Recent Supreme Court ruling being used to force hospital into performing transgender surgery

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – A recent US Supreme Court ruling has opened the door for a lawsuit that seeks to force a Catholic hospital to carry out transgender surgery, PJ Media reports. Brought by American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Maryland lawsuit is relying on the case of Bostock v. Clayton County (2020) to make its case. In Bostock, Justice Neil Gorsuch led the Court’s four liberals to redefine a person’s “sex” as including transgender identity and sexual orientation. At the time of this ruling, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito warned that Gorsuch’s decision would pave the way for the kind of case that has now been filed.

The plaintiff in the Maryland lawsuit is a biological woman who identifies as a man. The plaintiff claims that St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson, MD unlawfully discriminated against her by refusing to perform a hysterectomy to remove her healthy uterus, PJ Media reports. St Joseph’s is a Catholic hospital that is run by the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS).

According to the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, Catholic hospitals may not perform sterilization procedures unless “their direct effect is the cure or alleviation of a present and serious pathology and a simpler treatment is not available.” The hospital does, for instance, carry out hysterectomies to treat uterine fibroids, endometriosis, and pelvic support problems.

The plaintiff claims that the refusal to perform the surgery amounts to discrimination on the basis of sex in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause and the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare). As St. Joseph’s is run by UMMS, the suit also alleges discrimination in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

PJ Media notes that the central aspect of the case turns on whether to consider transgender surgery as “medically necessary” or actively harmful. Pro-transgender doctors claim that such surgery is necessary to treat mental distress arising from gender dysphoria. The Catholic Church considers elective sterility to be contrary to God’s design for the human body.

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