Anchorage Knights of Columbus and Right to Life part ways.

In following up on the early induction story from Alaska, I came upon Jill Stanek’s February 5, 2005 piece here.

An excerpt:

At issue is a controversial procedure at Providence Alaska Medical Center, which is part of the Seattle-based Providence Health System operated by the Sisters of Providence.

A pregnant woman who comes to Providence may elect to induce labor in certain cases when a team of doctors determines that her unborn child is incapable of life outside the womb. An ethical team at the hospital must review the particulars of each case to ensure that inducing labor would conform to Catholic principles.

When it learned of the practice in 2003, Alaska Right to Life began picketing the hospital and claiming publicly that it performed abortion. The organization also appealed to Archbishop Schwietz to halt the procedure, which he has the authority to do.

The archbishop did briefly impose a moratorium on the early induction procedure later that year.

The archbishop then enlisted the help of the National Catholic Bioethics Center, a respected Boston organization that frequently provides ethical consultations for bishops, to ensure that the hospital’s practices were morally acceptable.

Over the next several months ethicists from the center worked with Providence ethicists and hospital leadership to revise the hospital’s guidelines on early induction.

The protocol “went back and forth until it reached the point where we thought it was fully in compliance with Catholic moral teachings,” John Haas, Ph.D., president of the bioethics center, told the Anchor this week.

The Anchor reported last summer on the conclusion of the revision of Providence’s guidelines. However, Alaska Right to Life has continued to picket the hospital, and decided to step up its efforts last month.

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