The governing board of the University of California adopted a new policy Wednesday regarding the authorization of certain medical procedures.
The Regents of the University of California has been under fire recently for its contracts with religious hospitals that refuse to provide abortions, sterilizations or transgender surgery.
Across the state, the university has claimed to have contracts with 77 hospitals and other health facilities, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
The new policy will maintain those contracts, but will also require hospitals to let UC physicians perform the prohibited procedures.
UC Regents clarified that a sectarian hospital’s own staff will not be required to perform all medical procedures, but if a patient needed a procedure—such as a hysterectomy or delivery of an ectopic pregnancy—and could not be safely transferred, UC staff would be allowed to perform it at the hospital.
This decision to open care while preserving contracts with large chains, such as Dignity Health, will allow aid to be provided for an estimated 35,000 predominantly low income patients who have little access to hospitals, officials said.
"We should have greater ability to serve more patients, but in a way that is in compliance with the policy we adopt today," said a Regents representative. "We’re against discrimination."
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