During a $100 Million Hospital Merger, Kerry Heinrich, President and CEO of Adventist Health, stated that they Welcome LGBTQ Employees and that they have no Church Directive on Reproductive Rights

On August 11, 2022, Mid-Columbia Medical Center (MCMC) located in Oregon and Adventist Health announced the intent for MCMC to join Adventist Health. As part of this agreement, Adventist Health, a church-owned health care system operating in California, Oregon, Washington, and Hawaii, [1] will pay $100 million to MCMC. [2].

Kerry Heinrich, the new President and CEO of Adventist Health and the former CEO of Adventist-owned Loma Linda University Medical Center, Children’s Hospital, and Behavioral Medicine Center [3], stated the following in a press release:

Unlike MCMC, Adventist Health describes itself as a “faith-inspired nonprofit” integrated health system. When asked about the differences, Heinrich said, “I’m extraordinarily proud to lead a faith-based organization. Our faith allows this to not be just a balance sheet, it’s about serving people. We welcome all people, patients and employees, from all walks of life, all faiths. [4]

“We welcome employees from all backgrounds, including the LGBTQ community,” he added. [4]

Adventist Health has no church directive regarding reproductive rights, he said. “Decisions on reproductive rights are a discussion between a woman and her physician.” [4]

Here we have the President and CEO of Adventist Health expressing that there are no church directives on reproductive rights that govern their hospitals, and that these discussions should take place between a woman and her physician. These are the same arguments advanced by pro-abortion, pro-choice, and pro-death activists. So, no church directive exists to guide Seventh-day Adventist hospitals on the issue of “reproductive rights.” How about “Thou shalt not kill”? That is much more than just a directive. It is the law (Exodus 20:13).

What about the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s new and improved stance on abortion? Well, apparently, all of the effort and time spent developing that new position on abortion means absolutely nothing to our health-care institutions because it is not recognized as a directive. Our hospitals operate as if there is no church doctrine, policy, or directive against murder.

This is exactly what has been happening. Local communities would oppose Seventh-day Adventists from acquiring new hospitals if they believed that their access to abortion would be limited. As a result, Adventist Health must publicly declare its intentions regarding these hospital mergers. This also happened back in 2020 when Adventist Health was trying to acquire a new hospital in California and they received opposition due to the Seventh-day Adventist views on abortion. Notice what an “Adventist health mergers and acquisitions executive” publicly stated in the media:

“Adventist officials said that despite their religious teachings that abortions should be limited to cases of life- or health-threatening pregnancies, rape, incest or severe fetal anomalies, they will not restrict the use of medication abortions at the clinic. “We don’t control our physician practices in the way some others do and we don’t put constraints around what they can and can’t prescribe,” said Bob Beehler, an Adventist Health mergers and acquisitions executive. [5]

In other words, even though the church has an abortion policy, it is meaningless because the doctors are free to do whatever they want. This means that we don’t have a policy; they’re just suggestions. God did not make suggestions to us; He gave us commandments. And His law, which includes His instructions on life, family, and marriage, should govern every church institution. Is it any surprise that the President and CEO of Adventist Health needs to state clearly and publicly during a press release about a hospital merger that they will hire members of the LGBT+ community and that they will allow doctors to make their own decisions in consultation with their female patients when it comes to “reproductive rights”? (abortion). This is being done not to uphold biblical teachings but to ensure that the mergers are approved.

Adventist Health’s President and CEO, Kerry Heinrich, was not the only one defending the pro-abortion and pro-choice position. Another Adventist Health administrator also publicly affirmed the pro-choice view in this same press release about the new hospital merger in Oregon. Joyce Newmyer, president of the Oregon Network Adventist Health and chief people officer, expressed the same sentiments about Adventist Health’s policy on reproductive rights:

Newmyer added that “as a woman, and an Adventist Health employee, I’m very proud of our position on reproductive rights, which leaves women in charge of their own bodies.” [6]

Top church officials are telling the public that Adventists promote the “My Body, My Choice” propaganda. Again, these are the same arguments advanced by those who support and promote abortion. They are championing bodily autonomy. They want abortion rights because they believe they have a right to control what happens to their bodies.

The main flaw in that argument is that it fails to recognize that one’s rights end where the next person’s rights begin. We must accept the fact that every human being has the right to life. And when your rights begin to infringe on the rights of others, we must draw the line.

It is a lie and a myth to assert that “My Body, My Choice” is a right to abortion. If it were truly your body, you would be the one killed during an abortion. But it isn’t you who dies; it is an innocent baby who is murdered. And whether you, your doctor, or these spineless hospital or church administrators believe it or not, murder is morally wrong. If something is wrong, and murdering an unborn baby is evil, the issue should not be left up to the doctor, the patient, or anyone else.

The pro-choice position in our Adventist hospitals is based upon lies and hypocrisy. If choice is such a good thing, why don’t these hospital administrators try to give the unborn baby a choice because they don’t have any in this matter? If our hospitals are truly “faith-based” and if we are trying to follow Jesus, then we had better heed the words of Christ:

“Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 18:10.

Suffice to say that there is no greater way to despise the “little ones” than to murder them for the sake of getting our $100 million hospital mergers approved.

Sources

 [1] https://www.adventistyearbook.org/entity?EntityID=10727

[2] https://mcmc.net/mcmc-signs-non-binding-agreement-to-join-adventist-health/

[3] https://www.adventisthealth.org/blog/2021/october/adventist-health-appoints-kerry-heinrich-as-next/

[4] https://www.columbiagorgenews.com/hoodriver/news/health/mcmc-begins-process-of-joining-adventist-health/article_bed9a250-19d0-11ed-a917-7faf223ede0d.html

[5] https://californiahealthline.org/news/abortion-rights-supporters-fear-loss-of-access-if-adventist-saves-hospital/

[6] https://www.columbiagorgenews.com/hoodriver/news/health/mcmc-begins-process-of-joining-adventist-health/article_bed9a250-19d0-11ed-a917-7faf223ede0d.html