A 2012 federal investigation of the Catholic-run St. John Hospital in Detroit found the hospital violated federal law by discharging a miscarrying patient who lost seven pints of blood while the facility refused for six hours to allow an emergency abortion because fetal tones were present.

The ACLU filed its Freedom of Information Act request with CMS in 2014, but said it received no meaningful response.

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The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is demanding the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) release complaints against federally funded Catholic hospitals, where patients report being denied emergency medical care in violation of federal law.

In a Freedom of Information Act suit filed Tuesday, the ACLU asked a federal court to force the CMS to hand over complaints alleging violations of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act. CMS is charged with fielding complaints and investigating violations of the law, which requires federally funded hospitals to provide patients with the care required to stabilize a medical condition, such as a miscarriage.

A CMS spokesperson told Rewire in an email the agency does not comment on pending litigation.

Roughly one in six hospital beds are in a Catholic facility, with the top four U.S. Catholic health systems expected to take in more $90 billion from Medicare and Medicaid in 2016, according to the ACLU’s 10-page lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

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Catholic hospitals follow religious directives, written by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, that forbid doctors at Catholic facilities from performing abortions unless the patient is in grave condition, among other restrictions.

“We’ve heard heartbreaking stories from women who rushed to a Catholic hospital in an emergency but were turned away because the hospital let religious rules written by bishops dictate what medical care could be provided,” said ACLU Senior Staff Attorney Brigitte Amiri in an emailed statement.

ACLU officials believe CMS is privy to a “number of complaints” alleging federal violations, according to the court filing. Amiri told Rewire in an email that the goal of the suit is to find out how many.

The lawsuit cites a series of complaints filed by patients who said they were denied emergency care for miscarriage in Catholic facilities. In one account, the hospital discharged a miscarrying patient, who later underwent emergency abortion care and treatment for major blood loss at another facility.

In another account, a woman miscarried alone on the toilet, after a Catholic hospital gave her Tylenol to treat a potentially deadly pregnancy-related infection and sent her home twice.

“It is crucial,” the court filing states, “that the requested documents are disclosed so that the public can ascertain whether hospitals receiving federal funds are violating federal laws designed to protect patient health and safety.”