Some good news

And they should be provided at no cost to the woman.

I am for RU486.

In Spokane we are still fighting for rape kits and finding a place to have them tested. You know Spokane. Home of Kevin Coe the Mutilator. The mutilator part isn't mentioned in Spokane since he is considered upper class, and the city official said,"why can't they just lay back and enjoy it." and wasn't fired. This behavior has still an evil effect of denial in Spokane.

This only applies to public hospitals, right? So any private, or, say, Catholic-owned hospitals are still exempt?

@3, You need to get the hell out of Spokane. There's no hope for those backwater cro-mags.

@4 I had the same question. Is Providence Health going to fight this all the way to the Supreme court?
Related... http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics…

I'm appalled that the Catholic Criminal Empire has taken over so many hospitals in Washington state. Reports that young women have been counseled with Bible verses (!) instead of actual medical advice, in Catholic-owned hospitals, are beyond grotesque. Hard to believe this is happening in the "enlightened" 21st century...

@7:

But not surprising when your belief system is centered around a 4,000 year old Bronze Age mythology created by a passel of middle-eastern goat herders whose knowledge of the world didn't extend more than a couple hundred miles in any direction.

Even 4000 years ago, you can bet that women knew which plants/herbs were abortifacient.

@9:

And 4,000 years ago abortion, especially in the early stages of gestation, wasn't considered a sin, mortal or otherwise. And although Christian teaching has gone rather back-and-forth on subject of when a fetus gains a soul, the concept of life "beginning" at the moment of conception wasn't adopted as doctrine until fairly recently in its history.

Really? Not one single doctor on their staff was willing to perform abortions? Under any circumstances?

I wonder what kind of hiring practices and training and social environment would lead to such a bizarre proclamation? It's just a medical procedure. Surely some doctor somewhere is willing to do a basic medical procedure.

All the Catholic health care corporations (because they're not just single hospitals) will fight this all the way to the Supremes. They've got the money to do so, and since they run half the hospitals in the whole country, they've certainly got the reason to do so.

@11, in this socially fundamentalist climate in America, abortion is no longer just a "basic medical procedure". It's becoming the equivalent of murder.

"the hospital said none of its staff members were willing to perform abortions"

Sounds like grounds for termination to me