Lions, tigers, and hypocrisy oh my!

Ok so my first masterpiece I think will be written about an article I've had on a Facebook tab for days just waiting to write about... but I hadn't yet came up with a title for my blog.  In hindsight, I could have written everything up and had it ready to go, but I suppose this is good because I've had some time to really try to gather thoughts on it.  The first bit of information is taken nearly verbatim from the article I linked, followed by my thoughts / opinions on the matter.

If you haven't heard about it, there was a woman named Lori Stodghill who on New Year's Day of 2006 was 7 months pregnant with twin boys and feeling sick when she arrived at St. Thomas More hospital in Canon City. She was vomiting and short of breath and passed out as she was being wheeled into an examination room. Attempts to resuscitate her were not successful (it only became clear later on that her main artery to her lungs was clogged, which then lead to a massive heart attack).  Her obstetrician, who was also the emergency on call that night, never answered his page.  Mrs. Stodghill died less than an hour after she arrived and her twins died in her womb. http://coloradoindependent.com/126808/in-malpractice-case-catholic-hospital-argues-fetuses-arent-people

Now the hospital where Mrs. Stodghill went is run by Catholic Health Initiatives, an Englewood based nonprofit which also runs about 170 other health facilities in 17 states. The Catholic Health Initiative's facilities seek to follow Religious Directives of the Catholic Church authored by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.  This does include forbidding non-natural birth control and abortions.  "Catholic health care ministry witnesses to the sanctity of life 'from the moment of conception until death.'"  Keep that in mind for a moment will you?

So basically, according to the Catholic Church, the very moment a child is conceived... like the exact second a sperm manages to swim and battle the trenches of the vagina, through the uterus, finds its way to an egg and penetrates the wall of the egg, thus fertilizing said egg... it is considered to them to be a human being and thus is sacred and has all rights to life correct?  And to these people, abortion of any form is murder, since the cell is then considered a human being with... you know the right to life and stuff.

Now, the surviving husband had filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Catholic Health Initiatives (now on referred to as CHI) that runs the hospital.  Lori's husband Jeremy and his attorney allege that the doctor on call should have made it to the hospital, or at least instructed the emergency room staff to perform an emergency C-section.  It probably wouldn't have helped Lori, but it may have very well saved the twins.

CHI has been fighting this lawsuit alleging... get this... "should not overturn the long-standing rule in Colorado that the term ‘person,’ as is used in the Wrongful Death Act, encompasses only individuals born alive. Colorado state courts define ‘person’ under the Act to include only those born alive. Therefore Plaintiffs cannot maintain wrongful death claims based on two unborn fetuses."

Yes.  CHI is saying that the surviving husband / father cannot sue or is not entitled to damages of his unborn seven month old nearly ready to be born but not yet born still in the womb twins because they are not yet... you know born alive and therefore human beings with rights to life.  If you're anything like me you'll need a minute to wrap your head around that.

So it's ok for them to argue that all life is sacred from the moment of conception... unless it's going to cost us money, in which case they are merely fetuses and not yet human beings with a right to live.

Now, keep in mind I have nothing against any organized religion, nor am I bashing any religion (I have my own beliefs which are really not relevant here). I have friends who are Christian, Catholic, Buddhist, Atheist, Pastafarians, etc.  I have a problem with all hypocrites, regardless of religious affiliation / color / gender / immigration status / etc.  And the argument CHI is using is 100% legally on point.  Legally, a fetus is not considered to be a human being with all of the same rights as persons born alive.  There are outstanding circumstances/exceptions yes, where people have been tried for murder for killing a pregnant woman and her unborn child (which varies from state to state).  Mind you, most if not all of those cases involve a fetus being murdered as a result of a violent act (Scott Peterson is a very good fairly recent example of this) and not simply not acting upon a medical situation.

IMO, this hurts credibility of the church in my eyes.  How can you argue one moment life beings at the moment of conception, but argue that since someone wasn't yet born alive they are not yet human beings nor deserving of right to life?  If their message and beliefs were so important and sacred to them, they should have been like "Hey dude, there was nothing we could do for your wife, but that doctor seriously fucked up and someone should have done an emergency C-section and tried to save your boys." (ok maybe not in those exact words but still.)  But no. Everything I've been able to find on the situation basically states the twins very well could have survived had the hospital acted sooner.  Perhaps there are other circumstances not disclosed.  I'm sure we do not know all of the information, but still.  I. Can't. Stand. Hypocrites. Pick a stance and stick to it, don't change your mind just because it's not convenient for you at the time.  Perhaps there's something I am missing here, and if there is please feel free to let me know.