The US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) voted on November to alter the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, explicitly barring gender-altering treatments.
The guidelines will not state that Catholic health-care institutions “must not provide or permit medical interventions, whether surgical, hormonal, or genetic, that aim not to restore but rather to alter the fundamental order of the human body in its form or function.”
The Ethical and Religious Directives are not binding on Catholic hospitals; local bishops are responsible for oversight of the Catholic health-care institutions in their dioceses. Some Catholic hospitals have allowed for “gender-affirming” treatment.
The Catholic Health Association issued a statement in response to the bishops’ vote, saying that “Catholic providers will continue to welcome those who seek medical care from us and identify as transgender.”