Catholic health providers who partner with hospitals under the Washington “public hospital district” and provide 
maternity care must continue to offer “substantially equivalent benefits” in the form of contraception and abortion services, the state’s attorney general has said.
Speaking at a news conference yesterday, Bob Ferguson said that, under a ballot initiative adopted by voters in 1991, a public hospital district “may not provide maternity care without abortion and birth control,” the Seattle Post Intelligencer reports.
The law affects all of the public hospitals in Washington, which total over 50, he added.
“I fully expect all public hospital districts to comply with this opinion,” Ferguson said.
The initiative did not impose the requirement on private hospitals, but it is set to affect a growing trend in Washington state, in which small local hospitals have chosen to affiliate with larger health organisations, including Catholic-affiliated PeaceHealth and Providence Health and Services.
Church-affiliated hospitals cannot perform abortions, and cannot assist in patient suicides, something which is legal in Washington state.
Democratic state senator Kevin Ranker asked the Mr Ferguson if a public hospital district would violate the state’s Initiative 120 if it solely contracts with a health care provider — such as a Catholic-affiliated hospital — that does not provide reproductive care services such as contraception and abortion.
The law, I-120, is one of the most sweeping abortion rights laws in the US. It was voted into law 21 years after the 1970 election in which Washington voted to make abortion legal.
It declares that Washington residents have a “fundamental right to choose or refuse” contraception or abortion, and prohibits the state from discriminating against the exercise of these rights in the “regulation or provision of benefits, facilities, services or information”.
It also requires that, if the state (including public hospital districts) provides maternity care services or information, it must furnish “substantially equivalent benefits, services or information” regarding abortion and birth control.
The attorney general was not asked by Ranker to explain exactly how public hospital districts must comply with this requirement or what exactly constitutes “substantially equivalent benefits.”
The Washington attorney general furnishes official opinions on legal questions at the request of designated public officials on issues arising in the course of their duties. A formal opinion constitutes the official view of the state’s chief legal officer.
Last November, United General Hospital of Sedro-Woolley agreed to an “alliance” with Peace Health-St. Joseph Medical Center, under which PeaceHealth will lease and operate the Sedro-Woolley hospital.
Two other hospitals, Island Hospital in Anacortes and Skagit Regional Health in Mount Vernon, have been considering similar affiliations. The Catholic-affiliated PeaceHealth and Providence Health Services have been in the bidding, along with the secular University of Washington medical system and Virginia Mason.
Providence has recently entered into an affiliation with Seattle’s Swedish Medical Center.
“Our goal in this opinion is to provide guidance for public hospital districts,” Ferguson said.