The Project posts verbatim news reports only with the permission of the copyright holder. Material derived from news reports is added to other sections of the site only after it has been verified by the Administrator.
However, breaking news is frequently important to conscientious objectors, researchers and others working for legislated protection of conscience. The following reports are provided as a service to these people. Not all of them have been verified; they should not be relied upon without independent confirmation.
29 September,
2001
California
Supreme Court to review mandatory contraception ruling
The California Supreme Court on Wednesday will review the appeal
court decision in Catholic Charities v. Superior Court
S099822. The appeal court ruling would force a Catholic
charity to abide by a state law requiring employers to include
contraception in health plans that cover prescription drugs. [News
item]
28 September, 2001
New eugenic screening test
In England, a new genetic screening service known as
quantitative fluorescence polymerase chain reaction (QF-PCR) is
reported to be able to detect 80 percent of foetal anomalies
within two days of the test. The availability of the test
will likely increase the incidence of eugenic screening, with
adverse consequences for those who do not wish to participate.
[Discovery
Health] (See
Eugenic
screening expected by French courts;
Supreme Court of Canada to hear 'wrongful birth' case;
No
Christian gynaecologists and neonatologists in
Netherlands ;
Catholics
and Pro-lifers Being Forced Out of Ob/Gyn Profession;
American College of Obstetricians and
Gynecologists requires eugenic screening; Doctor
sued for birth of Down Syndrome child)
22 September, 2001
Minnesota
Medical Association split on freedom of conscience
An AP report from St. Cloud Minnesota, reports that members of the
Minnesota Medical Association were unable to agree that doctors
should be forced to provide sexual assault victims with the
'morning-after-pill', or refer patients to someone who will.
Instead, they sent the measure to their Board of Trustees for more
study. The 'morning-after-pill' is the popular name for
drugs that are given after sexual intercourse to prevent
birth. Based on concerns that such drugs may have an
abortifacient effect, some health care professionals refuse to
prescribe or dispense the drug. Referring to the motion, one
participant said, "If this passes, I would resign my
membership . . . If it is put into law, I would disobey it." http://www.startribune.com/stories/468/708116.html
Kansas
Pharmacists Association supports freedom of conscience
Following a survey in the summer of 2001 that showed about 85%
of Kansas pharmacists support legislation to protect their freedom
of conscience, the Kansas Pharmacists Association met on 22
September and approved a resolution that would protect pharmacists who object to providing
drugs or services for reasons of conscience.
14 September, 2001
Teachers'
group focuses on ethics, freedom of conscience in education
Teachers' PREP (Professionalism, Representation, Ethics,
Priorities) was formed in Surrey, British Columbia, last
year. The group
held a forum on November 10, 2000: "Protection of
Conscience: Issues in Education". See their website
for further information.
New
York Bishops' Conference protection of conscience campaign
Visit the website
of the New York State Catholic Conference to see an example of a
campaign being waged against laws that would suppress freedom of
conscience in health care. The site includes:
- Bishops' statement on the Women's Health and Wellness Act
- Press release on the Women's Health and Wellness Act
- Conscience protection in context
- Sample letter to State Senators
- Sample letter to Members of the Assembly
- Press release on Catholic Conference ad campaign
- Catholic Conference newspaper ad
- Catholic Conference Post Card campaign
- Parish bulletin insert
12 September, 2001
British
government plans to accelerate provision of abortions
The British Pregnancy Advisory Service plans to make legal
abortions available within three weeks by 2005, and is planning a
"radical overhaul of abortion methods" to achieve this
goal. The United Kingdom's Abortion
Act provides some protection for conscientious objectors, but
the BPAS plans bear watching to ensure that they do not result in
coercion of those who do not want to be involved with abortion. [Link]
Euthanasia
in Switzerland
While euthanasia is illegal under Swiss national law, the BBC
reports that it is tolerated in some Swiss cantons, provided
strict rules are followed. It is apparently not regarded as
a crime if a doctor assists in suicide by dispensing lethal drugs
to a person close to a painful death for his own use.
11 September, 2001
NARAL
Pennsylvania seeks mandatory contraceptive coverage
The National Abortion and Reproductive Rights
Action League of Pennsylvania is seeking mandatory insurance
coverage for contraceptive chemicals and devices.
2 September, 2001
Pro-life nurse fired
Jill Stanek, a pro-life nurse who exposed the "live birth abortion"
policy at
Christ Hospital and Medical Center in the Chicago suburb of Oak Lawn,
Illinois, has been fired. The hospital denies that she was
dismissed for having pro-life views, and the circumstances are
rather involved. Stanek was once suspended for leaking
confidential papers, and twice put on
"final warning" probation after breaking an unspecified rule in her
contract. She was also admonished by a hospital Board of
Review because it was alleged that her pro-life activism had, "contributed to a negative working
environment" . Stanek testified before the U.S. House
Judiciary in favour of the Born Alive Infants Protection Act in July,
and her pro-life activism received media attention about two weeks
before she was fired.
Stanek explained that her "final warning" was given because she
had encouraged the picketing of the home of a doctor who performed abortions.
Although Stanek has been
clearly motivated by conscientious conviction, the case does not
involve conscientious objection or refusal, since it does not
appear that the hospital dismissed her for refusing to participate
in abortions. Rather, the issue appears to be an alleged
limitation on an employee's freedom of speech. [Chicago Tribune, Daily Southtown]
1 September, 2001
Disabled
North Carolina woman deprived of food, fluids, and antibiotics
In November, 2001, Diane Arnder consented to have her daughter, Tina Cartrette,
removed
from life support. Cartrette, suffering from cerebral
palsy, had suffered seizures since infancy and had been
institutionalised at the age of five. She had never walked, talked or fed
herself, and in the last months of her life had frequently been
admitted to hospital for
infections,
fever and dehydration. In the two months preceding her death
she had curled into a fetal position, her fists tightly closed.
When her respirator was removed, Cartrette began breathing on her own. At that point, apparently because it was clear that she was not going to die from respiratory failure, her feeding tubes, hydration and antibiotics were cut off. A disabled rights group obtained a court order restoring life support three days later, but her mother appealed, and Cartrette was eventually taken off life support a second time. She died several days later. It is not clear from the news report whether her death was the result of respiratory failure or dehydration, starvation, and deprivation of antibiotics. [Raleigh (NC) News & Observer; September 1, 2001]
The critical issue in this type of case is the distinction between treatment and care. Health care workers who do not object to the withdrawal of artificial respirators may object to the withdrawal of food, fluids and ordinary medical treatment as a form of euthanasia.
31 August, 2001
English woman argues for right to assisted suicide
A woman from Luton, southern England, who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
(motor neuron or Lou Gehrig's disease), has secured a High Court
ruling that allows her to challenge the refusal of the
director of public prosecutions to offer immunity to her husband
if he helps her to commit suicide. She argued that assisted
suicide could be justified by a right to privacy and a right to
freedom from inhumane or degrading treatment. If a court
accepts this reasoning, health care workers might well be
confronted by demands that they participate in assisted suicide or
euthanasia in order to respect the rights of their patients (for
example, see Re:
Rodriguez). [Link]
More forced abortions reported in Washington, D.C.
A union official asserts that three more women in the Washington D.C. Fire and
Emergency Medical Services have disclosed that they had abortions
because they feared the loss of their jobs, bringing to four the
number of women thus affected. Senior administrators and
Mayor Anthony A. Williams are reported to be taking the
allegations very seriously. It is being suggested that there
has been an unwritten policy of discouraging pregnancies for
years.
More
DC Medics Say They Were Forced to Have Abortions
30 August, 2001
Washington,
D.C. woman coerced into abortion
A union official and other sources have accused a senior
senior administrator of the Washington, D.C. fire department's Emergency Medical
Service of forcing an employee to have an abortion by threatening
her with dismissal. It is alleged that
about eight new medics were told that they could not become
pregnant
because they are on probation for a year and have no job benefits.
The administrator is said to have told one of the medics, who was pregnant,
that she should get an abortion if she wanted to keep her
job. The 21 year old woman, a Roman Catholic, was
sufficiently intimidated by the threat that she had an
abortion. She is reported to have suffered medical problems
since the abortion, and has been described as "distraught . .
. scared and ashamed."
Investigation of the incident by the union has been hampered
because new employees fear retaliation and are hesitant to provide
written statements. One source alleges that the victim
herself has been harassed by supervisors. [ Washington
Times]
24 August, 2001
Pressure
increasing in favour of embryonic experimentation
It is reported that Harvard University will obtain human embryos
from a Boston in vitro fertilization clinic and use private funds to experiment on human
embryos, and that the American Jewish Congress considers it
"imperative" to allow public funding of embryonic stem
cell research.
Conscientious
objection respected at University of Florida
Responding to criticism of alleged lack of abortion training at
the University of
Florida's College of Medicine, Dr. W. Patrick Duff, professor of obstetrics
and gynecology and residency program director, insisted that
sufficient training is provided. He added, "We don't require that any resident perform
an abortion if
that would violate their religious or personal moral
convictions." He estimated that 80 percent of graduates
provide abortions in their private practice. [Gainsville
Sun]
23 August, 2001
Washington
state demands compulsory contraceptive coverage
Washington state will require all insurance companies to
provide coverage for all birth control beginning in September,
2001.[Link]
22 August, 2001
Man-animal
hybrid embryos reported to have been formed
A journalist writing in the National Post (Canada) reports that animal-human hybrids
have been created, lived and have been permitted to develop till
the 32-cell stage. He noted that such experiments come to
public attention only when applications are made for
patents. [Link]
Compromise
proposed in hospital reorganization
A separate, licensed hospital will operate on the fifth floor of
Brackenridge Hospital in Austin, Texas to supply contraceptives
and other procedures or services (other than abortion) that are
contrary to Catholic doctrine. The formation of the new
facility within the existing hospital is proposed as a response to
Church directives that Catholic-run hospitals will no longer be
allowed to
offer sterilizations and other contraceptive services. Seton
Healthcare Network, a Catholic organization, has operated the
hospital since 1995. Transition to the new arrangement may
take two years, during which it appears that Brackenridge will
continue to provide sterilization and contraceptives under the
existing policy. An outside contractor
performs sterilizations, and contraceptive counselling is provided
by city employees.
Costs for remodelling the fifth floor, which Seton will bear, are estimated at five million dollars. Bishop Gregory Aymond, head of the Catholic Diocese of Austin, states that the plan is acceptable to the Vatican, on the understanding that the facility will be owned and operated by a different entity and that there will be no co-operation in what is done in the "hospital within a hospital". [American-Statesman]
Australian
court case illustrates dynamic of expectation
The Australian state of Victoria was ordered by the Federal Court
last year to provide in vitro fertilization to any woman
who wished it. Previous to the ruling, IVF was made
available only to women in stable heterosexual
relationships. The Court ruled that
the Sex
Discrimination Act made it unlawful
to withhold
medical goods and services on the grounds of sex or
marital
status. The Federal Court ruling illustrates the dynamic of
expectation that drives demand for morally controversial
procedures once they have been legalized, increasing the
likelihood of conflicts of conscience among those required to
provide the services. The High Court is to hear arguments
against the Federal Court decision from the Australian Catholic
Bishops' Conference. The Conference is opposed by the
Women's Electoral Lobby. [Radio
National].
20 August, 2001
British woman seeks
assisted suicide
Arguing that laws against assisted suicide contravene the Human
Rights Act, Dianne Pretty, a 47-year-old British woman suffering
from motor neurone disease, will ask a court in the United Kingdom
to allow her husband to assist her with suicide. She claims
that existing law subjects her to inhuman and degrading
treatment. If the court rules in her favour, it is likely
that the precedent will be cited in other cases, and that health
care workers and others will eventually be expected to assist.
The Pretty case is not unlike that of Canadian Sue Rodriguez, who,
after losing a 1993 case in the Supreme Court of Canada, was
killed by lethal injection in British Columbia by an unidentified
physician. The Canadian Chief Justice, ruling in Re:
Rodriguez, stated that he was prepared to order that someone
else perform the act that would directly cause the death of
Rodriguez. (See UK Woman loses right-to-die
case)
19 August, 2001
Wrongful birth,
wrongful life suits
It is reported that 24 American states allow parents to sue
doctors for "wrongful life" and three permit children to sue for
"wrongful birth." Such suits are brought against
doctors who have allegedly failed to warn parents about possible
congenital abnormalities, thus depriving them of the opportunity
to seek an abortion. The threat of such suits can be used to
coerce physicians who do not wish to participate in eugenic
screening and selection. [News
item] (See
Eugenic
screening expected by French courts;
Supreme Court of Canada to hear 'wrongful birth' case;
No
Christian gynaecologists and neonatologists in
Netherlands ;
Catholics
and Pro-lifers Being Forced Out of Ob/Gyn Profession;
American College of Obstetricians and
Gynecologists requires eugenic screening; Doctor
sued for birth of Down Syndrome child )
Planned
Parenthood intervenes against conscientious objector in civil suit
Karen Brauer, a pharmacist who is suing K-Mart for wrongful
dismissal on the grounds that she was fired because she would not
fill prescriptions for abortifacient pills, reports that Planned
Parenthood is intervening against her in the case. She was
recently interviewed on True
North.
16 August, 2001
Court orders
feeding tubes withdrawn
On August 8, 2001, Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge George Greer
ruled that, unless a higher court intervenes, feeding tubes will
be removed from Terri Schindler-Schiavo, a disabled
woman who is neither terminally ill, nor in a 'persistently
vegetative state'. It is reported that her parents of were
not allowed to present witnesses or expert testimony on her
behalf. The ruling appears consistent with legal precedents
that define nutrition and hydration as treatment
rather than care,
thus legalizing the process of starving and dehydrating patients
under the rubric of withdrawing, refusing or withholding
treatment. The ruling illustrates the kind of pressures that
may be brought to bear on health care workers and others, who may
be asked to assist in executing such orders.
Alberta
freedom of conscience advocate to speak at Ontario conference
Campaign Life Coalition, Ontario has organized a provincial conference
for Saturday, October 13, 2001 that will feature guest speakers
Wesley Smith and Julius Yankowsky. Mr. Yankowsky is a Member
of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta who has put forward a
protection of conscience bill.
15 August, 2001
Insurance
coverage for contraception in the United States
Nine of sixteen American states that require insurance plans to
cover contraceptive drugs and devices include some form of limited
protection of conscience provision for religious employers.
The remaining seven - Georgia, Indiana, New Hampshire, New Mexico,
Rhode Island, Texas and Vermont - do not. Planned Parenthood
and other organizations continue to push for mandatory coverage,
without provision for freedom of conscience.
13 August, 2001
Belgian proposal for
euthanasia
A draft euthanasia law is to be presented in the Belgian
Senate this fall. It is not known if the bill will include
protection for conscientious objectors.
10 August, 2001
American
College of Physicians rejects assisted suicide
The second-largest American medical association has officially
taken a position against physician assisted suicide in a paper
published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. It suggested
that more appropriate alternatives to assisted suicide include
better pain management, more aggressive treatment of depression
and increased access to hospice care. The statement included
strong support for a patient's right to
refuse or halt treatment. The fact that these major
organizations have come out against physician assisted suicide can
be cited to indicate that refusal to participate in such
procedures is not an eccentric or unreasonable position. [Link
to story]
California
court prevents starvation of patient
An attempt to starve to death a patient who was conscious and not
terminally ill has been frustrated by the California Supreme
Court. The New York Times reported that the Court ruled "that families
have no right to stop life support for conscious patients who are
not terminally ill, and who have not left explicit instructions
allowing them to do so or formally appointed anyone to make health
care decisions in the event of incapacity."
The patient had been brain-damaged after an auto accident in 1993. In 1995 his wife asked the doctors to remove his feeding tubes, but the man's mother and sister challenged the request. Note that the court might well have ruled in favour of the wife had he previously appointed her his agent for making health care decisions. The case illustrates the precarious position of health care workers who do not want to be involved with euthanasia by withdrawal of food and fluids.
7 August, 2001
United
Nations supports compulsory abortion in China
After a census disclosed that the average family in China's
impoverished Huaiji county has
five or
more children, family planning officials in Guangdong ordered the
county to perform
20,000 abortions and sterilizations by the end of the year.
15,000 county employees will have their $100/month salaries cut in
half to pay for ultrasound equipment to detect unauthorized
pregnancies, and doctors have been ordered to
sterilize women as soon as they give birth. Sven Burmester, the United Nations Population Fund representative in Beijing, praised China's family planning
program. "For all the bad press, China has achieved the impossible. The country
has solved its population problem," he said. (
See the Telegraph report).
United Nations agencies
have been implicated in coercive
practices elsewhere, and have also criticized
freedom of conscience among health care workers.
Canadian
health minister advised to demand payment for private abortions
Federal Health Minister Allan Rock was advised early this year by his deputy
minister to threaten to fine the province of New Brunswick if it
continued to refuse to pay for
abortions at a private clinic run by Dr. Henry Morgentaler.
New Brunswick pays for abortions in hospital if they have been
approved by a family doctor and performed by a gynaecologist with the
assistance of an anaesthesiologist. About 600 abortions are
performed annually in New Brunswick hospitals, while the
Morgantaler facility performs abortions for fees ranging from $475
to $725.
Two points are of
interest in this dispute. First: pressure has been applied
to the province despite the fact that Health Canada had no
evidence to support its claims that abortions were
"medically necessary". Second: the federal health
minister has repeatedly condemned provincial government proposals
to pay fees to private clinics offering other medical
services. Given the example set by Mr. Rock and his
officials in the national government, it is not surprising to
encounter others in the state health care system who believe that
health care workers may be forced to participate in abortion.
August 06, 2001
Legalization
of euthanasia feared in United Kingdom
Following a consultation
process that was criticized for allegedly excluding those with
pro-life opinions, the General Medical Council of the United
Kingdom has issued guidelines for withdrawing and withholding
treatment from patients with little chance of recovery but who are
not dying. Citing British case law, the guidelines define artificial nutrition and hydration
as forms of medical treatment that a patient or his proxy can
refuse, or that
can be withdrawn by a physician in the patient's "best interests".
When patients are unable to consent, doctors are advised to seek a second medical opinion, consult with the patient's family and take into account advanced medical directives ('living wills'). Court approval is required only if a patient is in a persistent vegetative state, or if a family refuses to permit starvation and dehydration.
James Bogle, a London barrister who specialises in medical law, criticized the guidelines.
"If the GMC guidance permits the withdrawing and
withholding of tube fluids to non-dying patients so as to cause their death then it will
have endorsed intentional killing of the non-dying."
"At present that is an illegal homicide and is largely
indistinguishable, legally, from the criminal homicides of Dr Harold Shipman,
save that his method was quicker and pain-free."
The British Medical
Association, which issued similar ethical guidance in
1999, welcomed the proposals. ( David Derbyshire, Medical Correspondent,
The Telegraph)
3 August, 2001
Hospital petitions to treat burn patient
72 year old
Rosemary Frost suffered third-degree burns over 54 percent of her
body after her nightgown caught fire when she was trying to light
a cigarette. After two weeks in intensive care, she was
unable to communicate
and near death, and her family has asked doctors to stop treating
her so that she could die. Hospital lawyers responded with a
petition in
Hillsborough court, seeking permission to administer emergency medical
treatment, because doctors believe that her life can be
saved. It is not clear from the report whether the proposed
treatment is ordinary
or extraordinary,
or if what is at issue is the withdrawal of food and fluids.
The failure to recognize these distinctions is a not infrequent
weakness in media reports, and obscures the reasons behind
conflicts of conscience in such situations.
1 August, 2001
Japan expected to approve embryo experimentation
Human embryos created for reproductive purposes will be available
for experimentation and destructive research if guidelines
proposed by a Japanese Cabinet panel on science
and technology are finally approved later this month. It
does not appear that any thought has been given to the impact of
this policy on those who object to embryo experimentation.
31 July, 2001
Withholding food and fluids in the United Kingdom
A letter from British doctors, published in the Daily Telegraph,
questioned the legality of guidelines from the General
Medical Council (GMC) on "Withholding and Withdrawing
Life-Prolonging Treatments". They also complained
that many who had applied to attend were excluded from the
consultation, while the subsequent consultation period was too
short, and poorly advertised. (
BBC coverage)
(The
Daily Telegraph)
25 July, 2001
British high school
ethics course
After a report suggested that too much science-teaching was
value-free, the British government is considering putting
scientific ethics on the school curriculum. The Wellcome Trust
commissioned the Institute of Education, who found that
three-fifths of teachers in 300 schools thought more time should
be spent on social issues when teaching about medicine. [The
Times, 16 July] The suggestion that state schools
ought to teach presumably state-mandated 'scientific ethics' could
have a significant impact on freedom of conscience. (See Ethical
Issues)
Pope
warns against "coarsening of conscience" in embryonic
research, etc.
In an address to U.S. President George Bush, Pope John Paul II
said, "Experience is already showing how a tragic
coarsening of consciences accompanies the assault on innocent
human life in the womb, leading to accommodation and acquiescence
in the face of other related evils, such as euthanasia,
infanticide, and more recently, proposals for
the creation for research purposes of human embryos, destined to
destruction in the process."
[White
House news release]
French
Minister of Health contributes to normalization of euthanasia
In an interview with the Dutch weekly magazine, Vrij Nederland,
French Health Minister, Dr. Bernard Kouchner said that during the
wars in Lebanon and Vietnam he "helped" people die with
morphine injections when he believed they were suffering too
much. It is not clear that any of those 'helped' had
requested his assistance.
"Euthanasia contradicts medical ethics," said Kouchner. "Doctors exist to protect life, not to end it. But if someone says he wants to die, society has to take that into account."
What this might mean for
those who do not want to participate in euthanasia was not
explored in the interview.
While Dr. Kouchner has no plans to introduce pro-euthanasia
legislation, he claimed that 'passive euthanasia'
occurs frequently in France. The minister incorrectly
equated withdrawal of treatment per se as euthanasia,
failing to distinguish between ordinary and extraordinary
treatment, and failing to define the term 'treatment'
itself.
Dr. Kouchner cannot
believe that euthanasia contradicts medical ethics, since he does
not appear to believe that in giving lethal injections he did
anything that was unethical. [BBC
News]
24 July, 2001
Irish
High Court rejects review of Medical Council decision
The Irish High Court has refused an application by seven pro-life
members of the Irish Medical Council for a judicial review of the
council's manipulation of ethical guidelines on abortion so as to
allow abortion in certain circumstances. The doctors said
the council's actions violated Irish law. Testimony
before the All-Party Committee on the Constitution last year
indicated that most obstetricians and gynaecologists would refuse
to perform abortions for reasons of conscience, so the decision of
the Medical Council indicates the potential for increasing
conflict within the medical profession, and the likelihood of
increasing pressure being brought to bear on nurses and others who
are expected to assist physicians or carry out their instructions.
[New
Item]
(See
previous
report)
20 July, 2001
New
Catholic bioethics institute launched in Canada
After two years of planning, and with another year of planning
and policy development ahead, the creation of the Canadian
Catholic Bioethics Institute has been announced. The
Institute will be based at St. Michael's College at the University
of Toronto. The founding director is Dr. Bill Sullivan, a
family doctor at St. Michael's hospital who holds a PhD in the
philosophical writings of Father Bernard Lonergan, a Jesuit
theologian. Dr. Sullivan has stated that the Institute will
be "faithful to the magisterium", though the Institute
will not speak for all Catholic bioethicists in Canada, nor make
definitive bioethical decisions for all Catholics in Canada.
"Magisterium" is the term for the teaching office of the
Catholic hierarchy (pope and bishops in union with him) through
which members of the Catholic Church are instructed in matters of
faith and morals.
Columbian
bishops call for conscientious objection
Roman Catholic bishops in Colombia have released a letter calling
upon doctors, medical practitioners and judges to practice
conscientious objection and refuse to participate in the
"abominable crime of abortion." Those who
participate in procuring abortion may face excommunication.
The letter may be a response to a ruling by the Columbian Supreme
Court ruled that abortion could be allowed in cases of rape
or forced artificial insemination.
The bishops stated: "Believers can legally and
conscientiously object with validity. That means that women,
doctors and even judges can excuse themselves from participating
in this type of crime, because their beliefs do not permit it."
New
terminology for cloned embryos
Those who want to clone human embryos for stem cell research have
begun to deny that the clones will be embryos. Their claims
are based on the fact that the clones will not produced by
fertilization and are intended for research, not
implantation. Advanced Cell Technology (ACT), which plans
mass-production of human clones, insists that they will not be
human embryos, but human "entities". Dartmouth
University professor Ronald Green is reported to have taken
the same position.
Eugenic
screening expected by French courts
French doctors have been ordered to pay compensation to three
families with physically deformed children. The families had
argued that the children would have been aborted had doctors
detected their disabilities in utero. The order for
compensation was made by Judges at the Cour de Cassation, France's
highest court of appeal. They followed the precedent set by
the Perruche case, which last year awarded damages to a mentally
retarded boy damages because he had not been aborted.
The court ordered the doctors to pay the children's parents because the doctors did not screen the unborn babies for deformities and counsel the parents on abortion. In its ruling, the court wrote that "a child born handicapped may request financial compensation for prejudice resulting from his or her handicap if the handicap is in direct causal relationship with faults committed by the doctor in executing the contract formed with the mother and which prohibited the mother from exercising her choice to terminate the pregnancy."
Critics of the ruling argued that the court ruling amounts to a
judicial decision that the handicapped have no place in French
society. The Collective to Stop Discrimination Against the
Disabled fears that parents who give birth to handicapped children
will be deemed "irresponsible", and it is reported that
doctors are now feeling pressured to recommend abortion if there
is any indication of the slightest disability. While not
acknowledged in news reports, the ruling is likely to have a
serious impact on physicians who object to abortion for reasons of
conscience, or who have moral or ethical objections to eugenic
screening. [BBC
News] [Le
Monde] (See Supreme
Court of Canada to hear 'wrongful birth' case;
No
Christian gynaecologists and neonatologists in
Netherlands ;
Catholics
and Pro-lifers Being Forced Out of Ob/Gyn Profession;
American College of Obstetricians and
Gynecologists requires eugenic screening; Doctor
sued for birth of Down Syndrome child )
11 July, 2001
Compulsory vaccination
programmes
Children of God for Life, an American organization, has received
reports of discrimination from many people with religious
objections to vaccinations. Their objections frequently
arise from concerns about the source of the vaccines.
Parents writing to the organization have reported denial of religious exemption from vaccination programmes, threats of legal action for child abuse and expulsion of their children from school. Liberty Counsel, a group of American lawyers, is willing to pursue civil actions against any American state that denies or challenges religiously motivated requests for exemption from vaccinations. Liberty Counsel attorneys are said to have been successful in the State of New York, and are involved in a similar suit against the State of Arkansas. A notice to this effect, with contact information, has been posted on the Project website.
5 July, 2001
France forces abortion upon overseas territories
A new French law that forces French Polynesia to publicly fund
abortions has been imposed by the French senate and constitutional
council over the objections of the Polynesian government, which
had protested the law because it was contrary to the territory's
religious traditions. Experience elsewhere suggests that
institutions and individuals morally opposed to abortion who
receive public funds will be pressured to provide abortions under
threat that their funding will be cut off.
http://www.abc.net.au/ra/newsdaily/s324041.htm
4 July, 2001
California
Court of Appeal rules Catholic Church must pay for contraception
Catholic Charities' challenge to California's mandatory
prescription contraceptive coverage statutes has been rejected by
the California Court of Appeal. The text of the judgement is
available at
http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/documents/C037025.PDF
Nurse
testifies in U.S. Senate hearing, formally cautioned by employer
Nurse Jill Stanek is reported to have revealed that
Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Illinois, uses
live-birth abortion. The procedure involves inducing
premature labour and dilating the cervix to cause premature
delivery. An infant born alive in this manner is left
to die. The nature of the procedure has been confirmed by
the hospital (See A
New Low in Heartlessness).
Nurse Stanek testified
last year before the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on the
Constitution and is to testify again on July 12, 2001, in
Washington, D.C. Her employer is reported to have formally
cautioned her a second time concerning her activism on the issue;
there is a possibility that the employer might move to dismiss
her. Stanek denies the allegations and accuses
her employer to be engaging in harassment. There are other
unusual aspects to the case. http://www.ifrl.org/newstory/912/
1 July, 2001
President
of the Ontario Nurses Association favours conscience legislation
According to a report in The Ottawa Citizen, Barb Wahl,
president of the Ontario Nurses Association, believes that
protection of conscience legislation for health care workers
"would be a good thing." The Association's
approach to conscientious objection is somewhat different from
that of the College of Nurses of Ontario, which is the
disciplinary authority. The Association maintains that it is
the employer's obligation to accommodate nurses by changing
assignments or other means, while the College places the onus on
the nurse to find a substitute. College policy is the
equivalent of "mandatory referral" for abortion by
physicians, which is contrary to
the
policy of the Canadian Medical Association. The College
of Nurses guidelines actually suggest that nurses may have to give
up their jobs if they are unwilling to do what they deem to be
immoral. The guidelines were cited against conscientious
objectors in a
controversy
in Thunder Bay, Ontario. [The
Ottawa Citizen Story] [Project
Letter to the Editor]