'Curtailed Free Choice'

Editor:

The recent opinion piece by Dr. Kim Ervin, “The History of Obstetrical Care in Humboldt County” (Oct. 24), should serve to focus our attention on how healthcare insufficiency has touched us here in Humboldt.

The corporate takeover by the huge Catholic entity, Providence, has curtailed free choice and availability for women’s health care. The imposition of religious rules against birth control, elective sterilizations and, of course, therapeutic abortion to protect the life of the mother or because of lethal, fetal abnormalities is anathema to a free society.

As Dr. Ervin reports, the resulting inhospitable atmosphere has made recruitment of new OB-GYN practitioners less and less attractive and we are left with only one provider for our area.

The obvious solution is the elimination of corporate (certainly religion-based) ownership and oversight of the practices of our healthcare facilities.

A universal, single-payer healthcare system would allow providers to practice the medicine they were trained for without imposition of narrow religious prohibitions. Just as church and state must remain separate in a free society, a healthcare system that submits to religious doctrine cannot be tolerated.

To learn how health care may be delivered to every resident safely, equitably, economically and without barriers due to age, wealth, ethnicity, pre-existing conditions or religious constraints, go to pnph.org and healthcareforall.org. Contact our local organization for ongoing action and information about establishing a universal, single-payer healthcare system at healthcareforallhumboldt@gmail.com.

Patty Harvey, Willow Creek