"We'd have to close" hospitals if FOCA passes

Bishop Paprocki, auxiliary bishop of Chicago, in an intervention at the USCCB conference which came to a close just days ago, sounded the death knell for Catholic health care institutions in the U.S. should N. pass FOCA as promised.

"[FOCA] could mean discontinuing obstetrics in our hospitals, and we may need to consider taking the drastic step of closing our catholic hospitals entirely. It would not be sufficient to withdraw our sponsorship or to sell them to someone who would perform abortions. That would be a morally unacceptable cooperation in evil.

"I do not think I'm being alarmist in suggesting the need to take such drastic steps," Paprocki said, adding that his brother bishops "need to be prepared to respond in the face of increasingly militant threats to unborn life."

In the Chicago Tribune, Paprocki is quoted: "If Catholic hospitals were required by federal law to perform abortions, we'd have to close our hospitals."