Catholic Hospital Challenged

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TRANSCRIPT

A Catholic hospital is under fire for standing up for divine law and the case is heading to the Supreme Court.

In 2016, a woman calling herself Evan Minton approached Mercy San Juan Medical Center, just north of Sacramento, demanding a hysterectomy to complete her so-called gender transition.

But when hospital officials learned the surgery was not for any medical emergency, the surgery was canceled.

Minton filed a lawsuit in a California court in 2017, claiming Mercy San Juan and its parent company, Dignity Health, were discriminating against her because she was transgender.

The hospital claimed, "It is our practice not to provide sterilization services" and added, "Procedures that induce sterility are permitted when their direct effect is the cure or alleviation of a present and serious pathology and a simpler treatment is not available."

It also quoted the U.S. Catholic bishops' directive "Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services," saying:

Direct sterilization of either men or women, whether permanent or temporary, is not permitted in a Catholic health care institution. Procedures that induce sterility are permitted when their direct effect is the cure or alleviation of a present and serious pathology and a simpler treatment is not available.

But in 2019, a California appeals court ruled the hospital discriminated against Minton and violated California civil rights law.

The case, still ongoing, is headed to the U.S. Supreme Court where the justices will decide if Catholic institutions have the right to adhere to Church teaching or if they must submit to gender ideology.

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