USA
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31 women (anonymous) – USA
Women’s health and lives are frequently put at risk in American Catholic hospitals, but only a few cases are publicized. We count at least 80 so far – 31 mostly anonymous cases are included here, with the rest described individually by name on the main “Victims of Belief-based Care Denial” page. One case in California […]
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Anna Nusslock (2024) – California
In February 2024, Anna Nusslock was 15 weeks pregnant when her water broke. When she went to her local hospital in Eureka California, she learned that the twins she and her husband had so desperately wanted were not viable. Further, her own health was in danger, and she needed an emergency abortion to prevent hemorrhaging […]
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Chelsea (2018) – USA
Woman with serious health risks and lethal fetal abnormality denied abortion at hospital because she wasn’t sick enough In December 2018, Chelsea was about 15 weeks into a planned pregnancy when a specialist at University of Cincinnati Medical Center told her that her fetus had triploidy, a condition where three sets of chromosomes develop in […]
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United States
Is Your Health Care Compromised? How the Catholic Directives Make for Unhealthy Choices CATHOLICS FOR CHOICE 2017 At a time in US history when healthcare can be challenging to access even by those with good insurance coverage, how is it possible to say that Catholic healthcare can be bad for your health? This report will […]
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Dr. Ralph’s patient (2017) – USA
Miscarrying woman refused termination, forced to get very sick and suffer through prolonged labour In early 2017, a woman arrived at Wheaton Franciscan-St. Joseph hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in labour. She was 18 weeks pregnant with twins. She miscarried one fetus within hours of admission, but the second still had a heartbeat. Because the hospital […]
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Laurie B Roberts(1996) – USA
From Bearing Faith: The Limits of Catholic Health Care for Women of Color Miscarrying woman almost dies after being denied termination at Catholic hospital Laurie Bertram Roberts was twelve weeks pregnant when, fearing that she was experiencing a miscarriage, she rushed to the only hospital in her community, a Catholic facility. After examining her, the […]
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Kathleen Hutchins (1998) – USA
Woman at risk of death with doomed pregnancy was refused abortion at Catholic-controlled hospital and forced to travel 80 miles In 1998, Kathleen Hutchins was working at the drive-thru window at Dunkin’ Donuts. She was fourteen weeks pregnant when her water broke. Her ob/gyn, Dr. Wayne Goldner, told her that her chances of carrying the […]
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Sophie (1994) – USA
Woman at risk of death refused abortion in Catholic hospital by a lawyer In 1994, 19-year-old Sophie Smith (a pseudonym) of Nebraska was admitted to the emergency room of a Catholic hospital with a blood clot in her lung. Tests revealed she was about 10 weeks pregnant, and the clotting problem resulted from a rare […]
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Heidi (late 1980’s) – USA
Miscarrying woman nearly bleeds to death after being refused abortion at Catholic hospital In the late 1980s in Detroit, Democratic Senator Gary Peters and his then wife, Heidi, were pregnant with their second child, a baby they very much wanted. Heidi was four months along when her water broke, leaving the fetus without amniotic fluid—a […]