Apr 02 2016 61 mins
A woman in San Francisco recently was scheduled to have a Cesarean section and decided she wanted to have a tubal ligation at the time of that surgery. Her doctor agreed. The problem? The hospital where she was going to have the procedure, refused to allow the sterilization ecause it was a Catholic institution and the US Conference of Catholic Bishops said the prodedure was "evil." Just go to another hospital you say? Well good luck with that. Many regions in this country have prohibitive distances between facilities and it is a problem that's restricting access to health care for growing numbers of women. Janet Chung, legal and legislative counsel at Legal Voice in Seattle joins us to talk about medical access in the age of mergers. Legal voice is a non-rofit organization that fights for legal rights and justice for women in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska by bringing ground breaking cases to court, advocating for landmark legislation and providing legal information. Chung has advocated for policies to protect women's access to reproductive health services and insurance coverage and her cases have addressed issues including adverse treatment of domestic violence and sexual assault victims in the work place and on campuses as well as fighting gender stereotyuping of workers. Join us as we talke about hospital mergers, religious dotrine, access to healthcare and reproductive freedom.