ARTICLES

Absolutely, It's Wrong

Is Seton Medical Center Pro-Life?

BY MARIA KENNEDY

On March 1, the California supreme court ruled that Catholic Charities is not a religious entity entitled to exemption from the Women's Contraceptive Equality Act, which requires that employers who provide insurance coverage to their employees include contraceptive coverage. Though the California Catholic Conference has fought for an exemption for Catholic Charities and may appeal the state supreme court's decision to the United States supreme court, Catholic organizations are sending mixed messages about the acceptability of contraception and even abortion.

In 1999 California state senator Jackie Speier introduced the Women's Contraceptive Equity Act into the legislature. According to Speier, women were "discriminated against" because some employers did not provide contraceptive coverage as part of their health plan. The Women's Contraceptive Equality Act mandates that employers include contraceptive coverage if they offer prescription coverage as part of their health plan. In spite of the California Catholic Conference's request for an exemption for religious employers, the bill was passed and signed into law by then Governor Gray Davis.

According to Ron Konopaski, a Bay area resident, Speier "proudly calls herself Catholic." Konopaski noted that several years ago, he attended a Catholic Lobby Day in Sacramento and was sent to Speier's office. "At the time, the Women's Contraceptive Equality Act was still being debated," he said. "When we went to Jackie Speier's office, we requested a conscience clause. When we were there, she made a big deal about how Catholic she is. She said she taught CCD classes at her parish. She went to great lengths to show she was Catholic."

Speier's involvement with the Catholic Church includes Seton Medical Center in Daly City. In October of 2003, she co-chaired, along with U.S. senator Dianne Feinstein and former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown, the Seton Medical Center Foundation's "Cornette and Top Hats Charity Ball." Konopaski said that he was appalled that Seton Medical Center would extend an invitation to Speier, Feinstein, and Brown, all who are militantly pro-abortion. "Absolutely, it's wrong," he said. "She's [Speier] in the same league as Ted Kennedy and Tom Daschle. Seton Medical Center seems to have a big conflict of interest."

The Seton Health Services Foundation sponsored the gala, with the San Francisco archdiocesan newspaper, Catholic San Francisco, as a co-sponsor. When I called the Seton Health Services Foundation to ask for comment on why Speier had been included as co-chair, the woman who answered the phone said that the charity ball committee had made the decision to include Speier. When pressed for someone to interview for this story, the woman then said that the former executive director, Frank Malifrango, had made the decision to invite Speier. "He's no longer with us," she said. "When we get a new executive director, we can have him call you."

I told the woman at Seton Health that I had placed a call to the Seton Medical Center's 24-hour physician hot line to ask for a referral to an abortion provider and was readily given the name of an abortionist. The woman explained that the referral line was "merely offering information."

The abortionist to whom I was referred was Douglas Rittenhouse of Daly City. When asked if he performed late term abortions, the Seton Health receptionist replied, "no. Choice Medical Group does them." The receptionist then proceeded to give me their phone number.

Pro-life activists in the Bay Area are shocked at what Seton Medical Center is doing. One pro-life Catholic priest, who did not want to be named, said that he was surprised at Seton Medical Center's actions. "The sisters [Daughters of Charity, who run Seton] are all pro-life," he said in an interview. "Ask Sister Paula about this," he suggested when asked whom I should call for comment. A call to Sister Paula Landry of the Daughters of Charity, though, was not returned.

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