Many patients have no choice but to visit Catholic hospitals.
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Nearly two in five women of reproductive age may face restricted access to services like abortion, contraception and sterilization, because they happen to live in a county where Catholic hospitals make up a high share of the market, according to a sweeping new report in JAMA Network Open.

In the first-ever study of its kind, researchers analyzed patient discharge data in almost every U.S. county to determine the market share of Catholic hospitals. They discovered that in 35 percent of U.S. counties, Catholic hospitals have a high or dominant market share, meaning they make up more than 20 percent of patient discharges. Combined, these counties serve an estimated 39 percent of U.S. women of reproductive age.

The findings have important implications for access to reproductive health care in these communities. Patients in Catholic hospitals have had their care dangerously delayed while suffering miscarriages, been pressured into burying their miscarried fetuses and had their gender-affirming surgeries canceled on religious grounds. But many patients have […]