Center for American Progress
Sep 29, 2025

Washington, D.C. — By 2020, at least 1 in 6 U.S. hospital beds were located in Catholic hospitals. While consolidation has been increasing in American health care, Catholic health care providers are uniquely constrained by religious directives that restrict contraception access, abortion, gender-affirming care, fertility treatments, and other forms of lifesaving reproductive health care.

As the market share of Catholic hospital networks continues to grow, patients are left with fewer choices, charged higher prices, and forced to face greater challenges in accessing high-quality reproductive care. A new report from the Center for American Progress discusses this aspect of health care consolidation and recommends policies to slow consolidation, increase transparency, and protect patients’ access to care.

Continued: https://www.americanprogress.org/press/release-catholic-hospital-mergers-pose-growing-threat-to-abortion-access/