Diocese responds after state senator says he was denied Communion 

Columbus, Ohio, Mar 23, 2020 / 05:13 pm (CNA).- Ohio’s abortion clinics are wrongly using resources that should be conserved for health care workers fighting the new coronavirus, and these clinics must halt all “non-essential or elective” surgical abortions, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office has said in letters to Planned Parenthood and others.

“This is an unprecedented time in the state’s history and everyone must do their part to help stop the spread of this disease,” Ohio Deputy Attorney General Jonathan Fulkerson said in a March 20 letter to Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio’s Cincinnati surgery center.

“If you or your facility do not immediately stop performing non-essential or elective surgical elective abortions in compliance with the attached order, the Department of Health will take all appropriate measures.”

The Ohio Department of Health’s March 17 order canceled “all non-essential or elective surgeries” that use personal protective equipment by 5 p.m. March 18.

“The order was issued, in part, to preserve (personal protective equipment) for health care providers who are battling the COVID-19 pandemic that is spreading in our state and also to preserve critical hospital capacity and resources,” Fulkerson’s letter to the Planned Parenthood affiliate said.

However, Ohio’s Planned Parenthood affiliates suggested they believed the health department order did not apply to their work.

“Under that order, Planned Parenthood can still continue providing essential procedures, including surgical abortion, and our health centers continue to offer other health care services that our patients depend on. Our doors remain open for this care,” Iris Harvey and Kersha Deibel, the respective presidents and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio and Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region, said in a statement, the Columbus Dispatch reports.

Few states have said whether elective surgical abortions may be performed given the need to conserve medical supplies amid the coronavirus pandemic. But those states which have spoken are divided.

In Washington and Massachusetts, where pro-abortion rights support is strong, officials have said that orders halting elective surgeries do not apply to abortions, the Washington Post reports. After the Texas governor ordered a halt to non-essential surgeries on Sunday, the Texas Attorney General said the order would apply to most abortions.

As of Saturday, more than 320 Americans had died from the coronavirus, with Washington state suffering the most fatalities. Confirmed cases now total over 25,000, CNN reports.

In Ohio, Bethany McCorkle, a spokeswoman for the office of Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost told CNN that abortion providers are among one of many to receive such a letter.

“This is not an abortion issue,” McCorkle said. “A letter was also sent to a urology group that was allegedly performing elective surgeries.”

While officials said that abortion clinics were not targeted, Ohio Right to Life nonetheless welcomed the move.

“We are thankful to Attorney General Yost for protecting Ohio’s most vulnerable populations and holding abortion clinics accountable to the law,” Ohio Right to Life said March 21.

The pro-life group had previously written Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio to complain about what it said was a violation of the order.

“As countless other clinics across the state comply with this health order and prioritize the lives of their fellow Ohioans, Planned Parenthood continues to put profit and abortion above the safety of our society’s most vulnerable members–children and the elderly,” Ohio Right to Life president Michael Gonidakis said March 21.

If the Ohio Department of Health finds its order was violated by any surgical facility in the state, the attorney general office’s spokeswoman said, “they can refer it to our office to pursue legal action on behalf of the Ohio Department of Health.”

In Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton said Gov. Greg Abbott’s statewide order barring non-essential surgeries applied to abortion clinics.

“We must work together as Texans to stop the spread of COVID-19 and ensure that our health care professionals and facilities have all the resources they need to fight the virus at this time,” said Paxton. “No one is exempt from the governor’s executive order on medically unnecessary surgeries and procedures, including abortion providers. Those who violate the governor’s order will be met with the full force of the law.”

Failure to comply with the Texas executive order could mean fines of up to $1,000 or 180 days in jail.

The Ohio letters were sent to facilities only if they were subjects of complaints to the health department, the Washington Post reports. Besides Planned Parenthood Ohio Southwest Region, abortion clinics which received letters included the Women’s Med Center in Dayton and the Preterm facility in Cleveland.

“The Ohio Department of Health has received a complaint that your facility has been performing or continues to perform surgical abortions, which necessarily involve the use of (personal protective equipment),” Fulkerson’s letter to the Planned Parenthood affiliate said.

“Non-essential surgical abortions are those that can be delayed without undue risk to the current or future health of a patient,” he said, referring to the health department’s criteria.

These criteria for essential procedures include threat to a patient’s life, “threat of permanent dysfunction of an extremity or organ system,” and “risk of rapidly worsening to severe symptoms” unless the surgery is performed.

Fulkerson said he looked forward to hearing confirmation that Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio and its facility are complying with the order.

NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio said abortion is “a time-sensitive medical situation that cannot be significantly delayed without profound consequences.” It accused the attorney general and Gonidakis of Ohio Right to Life of “exploiting the Covid-19 crisis to further their agenda to close Ohio’s abortion clinics,” CNN reports.

A March 18 joint statement from eight medical groups including the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists, which tends to take pro-abortion rights stands, asserted that abortion is “an essential component of comprehensive health care.”

The groups argued that abortion is “a time-sensitive service for which a delay of several weeks, or in some cases days, may increase the risks or potentially make it completely inaccessible.”

“The consequences of being unable to obtain an abortion profoundly impact a person’s life, health, and well-being,” said the joint statement, encouraging collaboration between community- and hospital-based clinicians to “ensure abortion access is not compromised during this time.”

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The Catholic Medical Association is arguing that the federal government acted unlawfully when in July 2022 it directed that hospitals and emergency rooms would be required to perform abortions under the 1986 Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor… […]

Lansing, Mich., Jul 20, 2018 / 04:58 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The Michigan attorney general filed Thursday a cease and desist order against Opus Bono Sacerdotii, a charity which raises money to assist priests facing difficulties, citing a lack of oversight and other violations of state law.

The attorney general, Bill Schuette, filed a notice of intended action July 19.

“Before bringing a civil action, the Attorney General will consider accepting an assurance of discontinuance or other appropriate settlement agreement,” the notice stated.

A former employee of Opus Bono Sacerdotii complained to Schuette’s office in February 2017, “claiming that the charity was violating its nonprofit status and was being used for the personal benefit of its officers Joe Maher and Peter Ferrara.”

On reviewing tax forms, the attorney general’s office “found irregularities and lack of details that lent support to the complaint,” and differing lists of board members, which led to an investigation which lasted until at least May 2018.

The investigation found a lack of board governance, no controls over expenses, unauthorized and excessive compensation, diversion of assets, breach of fiduciary duties, and deceptive solicitations.

“OBS President Joe Maher and Treasurer Peter Ferrara operated OBS without any meaningful oversight from its board of directors,” according to the attorney general’s filing.

The OBS board did not hold formal board meetings, and when they did, minutes were not kept.

Maher and Ferrara are two of the six members of the board of directors; another member, Fr. Eduard Perrone, said, “he never viewed himself as a director and had no knowledge of Opus Bono’s organizational structure; he considered himself a spiritual adviser to the group”. Paul Barron, another board member, said that “the board did not supervise Maher’s and Ferrara’s activities and that the annual meetings were informal,” the attorney general reported.

This lack of governance allowed the “possible diversion and illicit use” of OSB’s charitable assets by Maher and Ferrara, the attorney general wrote. “The pattern of OBS expenses, transfers, and withdrawals suggest regular personal benefit to Maher and Ferrara from OBS assets.”

Neither of the men had a compensation agreement with OBS: “Neither Maher nor Ferrara were paid in regular amounts at regular intervals. Instead, without authorization, at their discretion, both Maher and Ferrara withdrew and transferred OBS assets to themselves or expended them for their own personal benefit.”

The attorney general also stated that “Maher’s and Ferrara’s personal use of funds and unauthorized compensation diverted OBS assets from its mission of helping priests.”

After the investigation began, OBS held a board meeting in which it had “a fiduciary duty to preserve OBS assets and to itself investigate OBS’s finances to ensure that OBS assets were being used—and had been used in the past—as intended,” according to Schuette.

“Instead of investigating and recovering personal expenses charged by Maher and Ferrara and excessive compensation taken by Maher and Ferrara, OBS’s board passed a resolution purporting to authorize Maher’s and Ferrara’s past actions, including tens of thousands of possible personal expenses for meals, auto, and travel … In so doing, the OBS board breached its fiduciary duties to OBS.”

Finally, the investigation found that solicitations for donations sent by OBS “generally told donors that Maher just received a letter from a priest that OBS had helped; the mailing then included a lengthy direct quote purportedly from the priest telling his story.”

“But OBS has admitted that the letters were not direct quotes and were a ‘composition of multiple letters.’”

The attorney general instructed OBS to cease “all unlawful solicitations as described in the above violations and all unauthorized or excessive compensation or personal expenses,” and said that violation “may result in a civil action for restitution, civil fines, litigation costs, and injunctive relief.”

OBS was founded in 2002 to “facilitate care for Catholic priests who are experiencing difficulties in their personal life and priestly ministry,” the organization states. “A vital component of this urgent care is in providing monies to priests who are in dire need of the basic necessities of life, especially when they have no other available options for financial support.”

The charitable tax-exempt organization bears a “2017 Top-Rated” logo from GreatNonprofits on its website.

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