Skip to main content

Catholic Hospitals: What Women Want to Know

This brief is based on a national survey of over 1400 women investigating patient awareness of the presence of Catholic hospitals and the implications on reproductive health care. Findings show that most women believe that hospitals should not be able restrict access to reproductive health care based on religion. However, many women were not able to identify the religious affiliation of their hospital when seeking reproductive care. When choosing a hospital for reproductive care, women identified overall quality, their individual provider, and insurance as key determinants, while very few women said the hospital’s religion was most important to them. The majority of women expect to be able to receive reproductive services regardless of the religion of the hospital.