Pennsylvania Code › Title 16 - COMMUNITY AFFAIRS › Part II - Governor's Office › Subpart A - Human Relations Commission › Chapter 51 - DISCRIMINATION WITH RESPECT TO ABORTION AND STERILIZATION › RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF HOSPITALS AND OTHER HEALTH CARE FACILITIES › Section 51.31 - Adoption and substance of stated ethical policy

Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 28, July 13, 2024
(a) Section 5.2(a) of the act (43 P. S. §
												955.2(a)) permits a hospital
					 or other health care facility to make a determination, in the form of a stated
					 ethical policy, with regard to whether such institution will permit or refuse
					 to permit the performance of abortion or sterilization procedures upon its
					 premises. Pursuant to "Abortion and Sterilization in Public Hospitals," Opinion
					 No. 75-16 of the Attorney General, appearing at 5 Pa.B. 1383, no public
					 hospital or other public health care facility may make such a determination, in
					 the form of a stated ethical policy or otherwise, which would prohibit upon its
					 premises the performance of sterilization procedures or the performance of
					 abortion procedures prior to the last trimester of pregnancy.
(b) No nonpublic hospital or other nonpublic
					 health care facility shall be required to or held liable for refusal to perform
					 or permit the performance of abortion or sterilization contrary to its stated
					 ethical policy. Such policy shall consist of a written statement which reflects
					 an official resolution or declaration of a board of directors or other
					 governing body of a nonpublic hospital or other nonpublic health care facility
					 charged with the responsibility for over-all administration and policy
					 determination for such institution. Such policy shall be adopted by a board of
					 directors or other governing body of such institution in the same manner as and
					 following the procedures used for the consideration and adoption of all other
					 policy decisions concerning the rendering of health care service by such
					 institution.
(c) The stated ethical
					 policy of a hospital or other health care facility shall expressly set forth
					 the policy of that institution with regard to the performance of abortion or
					 sterilization procedures in such hospital or facility. The policy may, in
					 addition, be based upon specified and well-defined moral, religious, or
					 professional grounds. The adoption of a stated ethical policy by a nonpublic
					 hospital or other nonpublic health care facility, the effect of which would be
					 to refuse to permit the performance of abortion or sterilization procedures
					 upon its premises, must have occurred subsequent to January 22, 1973, the date
					 when the United States Supreme Court rendered its decisions in the cases
					 concerning the right to abortion:
Roe v. Wade,
410 U.S.
					 113,
					 93 S. Ct. 705, 35 L. Ed. 2d 147
					 (1973) and
Doe v. Bolton,
410 U.S.
					 179,
					 93 S. Ct. 739, 35 L. Ed. 2d 201
					 (1973).
(d) If a nonpublic hospital
					 or other nonpublic health care facility desires to retain, as its official
					 policy, a stated ethical policy which existed prior to such date and which
					 refuses to permit the performance of abortion or sterilization procedures upon
					 its premises, such policy must be reaffirmed or restated subsequent to such
					 date.
(e) The stated ethical policy
					 of a hospital or other health care facility shall be made known to all persons
					 employed by or participating in medical or other services provided by such
					 institution, and such policy shall be freely available and conspicuously posted
					 for public inspection.
(f) In the
					 absence of a stated ethical policy as set forth in this section, it will be
					 presumed that a nonpublic hospital or other nonpublic health care facility
					 possesses no stated ethical policy regarding the performance of abortion or
					 sterilization procedures in such institution.
This section cited in 16 Pa. Code §
													51.32 (relating to objection to
						  performance of abortion or sterilization by nonpublic hospitals or other
						  nonpublic health care facilities on moral, religious or professional grounds);
						  and 28 Pa. Code §
													119.22 (relating to
						  referral).