In the aftermath of the death of a woman pregnant with twins, her husband filed a wrongful-death lawsuit on behalf of himself and the couple’s then-two-year-old daughter Elizabeth. The lead defendant in the case is Catholic Health Initiatives, a nonprofit that runs 170 health facilities in 17 states.
“Catholic health care ministry witnesses to the sanctity of life ‘from the moment of conception until death,’” the nonprofit's directives state. “The Church’s defense of life encompasses the unborn.”
But when it came to mounting a defense in the Stodghill case, Catholic Health’s lawyers effectively turned the Church directives on their head. Instead, they are arguing state law protects doctors from liability concerning unborn fetuses on grounds that those fetuses are not persons with legal rights.
