Frequently, doctors at Catholic institutions, many of whom are not Catholic, find workarounds to prevent patients from dying, Freedman said. An ethics committee headed by a priest or other religious figure at each hospital decides in the moment whether doctors can intervene. They may wait until the woman develops a fever (a sign of infection), until her bleeding increases or until the fetus dies, Freedman said.<\/p>\n
The Ethical and Religious Directives<\/a> at Catholic hospitals allow pregnancy termination for a \u201cproportionately serious pathological condition of a pregnant woman,\u201d but ethics committees at each hospital can have different interpretations of where to draw the line, Freedman said.<\/p>\n This approach, however, is often shocking to obstetricians in non-religious hospitals, Freedman said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you talk to someone in a really high-quality obstetric service, their jaw drops because they\u2019re like, \u2018Well it\u2019s not just die or not die,\u2019\u201d Freedman said. \u201cWhat kind of level of suffering and risk are you going to require, before the intervention you know is going to happen is allowed to happen?\u201d<\/p>\n The Catholic Health Association states in a policy brief<\/a> that \u201cOur deeply held religious and moral convictions are the source of both the work we do and the limits on what we will do.\u201d<\/p>\n Those religious and moral convictions include a mandate to continue the \u201chealing ministry of Christ,\u201d to care for the poor, and to advocate for marginalized groups like immigrants, according to the Ethical and Religious Directives<\/a>.<\/p>\n They also state that the \u201cCatholic health care ministry is rooted in a commitment to promote and defend human dignity; this is the foundation of its concern to respect the sacredness of every human life from the moment of conception until death.\u201d<\/p>\n Maryam Guiahi, an obstetrician in Santa Barbara who has previously worked in Catholic institutions in Chicago, said that\u2019s where Catholic policies begin to conflict with modern secular medical ethics that place different emphasis on patient autonomy and avoiding harm.<\/p>\n In cases like Nusslock\u2019s, in which the amniotic fluid sac breaks before the fetus is viable, terminating the pregnancy is typically the safest option and the standard of care<\/a>, Guiahi said.<\/p>\n Guiahi said Catholic hospitals sometimes don\u2019t allow doctors to tell patients that an abortion is an option.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been in secular institutions and we can give that information. We can let people decide what they want, and some people will choose to continue and hope and see what happens, but other women don\u2019t want to go through that,\u201d Guiahi said.<\/p>\n Not telling patients all of the risks and options compromises their ability to consent and can lead to avoidable complications like infection and hemorrhaging, Guiahi said.<\/p>\n Guiahi said she never saw a patient die after being denied an emergency abortion at the Catholic hospital she worked at, but sometimes patients would come back septic and require care in the intensive care unit.<\/p>\n \u201cTo me, medicine is about \u2018to do no harm.\u2019 I don\u2019t know many medical situations where we wait till people get sick in order to intervene,\u201d Guiahi said.<\/p>\n Nusslock is making plans to leave Eureka during her next pregnancy. She and her husband still desperately want to start a family, but she can\u2019t drive past Providence St. Joseph Hospital without getting dizzy. She said she has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.<\/p>\n \u201cI still have that voice in the back of my head just screaming, \u2018you\u2019re bleeding to death,\u2019\u201d Nusslock said.<\/p>\n Most likely Nusslock said she\u2019ll find a place in the Bay Area to live during her pregnancy.<\/p>\n Having few options to give birth reflects a larger loss of maternity services in California. The northern counties, including where Nusslock lives, have lost a third of their birthing hospitals since 2012, according to a CalMatters database on maternity care.<\/p>\n Statewide, 59 hospitals have stopped delivering babies in the same time period, creating broad swaths of maternity deserts particularly in rural and low-income communities.<\/p>\n Nearly 80% of those closures have been secular hospitals, increasing the influence of Catholic health care.<\/p>\n During the February court hearing, Providence lawyer Rochman said that a core mission of the Eureka hospital is to keep labor and delivery services available \u201cwhen it may not be financially sensible to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n In a statement, a Providence spokesperson said \u201cproviding high-quality labor and delivery services\u201d is a \u201ctop priority\u201d for the organization in Humboldt County and throughout the nation.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/cdn.kqed.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/05\/021425_Abortion-Access_AH_CM_49.jpg\")
<\/a>Moving to have a baby<\/h2>\n
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