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.
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December
31 December, 2001
Illinois attempts to
force referral
The Chicago Sun-Times reports that hospitals that do not want to
be involved with dispensing the potentially abortifacient
'morning-after-pill' are being pressured by a new Illinois law to
inform rape complainants where to get the drugs.
28 December, 2001
Permission
sought to conceive embryos for tissue donation
Five couples have applied to Victoria's Infertility Treatment
Authority to conceive babies using in vitro fertilisation and then
to use pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) to cull those not
suitable as tissue donors for terminally ill siblings. A
similar procedure was approved earlier in the United
Kingdom.
24 December, 2001
Abortion
advocates reject freedom of conscience
In Washington D.C., abortion advocates united to prevent passage
of a bill funding medical centres because a protection of
conscience amendment had been added to protect conscientious
objectors from discrimination or coercion.
21 December, 2001
New
Tasmanian abortion law includes protection of conscience provision
Parliamentarians were recalled from Christmas break to
legalize abortion in Tasmania after a medical student complained
to police that abortionists were falsifying documents in order to
skirt the 75-year-old abortion law. Doctors stopped
performing abortions after the complaint was made. The bill was amended to include
protection for those
who do not want to participate in abortion. [News
Story]
20 December, 2001
Conscientious
objection respected in Quebec
While Quebec pharmacists are being trained to dispense the 'morning
after pill' without a prescription, Normand Cadieux, managing
director of the Association Québécoise des Pharmaciens-Propriétaires
(Association of Quebec Pharmacists) stated that those who have
religious objections to the pill do not have to be certified to
dispense it. It is reported that four thousand of the
province's 5,700 pharmacists have already had the required
training.
[The
Gazette]
17 December, 2001
Euthanasia in Switzerland
It is reported that the Swiss National Council rejected
restrictive and permissive bills on euthanasia. However, two
forms of euthanasia: "indirect active" euthanasia, and
"passive" euthanasia, are said to be recognized by the
Swiss academy of medical sciences. [News
Story]
Old news on an unusual
condition
The Observer (U.K.) appears to have resurrected a two year old news
release on the subject of "tokophobia" - a
pathological dread of childbirth. The original news release
refers to a study published in the British Journal of
Psychiatry. Two of the 26 women who participated in the the
study had abortions, even though their children were
'wanted'. The release described abortion as possibly the
only choice in extreme cases "in the absence of an empathic
professional listener or access to relevant medical
literature." The suggestion that abortion might
sometimes be "the only choice" may lead some people to
conclude that health care workers have an obligation to assist.
Wrongful
birth suit dismissed in Germany
The federal court in Karlsruhe, Germany has dismissed a suit
brought by parents of identical twin girls against gynaecologists
who had failed to inform them that one of the twins was physically
handicapped. The parents, who said that they would have
aborted the handicapped twin, had sought financial damages.
The judges ruling on the basis that the abortion would have been
illegal because it risked the life of the other twin, did not rule
against 'wrongful birth' suits on principle. [British
Medical Journal] (See
previous news item.)
13 December, 2001
Maryland Catholic
hospitals at risk
Maryland's Catholic bishops expect that a bill intended to
suppress freedom of conscience in Catholic institutions will be
re-introduced in the state legislature in January. The bill
would repeal existing protection and force Catholic hospitals to
dispense or refer patients for abortifacient drugs if the patients
presented as rape victims. [Catholic
News Service]
UK
approves genetic culling of embryos
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) will allow
parents use pre-implantation genetic diagnosis not only to screen in
vitro embryos for the disease, but to identify an embryo whose
umbilical cord blood can be used as a source of bone marrow or
stem cells for an older sibling. A special licence would be
required. Among the conditions for the procedure are
requirements that the older sibling suffer from a "severe or
life-threatening" condition, other possibilities of treatment
and sources of tissue are not available, and tissue matching not
be accomplished by genetic modification of embryos. [HFEA
news]
12 December, 2001
Boy
seeking sex-change, simultaneous 'fatherhood' and 'motherhood'
Health care professionals who would deny their colleagues
freedom of conscience usually do not expect to be required to
perform morally controversial procedures. The case of a 16
year old boy in England illustrates how existing technology and
fluid moral outlooks can give rise to unusual expectations of
medical treatment.
Jamie Cooper of Birmingham, England, wants to have his sperm frozen before a sex-change operation, so that it can be used to conceive a child in vitro. Cooper appears to want to be both 'mother' and biological father of a child. Having turned 16, he is eligible for a tax-funded sex-change operation from the National Health Service.
8 December, 2001
Concerns
raised over possible amendment to Michigan bill
It is reported that Michigan
House
Bill 5158, which was originally drafted to provide protection
of conscience for all people working in health care, will be
amended to exclude protection for those with moral objections to
contraception. It appears that the proposed exclusion
reflects political rather than principled considerations. A
vote is scheduled in the Michigan House of Representatives for 11
December, 2001.
Japan
to allow human-animal hybrids
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who chairs the
government's council for science and technology policy, has
announced that Japan will allow combined human-animal embryos to
be produced through cloning. The research is advocated in
the hope that transplant organs can eventually be produced in
animals. As is commonly the case when morally controversial
procedures are officially approved, no thought appears to have
been given to problems arising from conflicts of conscience among
workers in the field.( Daily
Yomiuri)
7 December, 2001
Wisconsin
Bill would stop wrongful birth, wrongful life suits
Representative Neal Kedzie has proposed Wisconsin Assembly
Bill 360, a bill that would prohibit wrongful life and wrongful
birth lawsuits.
Wrongful birth lawsuits
are civil actions brought by parents seeking monetary compensation
for the birth of a child with disabilities. They usually
assert that they would have aborted the child had the disabilities
been diagnosed, and ask for money to pay for emotional distress
and child care expenses.
Wrongful life lawsuits are brought by or on behalf of a child born
with disabilities. It is argued that the existence of the
child is a legal wrong, and that it would have been better had the
child been aborted. In these cases the child seeks
monetary compensation for pain, suffering and medical and
educational expenses.
In contrast to malpractice suits for negligent or incompetent
medical treatment, wrongful life/birth actions are brought against
doctors who have not contributed to a the child's
disability. They are sued because they are alleged to have
failed to offer eugenic screening services, misdiagnosed the
results of such screening, or otherwise dissuaded or prevented
mothers from having abortions.
Assembly Bill 360 does not affect normal medical malpractice
suits, including failure to properly diagnose and treat conditions
that can be treated in utero or at birth.
At least nine American states prohibit wrongful life and wrongful
birth lawsuits, and courts in several others have disallowed them.
(See Supreme
Court of Canada to hear 'wrongful birth' case ;Eugenic
screening expected by French courts;No
Christian gynaecologists and neonatologists in
Netherlands ; Catholics
and Pro-lifers Being Forced Out of Ob/Gyn Profession; Doctor
sued for birth of Down Syndrome child;
French
doctors fear suits, threaten to stop eugenic screening)
French
doctors fear suits, threaten to stop eugenic screening
In a letter to the French daily, Le Monde, 11 top prenatal
specialists from eight hospitals in France have stated that they
will refuse perform diagnostic tests on unborn children. The
doctors were reacting to a French high court ruling in a wrongful
life suit that awarded substantial monetary compensation to a
child with Downs syndrome. The specialists did not object to
eugenic screening per se, but expressed concern that the
court had set a precedent that would penalize even doctors who
practising competently. It appears that they are willing to
continue the screening if they are adequately insured against
civil suits. However, that solution would likely be of no
help to health care professionals who have moral objections to
eugenic screening and eugenic abortions. (See Supreme
Court of Canada to hear 'wrongful birth' case ;Eugenic
screening expected by French courts;No
Christian gynaecologists and neonatologists in
Netherlands ; Catholics
and Pro-lifers Being Forced Out of Ob/Gyn Profession; Doctor
sued for birth of Down Syndrome child )
6 December, 2001
Irish
House passes bill that denies protection to early embryo
By a vote of 74 to 71, the Dáil passed the 25th Amendment to
the Constitution (Protection of Human Life in Pregnancy) Bill
after the Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) cut off debate.
The measure will now go to the Seanad. The title of the bill
suggests that it is intended to protect the developing infant
during pregnancy, but does not provide protection to the early
embryo between fertilization
and implantation.
Legal or policy definitions of pregnancy as beginning at implantation have elsewhere had an adverse impact on conscientious objectors who do not want to dispense the 'morning after pill', or who do not want to be involved with early embryo experimentation, artificial reproduction, etc. (See Contradicting state policy may lead to jail in the U.K.; U.K. authority moves to suppress freedom of expression; Irish Medicine Board declares 'morning-after-pill' non-abortifacient; College of Pharmacists still opposed to freedom of conscience; Project Report 2001-01; Award for essay against freedom of conscience ; Demands for 'morning after pill' a problem for Catholic health care ; Planned Parenthood attacks freedom of conscience; Karen Brauer; Medical Students for Choice oppose freedom of choice in health care; New terminology for cloned embryos)
Since Ireland does have a limited protection of conscience law that covers both contraception and abortion, it is not clear what impact the law will have. While its legal effect may be limited, its educative and normative influence might well prove significant.
4 December, 2001
No fetal cells
in new smallpox vaccines
The World
Net Daily reports that Acambis PLC of Great Britain, which has
been awarded a contract to manufacture additional smallpox
vaccine by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will
not use a stem-cell line from an aborted fetus in the
manufacturing process. A previous report from the Daily
indicated that Acambis planned to make the new vaccine using
MRC-5 cells, a line that originated in 1966 from a 14-week
fetus aborted for psychiatric reasons. That such cells might
be used in vaccines had given rise to concerns that anti-terrorism
measures might impact those with conscientious objections to
abortion. (See Smallpox
vaccine may pose moral problems ;
Anti-terrorism
measures and medical practice)
Attempt
to bar Christian nurse from practice fails
The Saskatchewan Association of Licensed Practical Nurses (SALPN)
(Canada) attempted to prohibit a Christian nurse from practising
his profession because of his public protests against abortion and
opposition to homosexual activism. The SALPN buttressed its
claim that Bill Whatcott was guilty of professional misconduct by
referring to a 20 year old criminal record, dating from a troubled
period in his pre-Christian youth, and to more recent convictions
for civil disobedience. The adjudicator ruled that the
criminal record was irrelevant, commenting that it was to his
credit "that he endured such a youth and then had the
strength and wisdom to seek a new lifestyle and a new
profession." With respect to Whatcott's civil
disobedience, the adjudicator concluded that it was peaceful, and
not unusual in a society where illegal protests about a variety of
issues are common.
Whatcott has been a nurse for 12 years. That he should have been put to the expense of defending himself before a disciplinary tribunal for exercising freedom of conscience and expression is not unusual in Canada. (See, for example, Worker fired for refusing payment for illegal abortion; Nurses triumphant! Human rights case ends in settlement )
November
28 November, 2001
Selective foeticide
becoming common
Mark Evans, chairman of obstetrics and gynaecology at MCP Hahnemann university in
Philadelphia, states that it is becoming increasingly common for
women pregnant with twins, either as a result of artificial
reproductive technology or natural twinning, to have one of the
infants killed in utero by lethal injection. [Report] Professor Evans told a
fertility congress in Melbourne, Australia, that all
parents of twins should consider aborting one in order to reduce the risk of
prematurity and complications at birth.
The Melbourne (Australia) Advertiser reports an example of such a case involving a woman pregnant with twins by IVF. Professor Gab Kovacs said the Melbourne woman was "under psychological stress" and "decided she couldn't cope" with twins. About 12 women a year in Victoria alone are said to abort one twin.
The growing frequency of the practice is likely to have increasing impact on conscientious objectors.
House of
Lords rejects "right to die" suit
A panel of five
law lords
ruled unanimously that human rights legislation exists to protect
life, rejecting the application of an English woman for permission
for assisted suicide. Dianne Pretty has indicated that she
will appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. [BBC
Report] [See British
House of Lords accepts appeal of assisted suicide case]
23 November, 2001
UN
agency accused of bias against pro-life obstetricians
Dr. Robert Walley, medical director of MaterCare
International (MCI), asserts that the United Nations is more interested in
stopping births through contraception and abortion than helping
women who suffer complications in childbirth. This bias
causes the UN to ignore obstetricians and gynaecologists willing
to help desperate women in some of the world's poorest
countries. He notes that billions of dollars are spent on
abortion and birth control programmes, but only a fraction of that
amount is dedicated to providing emergency obstetrical care.
Of particular concern to MCI is a condition known as obstetric fistulae, which occurs when a woman's bladder or rectum become
damaged during obstructed labor. MCI
trains traditional birth attendants to prevent obstetric fistulae and performs surgery on women who
suffer from the
condition. The UN is hampering MCI's efforts to provide
essential obstetrical care in East Timor, even though, according
to Dr. Walley, "there are no
obstetricians in this country with a population of 700,000 and one of the highest
maternal mortality rates in Asia." This suggests
to Walley that the UN believes it is better for
East Timor to have no obstetrician than to have a pro-life
obstetrician.
Dr. Walley has previously criticized UN officials in East Timor because of aggressive imposition of their values on the people. [Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute]
Contradicting
state policy may lead to jail in the U.K.
Donna Mitchell of the Committee for Advertising Practice has suggested that
those who continue to publish ads that contradict the official
government position on the "morning after pill" could be
fined or imprisoned. (See U.K.
authority moves to suppress freedom of expression)
21 November, 2001
Euthanasia
reported among 4% of Australian surgeons
A study
conducted by Newcastle university and reported in the Medical Journal of
Australia reports that one in 25 Australian surgeons has given a lethal injection to a
patient who requested it. One third admitted to having hastened a
patient's death by prescribing excessive doses of pain killers,
but the interpretation of this figure is problematic. The
study surveyed two thirds of Australia's surgeons.
Embryo
experimentation approved in Singapore
The
Bioethics
Advisory Committee in Singapore has approved experimentation
on human embryos aged up to 14 days on the grounds that the
personhood of the early embryo is "far from being realized".
As usual, the possibility of conscientious objection by
researchers or others does not appear to have been considered.
19 November, 2001
Anti-terrorism
measures and medical practice
Lawrence Gostin,
director of a centre on public-health law at Georgetown and Johns
Hopkins universities, has drafted legislation that would permit mandatory
examination, vaccination or treatment, including mandatory vaccinations for children entering school
if a state governor declared an emergency
and invoked the law. Refusal to submit to vaccination, quarantine or treatment would be
be offences. The proposed legislation is a response to the
threat of bioterrorism. It is unclear what impact it might
have on people who object to vaccines that have been obtained from
morally controversial sources. [Washington Post]
17 November, 2001
Columbian
health care workers likely to be pressured
Columbian pharmacists and other health care workers who object to
the "morning after pill" for reasons of conscience will
likely come under pressure as a result of a decision by the Colombian Health Ministry
to approve its sale. [See previous news
item from Columbia]
November 16, 2001
Korean doctors` ethical
guidelines raise questions
The Korea Herald reports that the Korean Medical Association (South Korea's largest group of medical doctors) issued new
ethical guidelines that prohibit involvement in euthanasia and
advise caution when deciding to perform abortions. However,
it is said that they should accept the request of the family to
suspend "life-sustaining treatment" in the case of a
patient who has no chances of reviving. It is not clear from
the report whether or not "life-sustaining treatment"
includes artificial nutrition and hydration, and it is significant
that the article refers to "revival" rather than
"survival", suggesting that the guidelines are meant to
apply to patients who are not terminally ill.
North American jurisprudence has adopted the view that assisted nutrition and hydration is a form of treatment that can be refused by a patient or surrogate decision maker. This has allowed patients to be legally starved to death. Those who consider nutrition and hydration (assisted or not) to be part of basic care that is always to be provided believe that bringing about the death of patients by starvation or dehydration is euthanasia, whether or not the fact is acknowledged in law. Depending upon the interpretation of the guidelines, Korean health care workers who are morally opposed to euthanasia may find themselves pressured to participate by their professional organizations.
European
Court ruling ghettoizes religious belief in Europe
In October, 2001, the
European Court of Human Rights dismissed an appeal by French
pharmacists Bruno Pichon and Mrs Marie-Line Sajous.
They had argued that they should not be forced to dispense a drug
marketed as a contraceptive that sometimes had an abortifacient
effect, as they were opposed to abortion on religious
grounds.
The court ignored the argument about the nature of the drug, and
instead interpreted Article 9 of the European Convention on Human
Rights to mean that the practice of religious belief "does not cover
each and every kind of public act or behaviour, motivated or
inspired by a
religion or a belief." It appears that the court
interprets practice or expression of religion or belief to mean
narrowly religious worship, teaching,
and ritual observance. In effect, the Court has ruled that
religious believers who actually attempt to live by their faiths
may be forced out of civic and professional life.
15 November, 2001
Irish Medicine Board declares 'morning-after-pill' non-abortifacient
Reversing a decision made
about 18 months ago, the Irish Medical Board has aligned itself
with the position of the Irish Government, which states that the
drug Levonelle does not fall within the definition of abortion set
out in the Protection of Human Life in Pregnancy bill, now
before the Dáil. A cabinet sub-committee recommended last
month that legal uncertainties about the drug should be
removed. The IMB consulted the Institute of Obstetricians
and Gynaecolgists and a senior lawyer. Irish
Times
The change may not impact conscientious objectors directly because
Ireland's
protection of conscience law prevents them from being
forced to participate in the distribution of contraceptives.
However, the law does not prohibit discrimination against them, so
they may find themselves excluded from educational programmes and
from employment.
14 November, 2001
U.K.
authority moves to suppress freedom of expression
The Advertising Standards Authority in the United Kingdom has
ordered the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children to stop
describing 'morning-after-pills' as "abortion-inducing",
apparently because official government policy is to deny that the
drug has an abortifacient mechanism. The development is of
interest for two reasons. First: citizens in a
democratic country are being forbidden to express opinions that
contradict government policy. Second: conscientious
objection to the drug can be suppressed on the ground, not that
the reasons for objection (in most cases, that the
'morning-after-pill' may have an abortifacient effect) are
erroneous, but because they are contrary to state policy. [Guardian, 14 November]
College of Pharmacists still opposed to freedom of conscience
The Annual General Meeting of the BC College of Pharmacists
meeting was held in Burnaby on 3 November, 2001. The only
resolution presented at the meeting proposed an amendment to the
College Code of Ethics to respect freedom of conscience. The
resolution was defeated 24-14, but the degree of support for the
motion was a surprise to at a least one experienced pharmacist.
A member of the College's Ethics Committee found himself
challenged by a young pharmacist for attempting to impose his own
views as a kind of religion.
Freedom of conscience advocates met a number of supporting colleagues, including one who prescribes the 'morning after pill' but understands and respects those who do not. Some support came from unexpected quarters, and it appears that some members of the College Council are becoming sensitive to the problem. The Registrar allowed those supporting the resolution to display material and offered to announce that it would be available.
For background on the situation in British Columbia, see "Autonomy", "Justice"and the Legal Requirement to Accommodate; In Defence of the New Heretics; Project Report 2001-01
French
Health Minister considers change to euthanasia law
Le
Monde reports that French Health Minister Bernard Kouchner
now believes the law prohibiting euthanasia should be
changed. (See previous
breaking news item.) It does not appear that the effects of
such a change on those in the medical profession who object to
euthanasia are being taken into account. Recent changes to
the French abortion law have led to conflicts of conscience and resignations
of some hospital medical staff.
Project
advisor addresses Pharmacy Law Institute
Law Professor Lynn Wardle of Brigham Young University delivered a
paper at the Fall Institute of the Pharmacy Law Institute in
Columbus, Ohio on 9 November, 2001. The title of the paper
was Why A New Law? Model Conscience Clause Legislation.
Professor Wardle will be speaking February 1-2, 2002 at the
American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians & Gynecologists
midwinter symposium in Ft.Lauderdale, Florida about freedom
of conscience. Professor Wardle is an advisor to the
Protection of Conscience Project.
Award
for essay against freedom of conscience
The grand prize in the 2001 student literary challenge sponsored
by the Canadian Pharmaceutical Journal has been awarded to a
University of Alberta student whose essay, The Conscience
Clause: A Threat to Pharmaceutical Care, was published in the
Journal's September supplement. The author
argues that it is unethical for pharmacists to refuse to dispense
legal medication on moral grounds, and concludes that freedom of
conscience should not be allowed because it might hinder access to
legal drugs.
French
doctors ordered to implement law, resigned
A study by the Jérôme Lejeune Foundation has found doctors
uneasy about legal amendments that have liberalized France's
abortion law. The July amendments raised the gestational
time limit for abortion from 10 to 12 weeks and allowed minors to
obtain abortions without parental consent. Many doctors are
reported to be uncomfortable about later term abortions, and some
hospitals find it almost impossible to recruit doctors willing to
perform them. Doctors at the Edouard Herriot hospital
in Lyons resigned when administrators told medical staff in the
gynaecology department to implement the new law. [Zenit, 7
November]
8 November, 2001
Principle
of informed consent violated by U.K. nurses
According to a BBC report, girls as young as nine years old are
being subjected to secret pregnancy tests by emergency room nurses
in the United Kingdom. The news agency states that one in
five emergency nurses in UK hospitals are performing such tests
without the knowledge of the parent or child, on the grounds that
the tests are necessary before the girls are X-rayed. Since
this violates the principle of informed consent, a conscientious
objector would likely be supported by the ethics establishment in
refusing to participate, but might well come under pressure from
colleagues, especially if refusal to participate would bring the
practice to the attention of critics. [BBC
News]
Demands
for 'morning after pill' a problem for Catholic health care
Problems have arisen in negotiations that would have seen a
"hospital within a hospital" established to avoid
conflict with the requirements of Catholic health care (See Compromise
proposed in hospital reorganization ).
The Seton Health Care
Network has advised the mayor and council of Austin, Texas, that,
even in a separately licensed facility within the hospital, rape
victims must be tested to see if they are ovulating before
potentially abortifacient drugs can be dispensed.
Bishop Gregory Aymond of the Catholic Diocese of Austin will be
speaking
with Seton representatives and Catholic ethicists about the
situation. While noting that the church condemns rape as a
terrible evil and responds compassionately to rape victims,
"a Catholic institution cannot act or cooperate in an action
that destroys human life."
The proposed protocol is
said to be still under review, but the development caught the
mayor by surprise. Annoyed, he withdrawn the item from the
City Council agenda, cancelled a public hearing on the matter and
"postponed indefinitely" any further action by the
council. He suggested that dispensing the controversial
drugs was "fundamental . . . and not negotiable."
The problem arose in June, 2001, when Seton, announced
sterilizations and contraceptive services could no longer be
provided at Brackenridge Hospital due to revised religious
directives that banned participation in such activities. At
that time, Seton officials did not expect to make changes in
provision of the potentially abortifacient 'morning after
pill'. The present change of approach is said to originate
in issues raised in 1994, prior to the revised directives.
Seton proposed to
continue providing the bulk of the maternity services, but an
oversight council and women's health organizations objected.
The council recommended that the city take control of all
maternity and reproductive services and contract with a company to
manage the operation.
[American-Statesman Staff, October 26, 2001]
Smallpox
vaccine may pose moral problems
Children of God For Life, a group that opposes the use of tissue
from deliberately aborted babies in research or therapy, is
concerned that a new smallpox vaccine, apparently being proposed
in response to fears of biological terrorism, may use aborted
fetal cell lines.
The contract for developing the vaccine was awarded to the Oravax/Acambis
Corporation. Children of God for Life states that its
research shows that the company intends to use aborted fetal cell
line MRC-5 as the cell substrate for growing the virus. A
Centers for Disease Control document
verifies that "Recently, MRC-5 was used as a cell substrate
for the preparation of an experimental smallpox vaccine under a
Phase 1 trial."
Children of God for Life notes that smallpox vaccine can be made
using animal substitutes. A requirement to participate in an
inoculation programme using vaccines derived from fetal cell
tissue would likely result in controversy.
(See update No
fetal cells in new smallpox vaccines)
Japanese
university approves destructive embryonic research
An ethics committee at Kyoto university has approved embryonic
research due to start in March. Final approval must come
from the Japanese government. [Ananova, 5 November]
2 November, 2001
British
House of Lords accepts appeal of assisted suicide case
The House of Lords has agreed to hear a right-to-die case after a
panel of three High Court judges ruled unanimously against a
request for assisted suicide made by Dianne Pretty, a 47-year-old
British woman who suffers from motor neurone disease.
(See UK Woman loses right-to-die
case)
October
31 October, 2001
Abortion
activist indicates "socio-economic" reasons for abortion
Consistent with Health Canada's admission earlier this year that
it had no
evidence to
support its claim that abortion is a medically necessary
procedure, the Executive Director of the Canadian Abortion Rights
Action League (CARAL) has told the Canadian
House of Commons Finance Committee that women seeking abortions
"... do so for socio-economic reasons. Sometimes it is a
desire to complete their education and become financially
independent. In many cases, couples with children wish to restrict
their family size in order to provide adequate financial support.
Often, choosing abortion is a conscious decision not to become a
socio- economic burden on society."
When asked by Member of Parliament Jason Kenney how a procedure done for "socio-economic" reasons could be medically necessary, Wilson replied that if the provinces determine it to be necessary, then it is.
The submission is of interest because those who would force health care workers to participate in abortions usually justify their demand with the assertion that the procedure is medically necessary. (See also Canadian health minister advised to demand payment for private abortions)
25 October, 2001
Belgian Senate Approves Assisted Suicide
In a measure that will adversely impact health care workers
opposed to euthanasia and assisted suicide, the Belgian Senate approved a bill
allowing terminally ill patients to seek assistance from a doctor
in committing suicide. The bill, which passed the Senate by
a vote of 44-23 division (with 2 abstentions), must pass the
House of Representatives.
18 October, 2001
UK Woman loses right-to-die
case
Diane Pretty, who is dying from motor neurone
disease, has lost a High Court challenge to
laws against assisted suicide. She plans to take the case to
the House of Lords.
[BBC
News]
(See
English woman argues for right to assisted suicide)
17 October, 2001
Wal Mart sued
over contraceptive coverage
A 22-year-old female employee is suing Wal Mart, claiming
that the failure to include contraceptive coverage in its
insurance plan amounts to discrimination against women. The
case does not appear to deal with the issue of conscientious
objection by an employer, but may have an impact in such
cases. [USA
Today]
15 October, 2001
Michigan
bill would provide "conscience clause"
House Bill
5158, superseding an earlier bill that died in committee,
offers protection to health care workers and facilities. An
unusual feature of the bill is a "5%" rule that permits
termination of an employee if the service to which he objects
occupies more than 5% of his daily work. The bill's chief
sponsor has indicated that he would consider making referral
a requirement for conscientious objectors, which a number of
conscientious objectors would be unwilling to accept.
Holland Sentinel
14 October, 2001
Planned Parenthood attacks freedom of conscience
A federal court judge has agreed to allow Planned Parenthood to
intervene in a lawsuit to support KMart, who fired a pharmacist
for refusing to dispense abortifacient drugs. The ruling
will likely result in postponement of a November 5th trial date
for a case that began in 1996. This illustrates the need for
legislation to protect individuals who may be forced into
bankruptcy or significant debt in legal battles with major
corporations and powerful, moneyed interests.
The case began when Kmart fired Karen
Brauer, an Indiana pharmacist, after she refused to dispense
Micronor, a progestin-only contraceptive that works in a significant
number of patients by preventing the implantation of an early
embryo.
9 October, 2001
Kansas
Supreme Court establishes conditional duty to unborn child
In a 7-0 decision, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that, "as a matter of
law. . . a
physician who has a doctor-patient relationship with a pregnant woman who intends to
carry her fetus to term and deliver a healthy baby also has a doctor-patient
relationship with the fetus."
By implication, the
ruling makes the existence of the relationship conditional upon
the intention of the mother. While this presents a number of
logical and practical difficulties (notably the problem that
arises should a mother change her mind during the pregnancy), the
ruling does suggest that physicians do not act unreasonably when
they recognize a physician-patient relationship with a child in
utero. [Washington
Times]
5 October, 2001
Patient ordered
starved to death
The English high court has authorised doctors to withdraw food and
fluids from an unconscious patient ruled to be in a
"persistent vegetative state". Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, president of the high
court's family division, stated: "She would want to die in peace and not to
persist in the twilight limbo in which she exists at the moment."
The legally established practice of causing death by starvation
and dehydration requires the participation of health care
personnel, some of whom may decline to assist for reasons of
conscience. [BBC
News]
Medical Students for Choice oppose freedom of choice in health
care
A group identifying itself as pro-choice circulated an
e-mail to New Jersey students in support of legislation intended
to suppress freedom of choice and freedom of conscience. It
appears that the Equity in Prescription Insurance and Contraceptive Coverage (EPICC)
Act force even those with moral objections to contraception to
provide contraceptive coverage in health insurance. The
e-mail indicated that the measure was also supported by Planned
Parenthood.
3 October, 2001
American College of Obstetricians and
Gynecologists requires eugenic screening
The ACOG has issued guidelines requiring that every pregnant white woman in the United States be offered a
test for the gene mutation that causes cystic fibrosis. The test will also be offered to every couple
planning to have a baby if one of the partners is
white. The gene for cystic fibrosis is carried by one in every 29 white Americans.
It appears that a positive pre-conception test will result in
referral for in vitro fertilisation and pre-implantation genetic diagnosis,
while a positive post-conception test will result in
abortion. The guidelines will likely make practice more
difficulty for physicians who oppose eugenic practices for reasons
of conscience.
(See Supreme
Court of Canada to hear 'wrongful birth' case ;Eugenic
screening expected by French courts;No
Christian gynaecologists and neonatologists in
Netherlands ; Catholics
and Pro-lifers Being Forced Out of Ob/Gyn Profession; Doctor
sued for birth of Down Syndrome child )
2 October, 2001
Project
Administration disabled by virus
The Project
Administrator's computer was infected by a virus, probably some time
during the last half of September, 2001. The virus disabled the
anti-virus programme and destroyed all information on the hard
drive. It also mailed itself to contacts in the Project address
book.
New
York state attacking freedom of conscience
New York Assembly Bill 675 is reported to require every individual and
group health insurance policy that offers maternity coverage to provide abortion
coverage. Bill
A.4397 may be interpreted to mean that the state Public Health Council
could demand that abortions be provided as a condition for the
issue of certificates or other approvals. Similarly, bill A. 2674
could be interpreted by the state Public
Health Council to authorize it to force hospitals to include
abortion in their mission statements.
1 October, 2001
Approval
sought for made-to-order baby for marrow donation
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority in the United
Kingdom has been asked to approve the artificial conception of a
child to provide a two year old boy with compatible bone marrow
donor. In vitro fertilisation and pre-implantation
genetic diagnosis would be used to select the donor embryo to be
brought to term; unsuitable embryos would probably be
destroyed. The case illustrates how people who object to
such procedures will likely face increasing pressure as new
technologies become more popular. [BBC
News]
American
Society for Reproductive Medicine on sex selection
There is some disagreement at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM),
which was recently reported to have allowed clinics to use pre-implantation
genetic
diagnosis (PGD) for sex selection for non-medical reasons.
It had
already approved sex selection by means of sperm sorting.
PGD involves the screening of embryos created in vitro for
the desired sex, with the probable destruction of embryos found to
be of the wrong sex. This is consistent with suggestions
being made by some people in England, and problematic for some
conscientious objectors.
A later report indicates
that John A Robertson, chairman of the Society's ethics committee
supports in vitro sex selection of embryos for non-medical
reasons, but Dr. Robert Rebar, associate executive director of the
ASRM, insists that the
stands by its previous policy of discouraging sex selection.
[Buffalo News, 4 November]
[Austin360.com]
(See British
philosopher advocates in vitro sex selection)
Supreme
Court of Canada to hear 'wrongful birth' case
The Canadian Supreme Court will consider whether payments from a doctor's
insurance company should continue indefinitely or whether a 10
year old Down syndrome child
should receive state welfare support. He is reported to
require lifetime care. His mother says that her doctor did not advise her to take an
amniocentesis test, and she would have aborted her son
had she been made aware of his condition before birth.
'Wrongful birth' suits have a serious impact on doctors who do not
wish to be associated with eugenic screening. [National
Post] (See also
Eugenic
screening expected by French courts;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 )
Australian
parliamentary report on cloning, stem cell research
Date 17 September, 2001: House of Representatives of the Australian Parliament [Report]
British philosopher
advocates in vitro sex selection
Writing in the Journal of Medical Ethics, Dr David McCarthy of the
university of Bristol advocates a legal right for parents to select the sex of their child using in vitro
fertilisation (IVF) technology. He asserted that IVF and pre-implantation genetic diagnosis
(PGD) could be used to allow
people to have balanced families and legalisation would therefore be
unlikely to have much impact on the overall sex ratio. As
usual, the potential impact on those who do not wish to
participate in sex selection was not considered. [BBC News online, 1 October]
October - December, 2001
