As five Steward Health Care hospitals in Utah change hands, it’s unclear if consumers will face a loss in reproductive health care.
Steward would not detail what procedures the hospitals currently offer. The five Wasatch Front facilities include:
Salt Lake Regional Medical Center
Davis Hospital and Medical Center (in Layton)
Jordan Valley Medical Center (in West Jordan)
Jordan Valley Medical Center’s West Valley City campus
Mountain Point Medical Center (in Lehi)
The hospitals are currently being acquired by a Catholic-affiliated health care system. The acquisition will finalize later this year.
Once officially acquired, the facilities won’t provide elective abortions, vasectomies, tubal ligation, in vitro fertilization and other reproductive health services in order to align with their new owner’s “ethical and religious directives.”
The Salt Lake Tribune is trying to understand whether that acquisition will result in a loss in reproductive health care at these facilities. State health officials could not answer, and told The Tribune that they do not have a mechanism to track which procedures hospitals in Utah do and don’t offer.