WI Catholic Clinic Halts ‘Trans’ Procedures
CV NEWS FEED // A Catholic health clinic in Wisconsin affiliated with a national Catholic hospital group has suspended all “gender-affirming procedures” as the group struggles to adopt an organization-wide policy to address “transgender” healthcare.
SSM Health, one of the largest Catholic hospital groups in the United States, just halted all “gender-affirming” procedures at the Aesthetic Center in Middleton, Wisconsin. These “gender-affirming” procedures aim to “transition” people with gender dysphoria to the opposite sex. They include procedures such as “top surgery,” or breast removal.
The policy change comes after at least a month of discussion, according to sources interviewed by the local News 3 channel. However, the swift change in policy surprised many.
With the new policy, the clinic has stopped accepting new patients and is in the process of canceling all scheduled procedures.
It is unclear whether the clinic suspended the procedures at the request of the Diocese of Madison, Wisconsin, SSM Health leadership, or clinic administrators.
Neither the clinic nor the Diocese of Madison responded to a request for comment.
SSM Health operates 23 hospitals across the Midwest. The hospital group, originally founded by a group of religious sisters in 1872, is based out of St. Louis, Missouri.
Its recent history in 2017 and 2018 has been controversial. Rev. Robert Carlson, the standing archbishop of St. Louis, at the request of the American College of Pediatricians, urged hospital leaders to align their policies with Church teaching in a letter.
“Another part of the heart of Catholic health care is the teachings of the Gospel as articulated by the Church. This includes things that we don’t do because we’re Catholic,” wrote Carlson:
While attempting to remain faithful to one aspect of Catholic health care, the policy is not faithful to the other, which includes the foundational truth that the human person is made in God’s image and likeness as male and female.
SSM Health had recently released a new policy titled “Care for Transgender Patients and Treatment of Gender Dysphoria.” The group told The Washington Post that they had changed that policy after receiving Carlson’s letter but did not elaborate on what that change entailed.
SSM communications personnel did not respond to a request from CatholicVote to clarify their policy.
The SSM Health website does not list any “gender-affirming” procedures and it is unclear as to whether other hospitals and clinics offer the procedure.
In his letter, Carlson noted the Ethical and Religious Directives for Health Care Services. Those directives are currently under review by the USCCB. During their June plenary meeting, the bishops voted to proceed with adopting new guidelines, tackling any “transgender” procedures happening within Catholic hospitals.
On March 20, 2023, the USCCB Doctrine Committee released new guidelines for Catholic hospitals to follow to address “transgender” healthcare in a 14-page document. The document calls on healthcare providers to protect the dignity of the human person and provide special care for those who are still maturing.
“The Hippocratic tradition in medicine calls upon all healthcare providers first and foremost to ‘do no harm,’” the document states:
Any technological intervention that does not accord with the fundamental order of the human person as a unity of body and soul, including the sexual difference inscribed in the body, ultimately does not help but, rather, harms the human person.
