Catholic watchdog group says women’s health clinic is ‘becoming Planned Parenthood 2.0’
America’s largest Catholic healthcare network partners with a women’s clinic that provides medical abortion drugs through virtual appointments and is actively working to expand abortion access in the United States, according to a new report from The Lepanto Institute.
CommonSpirit, America’s largest Catholic healthcare network, partnered with the women’s clinic Tia in March 2021. Just over a year later in May 2022, Tia announced that it was implementing “virtual medication abortion services” as one of its offerings.
Tia’s announcement came on the heels of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, putting an end to the constitutional protection for abortion rights in the United States. The company stated that it was ready to provide abortion access not only in California and New York, where it had operated before partnering with CommonSpirit, but also in Arizona, a state where it established a clinic with the support of the Catholic organization.
“We’re ready to do our part to support our patients with access to medication abortion via our virtual care team in California and New York, where it remains legal, and via a local care partner on-the-ground in Arizona, where we’ll continue to monitor local laws closely,” the company said.
Michael Hichborn, the President of the Lepanto Institute, believes “Tia is on its way to becoming Planned Parenthood 2.0” thanks to its partnership, and wants there to be consequences for the Catholic healthcare network.
“CommonSpirit is responsible for that, which is yet another reason why it must be stripped of its Catholic identity,” Hichborn said.
Arizona was the first state Tia expanded to after its partnership with CommonSpirit, which already had a large footprint in the state. The Catholic organization’s most recent tax forms reveal it has a 65% ownership stake in Tia’s Scottsdale, Arizona, clinic. The launch of the Arizona site was mentioned as the top priority when the partnership was first established in 2021.
“The deal enables the two healthcare leaders to launch Tia-branded women’s health clinics together that will provide comprehensive, blended virtual and in-person care — with plans for the first clinic in Phoenix where CommonSpirit operates multiple Dignity Health medical centers,” said a press release from the two companies at the time of the deal.
Tia’s website currently states that the clinic provides “medication abortion via a virtual visit in New York and California,” but does not make any mention of their operations in Arizona. Neither Tia nor CommonSpirit responded to requests for comment.
The Lepanto Institute, a Catholic organization “dedicated to the defense of the Catholic Church against assaults from without as well as from within,” says Tia began as a simple mobile app before establishing brick and mortar clinics. The app, called “Ask Tia,” was able to “answer questions about birth control, [and] sexual health,” and sought “to help young women better understand their health in a body-positive, sex-positive, judgment-free space.”
While the clinics abortion services were not offered until after the partnership, the Lepanto Institute says Tia’s views on abortion were apparent from the time of its founding in 2017.
“When CommonSpirit Health agreed to partner with Tia Women’s Health, there is no way it would not have known about Tia’s intention to eventually provide abortion as a “service,’” it argues.