MERGER OF CATHOLIC HEALTHCARE WITH SECULAR INSTITUTION

[Vance R. Koven]

At 11:27 PM 1/2/02 -0500, Kim Daniels wrote:
>Could you flesh out your view that  "given the highly regulated health
>care environment," it does not violate the free exercise clause to require
>Catholic health care providers to facilitate abortions in contravention of
>their religious beliefs?  In other words, do you contend that the legal
>regime governing health care somehow changes the free exercise analysis?
>
>One more preliminary: are you also arguing that merger with a secular
>organization necessarily (or usually) waters down a hospital's Catholic
>identity in a manner relevant to the free exercise analysis?

Looked at from another angle, couldn't one make the case that for a state
attorney general to approve the merger of a secular and religious hospital
(assuming here that both are non-profit and thus subject to AG "public
interest" jurisdiction) in such a manner that discontinues services
provided by the secular hospital inconsistent with the religious one's
tenets a) is not in the public interest and b) is an EC violation?


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