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4 Md. L. F. 113 (1973-1974)
Does the State Action Doctrine Compel Nominally Private Hospitals to Make Abortion Services Available Despite Conscience Clauses

handle is hein.journals/marylf4 and id is 113 raw text is: Does the State Action Doctrine Compel Nominally Private Hospitals to Make Abortion Services Available Despite Conscience Clauses? by Nancy B. Shuger The author is a third year student at the Uni- versity of Maryland School of Law. She serves on the Moot Court Board and was a member of the team which represented the School at the 1973 National Moot Court Competition. She also serves as a law clerk for the Prisoner As- sistance Project of the Baltimore Legal Aid Bureau, Inc. R ecently women and physicians have at- tempted to exercise their judicially guar- anteed right to privacy by seeking and pro- viding abortions. Acquiring and rendering these services poses a practical, not merely an academic, problem. Among the principal obsta- cles to abortion are the conscience clauses found in federal and state health statutes which allow medical facilities to refuse to perform abortions if the procedure violates the institu- tions' religious beliefs or moral convictions.' These conscience clauses attempt to circumvent 1974