compassionate medical care for members of the LGBT community.” Well that tears it! Get out the torches, we’re goin’ after the papists!
You know what else might be detrimental to the health of women, seniors and “members of the LGBT community?” No Catholic hospitals. As of 2011 data, Catholic hospitals account for 12.6 percent of hospitals, and compromise nearly half of hospitals in the Northwest, according to The Stranger. While there are 615 Catholic hospitals in the U.S., there are 785 Planned Parenthood facilities which perform abortion.
But the fact that there are more Planned Parenthoods than there are Catholic hospitals doesn’t seem to matter to left wing media like The Stranger and Jezebel. Just the very fact that hospitals that won’t perform abortions in non life-threatening cases exist angers the pro-choice movement. With the HHS mandate being fought as it comes into effect this year, we can expect more religious bashing, fear-mongering and bullying from pro-choice activists.
