Freedom of Physician Conscience Under Attack

The 15,000-member Christian Medical Association, a group in which many of my friends are members, is protesting the Obama administration's planned rollback of legislation which would protect healthcare workers who refuse to provide patient services, such as abortions, which they object to on the basis of religious conscience.

I'm going to yield the floor to the voices of two physicians, first my good friend Paul:

There are multiple problems with cutting off federal funding to any entity (hospitals, clinics, doctors, pharmacists, nurses) that does not accomodate abortion.  There are many problems with this legislation.  I fully agree that this signficantly violates the rights of health care professional to follow their conscience. However, there is another aspect of this issue, if passed, will affect everyone in the United States.  

If passed, this law will lead to lack of access to healthcare in the US.  It is estimated that 15-20% of American healthcare is provided by Catholic health institutions.  This law would lead to the closing of many hospitals.  Whereas pro-choice people have lobbied that there may not be doctors who are readily accessible in rural America to perform abortions, this law won't lead to Catholic hospitals changing their policy to offer abortion.  Instead, it will result in loss of funding from the government and lead to potential closing of those hospitals.  This could be devastating for that rural community.  The urban setting will also be affected.  The city's hospital emergency rooms are already operating at or above capacity.  This law will also lead to closing of urban Catholic/religious hospitals and further crippling the hospitals left standing.    

This will also dissuade many anti-abortion health professionals from entering the field of obstetrics.  In a field that is already short of obstetricians due to cost of malpractice insurance, should we enforce a law that will further deplete the profession?  Is it fair for the government to essentially eliminate a woman's choice for a pro-life doctor? 

And now some words from Dr. David Stevens of the Christian Medical Assocation in a letter to its members:

Some Background Information:

• CMDA Informal Member Survey: 25% have been discriminated against - lost a job, lost a promotion or lost an educational opportunity; 40% have been pressured to violate their conscience, 90% say the problem is getting worse.
  
• Right of Conscience is guaranteed in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights - "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof"
  
• The present laws are being ignored since there is no provision to enforce them.
  
• Pro-abortion groups are attempting to force healthcare professionals to participate in activities they are morally opposed to or leave medicine. These regulations are needed more than ever.
  
• A medical referral means you endorse the competency, ethics and integrity of the doctor you refer to, believe the procedure is necessary and that you have entered into a professional relationship. Patients don't need a referral to find someone to do an abortion, just a phone book.
  
• Healthcare professionals of conscience have not been doing objectionable activities in the past so these regulations will not limit access for patients. The greatest danger to patient access is to force out of work up to a quarter of healthcare professionals.
  
• You provide full and accurate information to patients even when they request something you won't do. You treat them courteously.
  
• Professional and other ethical statements support your position:
  

1. American Medical Association - AMA reaffirms that neither physician, hospital, nor hospital personnel shall be required to perform any act violative of personally held moral principles.
   
2. World Health Organization - The physician should be free to make clinical and ethical judgments without inappropriate outside interference.
   
3. Canadian Medical Association - The CMA stresses that physicians who decline to participate in abortion should not be discriminated against, and emphasizes the need to respect the rights of conscientious objectors, especially those in training for obstetrics and gynecology, and anesthesia.
   
4. European Convention on Human Rights - Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes… freedom …to manifest his religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice and observance.
   

• This is more than the issue of abortion. Should we force pacifist to kill or doctors to participate in executions? What about forcing them to participate in physician-assisted suicide where it is legalized?
  

There is much more information on Freedom2care.org and CMDA's websites. Act today, don't delay. You may submit more than one comment as you address different parts of HHS's request.

I close with this quote from Crispin Sartwell in the Los Angeles Times last fall. He describes himself as a "Pro-Choice Atheist.": “The extent to which an institution seeks to expunge individual conscience and moral autonomy is the extent to which it is totalitarian and dangerous. The idea that I resign my conscience to the institution or to the state is perhaps the single most pernicious notion in human history. It is at the heart of the wars and genocides of this century and the last.”

If you, as a non-physician, share my conviction that we must protect the consciences of healthcare professionals who object to performing abortions on religious grounds, please consider voicing your concerns to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in this online form.