Several relatively mainstream family planning services currently offered by Baptist hospitals in Knoxville will be discontinued as part of the new Mercy Health partners merger. To wit:
Tubal ligation, a birth-control procedure at odds with Roman Catholic beliefs, is no longer being offered to patients of Baptist Health System, which ended the practice as part of its merger with St. Mary’s Health System.
Baptist’s affiliation with a nationally recognized embryo adoption clinic also is being discontinued later this year.
Debra London, CEO of Catholic-based Mercy Health Partners, the company formed when the two health systems merged Jan. 1, said it was always the intent to bring Baptist’s hospital operations in line with Catholic guidelines, which forbid artificial contraception.
“We have always said that we would follow the ethical and religious directives that are part of the Catholic doctrine” London said.
St. Mary’s has never permitted tubal ligations, a procedure in which fallopian tubes are tied, cauterized or cut to prevent conception. The only exception is when future pregnancies would endanger the life of a patient, London said.
…the Southeastern Center for Fertility and Reproductive Surgery as well as the National Embryo Donation Center will vacate their space at Baptist Hospital for Women when their lease expires in October because their services also go against Roman Catholic doctrine.
The centers are in the process of trying to find a new, larger location in West Knoxville.
“We think we can get a little more visibility and better marketing locally. On the whole, it will be a fairly seamless transition,” said Lara Collins, grant manager for the embryo donation center, a nonprofit organization that provides infertile couples with embryo adoption services.
Baptist had an embryologist on staff, but that position was cut earlier this month.
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And what would this do to someone whose employer made the decision to offer insurance that only allowed them to use Mercy Partners? Suddenly your reproductive choices will be mandated by your employer and your physician. Seriously, this is step two of the Pro Life agenda. They don’t have to eliminate abortion and birth control, just eliminate all the routes leading to it. This is frightening and should be getting major airplay. Thanks Katie, very important.