The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington claims in a lawsuit filed Feb. 19 in a Skagit County courtroom that a public hospital district is in violation of state law for failing to provide abortion services at a publicly funded medical center.
In the lawsuit, the ACLU alleges that Skagit Regional Health is not complying with the state’s Reproductive Privacy Act by referring those seeking abortions to Planned Parenthood and other clinics rather than performing the procedure on site, while at the same time it offers subsidized maternity care to pregnant women and would-be parents.
The ACLU also sent letters to three other public hospital districts in Mason County, Jefferson County, and Whidbey Island that it believes are not following the law, and says it is assessing all other hospital districts around the state for compliance with Reproductive Privacy Act.
For more on case click on this link for an article by the Journal’s sister paper, the Everett Daily Herald.
Enacted in 1991, the RPA ensures a woman’s right to make her own reproductive decisions and a fundamental right to choose or refuse birth control and pregnancy termination. In addition, it compels a government entity offering maternity care to also provide women with “substantially equivalent” services allowing them to terminate a pregnancy.
The Washington state attorney general issued a legal opinion in 2013 upholding the equivalency provisions of the RPA.
Whether the lawsuit or the outcome of the case has implications for San Juan Island’s public hospital district and its allegiance with Peace Health remains to be seen.
The district transfers roughly $1.5 million in yearly property tax revenue to Peace Health, a Catholic-affiliated healthcare provider which operates a newly constructed critical access hospital in Friday Harbor, Peace Island Medical Center, to help offset the cost of providing medical services to district residents. The transfer of tax revenue is part of a 50-year contract between the district and Peace Health.
District and PIMC officials maintain maternity services are not provided at PIMC and therefore it is not legally bound to provide abortion services, and that those seeking such services are referred to clinics or health care providers that do.
Critics contend maternity services were regularly provided and the former district-run Inter Island Medical Center, an antiquated medical center that the district shuttered as part of its agreement with Peace Health.
District officials also face sharp criticism from those that contend that medical services available to district residents, such as end-of-life and abortion services, are now limited by religious directives of the Catholic church.
— Scott Rasmussen
