US Bishops Set To Vote On Whether To Ban Catholic Hospitals From Performing Sex-Change Surgeries
Kate Anderson on June 12, 2023
U.S. Catholic bishops are convening this week to vote on a “doctrinal note” that could prohibit Catholic health care providers from performing sex-change surgeries and other related medical procedures.
The issue arose earlier in March when bishops released a directive titled “Moral Limits to the Technological Manipulation of the Human Body,” which explained that attempts to change one’s sex were incompatible with the Catholic faith. The bishops will be meeting at the 2023 Spring Plenary in Orlando, Florida, from June 14-16 to vote on whether to align Catholic medical practice with the March note, according to Chieko Noguchi, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) spokesperson who spoke with the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“The action item for vote relates primarily to the doctrinal note issued by the USCCB’s Committee on Doctrine this past March,” Noguchi said. “The vote is scheduled for Thursday and it is a procedural measure that tasks the Committee on Doctrine with beginning its work to revise a section of the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services in light of the doctrinal note.”
In the March doctrinal note, the bishops argued that transgender medical procedures were of “great concern,” going as far as to say that the treatments are “not morally justified.” The note also emphasized that in the growing technological age, churches must define where the boundaries are, particularly for children who are “still maturing and who are not capable of providing informed consent.”
“The Catechism of the Catholic Church affirms: ‘Man and woman have been created, which is to say, willed by God: on the one hand, in perfect equality as human persons; on the other, in their respective beings as man and woman,’” the directive reads. “‘Being man’ or ‘being woman’ is a reality which is good and willed by God.’ Just as bodiliness is a fundamental aspect of human existence, so is either ‘being a man’ or ‘being a woman’ a fundamental aspect of existence as a human being, expressing a person’s unitive and procreative finality.”
If the directive receives the majority vote this week, the committee responsible for drafting and releasing the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services will begin amending the current standards to match the sentiments expressed in the Catholic bishop’s statement, according to Noguchi.
“Once there is a draft by the doctrine committee, the full body of bishops will review, discuss, and vote on the revision at a subsequent gathering,” he told the DCNF.
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