Crosscut Now
Apr. 6, 2021 - WA may regulate medically necessary abortions
4/6/2021 | 1m 15sVideo has Closed Captions
WA may regulate medically necessary abortions at religious hospitals.
As Catholic hospital mergers increase, a Senate bill deals with the care and decisions involved when a pregnancy goes wrong.
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Crosscut Now is a local public television program presented by Cascade PBS
Crosscut Now
Apr. 6, 2021 - WA may regulate medically necessary abortions
4/6/2021 | 1m 15sVideo has Closed Captions
As Catholic hospital mergers increase, a Senate bill deals with the care and decisions involved when a pregnancy goes wrong.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship(intense tonal music) - I'm Starla Sampaco in the Crosscut KCTS 9 Newsroom.
(serious tonal music) Washington legislators are freeing up doctors at Catholic hospitals to provide medically necessary abortions when pregnancies go wrong.
The State Senate and House recently passed a bill that will allow patients to sue a hospital if they're denied medical care to hasten miscarriages or terminate non-viable pregnancies that threaten the patient's health.
This includes ectopic pregnancies in which an embryo lodges in such a way that it will not be viable and possibly cause sterilizing and life threatening injuries.
The bill also allows providers to sue if they're disciplined after ending these types of pregnancies.
However, the bill will not require hospitals to provide elective abortions.
Church-owned hospitals, which provide 2/5 of the beds in the state, could also continue to restrict access to contraception, fertility treatments and sterilization.
I'm Starla Sampaco.
Find nonprofit Northwest news every day on Crosscut.com.
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