Roman Catholic bishops in the U.S. are slated to vote this week on issuing guidance to Catholic hospitals that would prohibit transgender surgeries and puberty-blocking drugs.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is scheduled to vote on the contentious issue during their annual 2023 Spring Plenary Assembly in Orlando, according to the National Catholic Reporter.
The measure, if approved, would allow the bishop's doctrine committee to revise the Religious and Ethical Directives for Catholic Health Care, which serves as "authoritative guidance on certain moral issues that face Catholic health care today."
A version of the ballot shared with the outlet indicated that the USCCB has no intention of introducing significant alterations to the directives, but is open to making necessary adjustments that would offer Catholic health care services with unambiguous guidance on the issue.
The committee's primary focus, according to NCR, is on Part III of the directives, which deals with the interaction between Catholic medical practitioners and patients. Other issues addressed in the guidance include abortion and end-of-life health care.
In March, the bishops released a statement titled "Doctrinal Note on the Moral Limits to Technological Manipulation of the Human Body," which argues that humans are created in God's image and that he has established an order that mankind must respect.
"[H]uman nature deserves utmost respect since humanity occupies a singular place in the created order, being created in the image of God," the prelates wrote. "To find fulfillment as human persons, to find true happiness, we must respect that order. We did not create human nature; it is a gift from a loving Creator. Nor do we ‘own’ our human nature, as if it were something that we are free to make use of in any way we please."
"Thus, genuine respect for human dignity requires that decisions about the use of technology be guided by genuine respect for this created order," the statement added.
Some Catholic hospitals in the U.S. are allegedly performing transgender surgeries and offering puberty-blocking drugs to minors, according to a report from the Lepanto Institute released Sunday.
The institute claimed that CommonSpirit Health, which has more than 140 hospitals in 21 states, is "performing transgender surgeries, providing hormone-based transgender therapies, providing puberty blockers to children under the auspices of so-called 'gender-affirming care,'" according to The Christian Post.
