The Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix has stripped St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center of its Catholic affiliation because of the 2009 procedure that ended a woman’s life-threatening pregnancy at 11 weeks.

Apparently, the hospital should have allowed her to die, rather than return to her four children at home. Or, perhaps St. Joseph’s could have transferred her someplace that wouldn’t have to answer to religious authorities. God forbid — literally — we leave medical decisions to the doctors and patients.

USA Today and PoliticsDaily have more on this story. Also, check out the Catholic Health Association’s defense of the 115-year-old hospital, Arizona’s largest.

(I’d love to hear what the patient and her family have to say, but they’ve been quiet on this.)

What do you think? Share your thoughts in the Comments section below.

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