this is interesting (nothing new, but still interesting)

in the greater hartford area, we are lucky. we have a few good hospitals. one of them is indeed catholic; st. francis. i actually had surgery there. if  i was having gyno issues, that is NOT the hospital i would choose to get treated at. (i didn't choose it for my surgery either. that's where my surgeon practiced and i believe my insurance company had a say in where i went too). positive experience but like i said, it was NOT gynecological surgery or surgery relating to me being a woman. if i want to have my tubes tied, i WANT THEM TIED. period. a bishop has NO right to say i can't. after having three children each, both of my sisters had their tubes tied after their last birth. THEIR decision and a perfectly sane and logical and legal one at that.

Religious hospitals' restrictions sparking conflicts, scrutiny

By Rob Stein

Washington Post Staff Writer  

In Texas, a Catholic bishop made two hospitals cease doing tube-tying operations for women who are not going to have more babies. In Oregon, another bishop cast a medical center out of his diocese for refusing to discontinue the same procedure. In Arizona, a nun was excommunicated and the hospital where she works was expelled from the church after 116 years for allowing doctors to terminate a pregnancy to save a woman's life. Such disputes between hospitals and church authorities appear to be arising because of a confluence of factors: Economic pressures are spurring greater consolidation in the hospital industry, prompting religiously affiliated institutions to take over or merge with secular ones, imposing church directives on them...............