Archdiocese responds to Alaska Right to Life accusations
Editor’s Note: The Anchorage Archdiocese released the following statement and accompanying timeline on April 20 in response to Alaska Right to Life’s most recent newsletter.
Comments published recently by Alaska Right to Life regarding early induction of labor at Providence Alaska Medical Center were inaccurate, misleading and inflammatory. Alaska Right to Life has yet to produce any credible evidence of its claims that Providence, a Catholic hospital, performs abortion. In the absence of evidence, Alaska Right to Life has resorted to character assassination directed at Providence as well as at Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz.
The moratorium on early induction requested by Archbishop Schwietz has been replaced by a set of medical guidelines developed through extended dialogue with the best Catholic ethicists available, including those at the National Catholic Bioethics Center. Providence Alaska Medical Center has committed itself to following these guidelines.
No procedures that fulfill the definition of abortion as contained in the U.S. Bishops’ "Ethical and Religious Directives for Health Care Services" are performed at Providence Alaska Medical Center.
At right, please see the brief timeline of events and actions relating to this issue. Also, please visit the archives section of the Catholic Anchor newspaper Web site, www.catholicanchor.org or catholicanch-or.org/anchor.html, for news stories and editorials published there over the past two years. Links to other sources of reliable Catholic information on early induction can also be found in the Anchor’s online archives.