Abortion, the Establishment Clause, and city-owned hospitals

[stuart_buck at CK6.USCOURTS.GOV]

     I'm including excerpts and a URL for an interesting story from
     Florida.  It involves a city-owned hospital that had been leased to a
     private contractor.  The private contractor then affiliated with
     several other hospitals, two of which were Catholic, and in the
     process agreed to stop performing abortions (it had been doing 5 per
     year).  The ACLU, NOW, and Planned Parenthood are suing, claiming a
     violation of the Establishment Clause.

     Anyone have an opinion?

     http://www.modernhealthcare.com/currentissue/topten.php3?refid=5766&db
     =mh99up&published=20000821


     Modern Healthcare August 21, 2000, Monday

     HEADLINE: Fit to be tried; ACLU, others claim violation of
     church-state separation in suit against Catholic-affiliated hospital

     BYLINE: Vince Galloro


     Four national advocacy groups last week filed suit against a
     city-owned Florida hospital that stopped performing abortions after
     affiliating with several Roman Catholic facilities.

     The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Tampa, is believed to be
     the first in which such groups have intervened as plaintiffs to
     maintain the separation of church and state, which they claim was
     violated when the secular hospital adopted Catholic religious and
     ethical medical practices.
      * * *

     Other plaintiffs are the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida,
     the National Organization for Women, and Planned Parenthood of
     Southwest and Central Florida. Four women also are plaintiffs.

     The plaintiffs claim the 1997 affiliation of 300-bed Bayfront Medical
     Center in St. Petersburg with BayCare Health System--an alliance of
     eight not-for-profit hospitals in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area, two
     of them Roman Catholic--and the subsequent changes in services at
     Bayfront Medical violate the constitutional separation of church and
     state.

     When Bayfront Medical joined the alliance, it agreed to adhere to
     Catholic ethical and religious healthcare directives, which require
     doctors to obey church prohibitions on abortion and contraception and
     to follow church teachings on continuing treatment to the limit of
     medical knowledge.


     The city of St. Petersburg filed a similar lawsuit against the
     hospital's not-for-profit parent, Bayfront Health System, in March
     (April 10, p. 40), alleging that Bayfront Medical's Catholic practices
     violate the nondiscrimination clause of the lease between the city and
     Bayfront Health. The two sides are trying to negotiate a settlement.

     "This is, in effect, a city hospital that's been leased out to a
     private contractor, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't follow the same
     constitutional and legal requirements that we expect of public
     institutions," Conn said.

     Bayfront Medical acknowledges that it has ended elective abortions,
     which had totaled about five in a given year, spokeswoman Lisa
     Patterson said. Patterson said other reproductive procedures, such as
     vasectomies and tubal ligations, continue to be offered, and all
     lawful advance directives, such as living wills and medical
     powers-of-attorney, are followed.