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27 March, 2008
Scots MP seeks assisted
suicide
Independent MSP Margo MacDonald has asked for the legalization of
assisted suicide. MacDonald suffers from Parkinson's Disease.
[Scotsman, 27
March]
25 March, 2008
Wisconsin court demands
referral by objector
A three-judge panel of Wisconsin's Barron County Circuit Court has
acknowledged that pharmacists may refuse to dispense medications for reasons of
conscience, but found that pharmacist Neil Noesen had "abandoned even the
necessary steps necessary to perform in a minimally competent manner under any
standard of care." It also ruled that objecting pharmacists are obliged to
refer patients elsewhere. The decision was made in an appeal of punishment
imposed by a disciplinary tribunal. Noeson had refused to dispense birth
control pills and also refused to transfer her prescription elsewhere. [AP
story] [CitizenLink]
[See Referral: A False Compromise]
19 March, 2008
California
judge dismisses case against protective law
A judge of the U.S. District Court in northern California has dismissed a suite
brought by the state against the federal
Hyde-Weldon
Amendment. The Amendment protects freedom of conscience for health
care workers by denying federal funds to states that discriminate against a
health care providers or institutions that refuse to offer abortions or refer
patients for abortions. The judge ruled that the case could not
proceed because the state had failed to demonstrate that the federal law had
caused any harm to the state.
18 March, 2008
Protection of
conscience measure fails in Indiana
Senate Bill 3, which passed the Indiana Senate, has been defeated in the
state's House of Representatives. The bill would have enacted statutory
protection for pharmacists who object to dispensing a medication for reasons of
conscience.
17 March, 2008
Pending Colorado bills threaten freedom of conscience in health care
Three bills pending in Colorado threaten the independence of health care
institutions, especially those operated by religious denominations that object
to some procedures that are legal, but which they consider immoral.
LifeSite News asserts that the bills were introduced because of plans by a
Catholic health care system to purchase controlling interest in two hospitals.
HB1173 would allow courts to direct charitable institutions, including
hospitals, how to spend their money. HB1203 would prohibit arrangements
between hospitals that would restrict access to abortion and sterilization.
SB182 would require hospitals to provide whatever services the state deemed
"essential." The result could be that Catholic hospitals would be forced
to close if they failed to operate in ways the state thought appropriate. [See
Catholic
archbishop opposes repressive legislation]
British physicians directed to disclose publicly objections in advance
The General Medical Council has issued a guideline,
Personal Beliefs and Medical Practice, in which British physicians
are told that they must disclose
to patients if there are any procedures that are not
prohibited by law, but which they will not provide for reasons of conscience.
The patient must also be told that he has the right to see another doctor
[The
Times]. This is not problematic within the context of the exercise of
freedom of conscience. However, the guideline goes on to state that an
objecting physician must ensure that the patient has enough information to be
able to exercise that right, and puts the onus on the physician to make
arrangements for someone else to take over when that it not practical.
What constitutes "enough information" is left unclear, and, elsewhere, this tack
is being taken by those attempting to force physicians to facilitate procedures
that they find objectionable. This kind of strategy may be what lies
behind the claim that the objecting physician must find someone, presumably with
a different view, if the patient cannot do so himself. This is
unacceptable, as is the demand that physicians act against their conscientious
convictions in unspecified circumstances.
ACOG attack on freedom of conscience challenged by US Health Secretary
In a letter to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists,
US Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt has challenged the ACOG
ethics committee report (The Limits of Conscience Refusal in Reproductive
Medicine), pointing out that it appears to put the certification of physicians
in jeopardy if they are unwilling to perform or refer for abortion or other
"objectionable actions." Leavitt reminded the ACOG of protective
legislation at the federal level, suggesting that enforcement of the ACOG
committee report would have adverse consequences not only for the objecting
physicians, but for entities that depend upon federal funding.
14 March, 2008
Objecting
parents fined and threatened with jail in Belgium
Parents in two Belgian families have been fined €4,100 and sentenced
to five months in prison because they have refused to allow their children to be
vaccinated against polio. As a result of privacy laws, the reason for
their refusal has not been disclosed. Elsewhere, parents who have refused
vaccinations for their children have been motivated either by concerns about
possible side-effects, or by objections to the use of vaccines obtained from
deliberately aborted infants.
10 March, 2008
Objecting Montana
pharmacist cleared of complaints
Complaints filed against John Lane of Broadus, Montana, have been dismissed
by the state's regulatory authority. For reasons of conscience, Broadus
had refused to sell the morning after pill. When his position became
public, complaints were filed against him. [News
Release]
British Medical
Association and assisted suicide
Delegates to the annual conference of the British Medical Association voted
65% to 35% to maintain the Association's formal opposition to physician assisted
suicide, and also voted against the legalization of euthanasia in Britain.
The vote illustrates the need for robust and comprehensive protection of
conscience measures should such procedures ever be legalized. [Sky
News]
6 March, 2008
Catholic hospital succumbs to litigation
The Seton
Medical Center in Daly
City, California, has agreed to provide breast implantation surgery for a man
seeking a sex-change. A memo issued in 2006 stated that the hospital would
not provide sex-change procedures because they are contrary to Catholic
teaching. The hospital refused to provide breast implant surgery to a man
in 2006, as a result of which he sued the hospital. In a confusing
about-face, apparently caused by the civil suit, Seton has stated that the man
and his physician are welcome at the Center. At the same time, the Center
purports to prohibit "sex reversal" surgery.
Oregon
announces regulations on morning-after pill
The Oregon Department
of Human Services has established regulations to enforce a law that requires all
hospitals to inform patients about the morning after pill and about their right
to receive it upon request. Hospitals operated by religious denominations
opposed to contraception or embryocide are generally unwilling to offer the drug
to women. Catholic hospitals make exceptions for rape complainants when it
is morally certain that the drug will not prevent implantation of an existing
embryo.
4 March, 2008
Catholic hospital sued to force it to perform eugenic abortion
A Jesuit hospital in Bogota, Columbia, has been sued by a woman demanding that
it abort her child, now in the sixth month of gestation. The infant is
reported to be seriously deformed, but the San Ignacio University Hospital 's
position is that the abnormalities are not lethal, and that it would be contrary
to Catholic teaching to provide an abortion. The Colombian Supreme Court
has authorized abortion in the the case of fetal deformity.
28 February, 2008
Freedom of conscience
threatened in Spain
If elected, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party plans to limit protection
of conscience measures that now protect medical professionals who do not wish to
provide or facilitate procedures to which they object for reasons of conscience.
[CW News]
27 February, 2008
Catholic archbishop
opposes repressive legislation
Catholic Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver, Colorado, is speaking out
against state legislation intended to suppress freedom of conscience in health
care. The bills were put forward was a result of the plans of the
[Catholic] Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth Health System to buy two Denver
hospitals, which would then be bound by Catholic ethical directives that
prohibit abortion and contraception. “The Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth got into the healthcare business because
of the Gospel; because of their Catholic vocation to serve the sick, poor and
suffering. They can't compromise their Catholic beliefs without undermining
their whole mission.”
[Catholic
News Agency]
22 February, 2008
Resignation of hospital board to preserve Catholicity of institution
Cormac Cardinal Murphy O'Connor
has asked for the resignation of the board of directors of St.
John's and St. Elizabeth's Catholic Hospital in London to ensure that
implementation of a Catholic code of ethics, thus ensuring that the hospital
would cease facilitation of abortion, contraception and artificial reproduction.
The Cardinal has no legal power to dismiss the board. His decision has
been questioned by a group that has been working to restore the institution's
Catholicity.
20 February, 2008
Euthanasia bill passes in
Luxembourg
A bill to legalize euthanasia has passed first reading in
the Luxembourg parliament. Passage of the bill would make Luxembourg the
third the third European nation to legalize the procedure and could
adversely affect health care professionals opposed to it for reasons of
conscience.
Pro-Life
OB-GYN association defends freedom of conscience
The American Association of ProLife Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) has
rejected the claim by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology that
objecting physicians are ethically obliged to refer for abortion. Dr. Joe DeCook of AAPLOG
notes that ACOG has also revised certification standards for doctors, tying them
to compliance with the ACOG demands. "This is a raw power play to cripple, and ultimately
eliminate from practice, those doctors who hold a conscience conviction on the
sanctity of human life."[LifeNews.com]
19 February, 2008
New York bill
may force abortion on Catholic hospitals
The Governor of the State of New York is urging the state legislature to make
abortion a positive "right" by passing the Reproductive Health and Privacy
Protection Act (RHPPA). The government states that the act would ensure
that a woman has a right to an abortion at any point prior to viability or when
necessary to preserve her life or health. The Catholic bishops in New York
are opposing the measure. Among their concerns is the belief that
establishing abortion as a legal "right" will ultimately result in the
suppression of conscientious objection and the refusal to license hospitals that
refuse to facilitiate abortion.
18 February, 2008
Missouri bill seeks
protection for pharmacists
Missouri House Bill 1625 offers protection for pharmacies in the state that
refuse to dispense drugs or devices that are abortifacients, and identifies not
only RU486 (Mifepristone), but the morning after pill (Plan B) as abortifacient.
The bill appears to be a response to HB 1720,
which would suppress freedom of conscience by requiring
pharmacies to dispense drugs like Plan B without delay. The key question
about whether or not the morning after pill can cause the death of a embryo by
preventing implantation tends to be obscured when opposing parties focus on
whether or not the drug ought to be classified as an abortifacient.
15 February, 2008
Washington court
decision protects pharmacists
A Washington judge who granted an injunction against state rules suppressing
freedom of conscience for pharmacists has refused the state's petition to
confine the application of the injunction to the case of the two pharmacists who
took the state to court on the issue. The judge commented that it appeared
that the issue is being driven by the mutual antagonism of the parties to the
case, not by desire for sound health care policy. [KOMO]
13
February, 2008
More
pressure likely to fall on objectors in South Africa
The Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Amendment Bill has been passed by
a special session of the South African National Assembly. The new law
allows abortion without parental consent for girls as young as 12, lays the
groundwork for 24 hour abortion facilities, eliminates requirements for approval
of the procedure and authorizes nurses and midwives to perform abortions.
The bill was originally passed in 2004, but was struck down in 2006 by the
Constitutional Court as a result of a case brought by Doctors for Life
International. DFL International successfully argued that the public had
not been adequately consulted and that the act did not provide for accommodation
of conscientious objection by medical personnel. Legalization of
abortion in South Africa has caused problems for health care workers opposed to
the procedure for reasons of conscience. [See
South Africa Changes Abortion Law;
No
Place for Abortion in African Traditional Life - Some Reflections;
South African
nurse denied position]
11 February, 2008
Indiana
protection of conscience bill moves to House
Senate Bill 3, a protection of conscience measure for pharmacists, has passed
the state Senate and must now be approved by the House of Representatives to
become law. [LifeNews.com]
7 February, 2008
Repressive measure fails in
South Dakota
South Dakota Senate Bill 164, which would have abolished the current protection
of conscience law for pharmacists, has been defeated.
Current state law protects pharmacists who refuse to sell a drug that may
cause the death of an embryo. [Dakota
Voice]
6 February, 2008
Conscientious
objection claimed illegal in Italy
The president of the Italian medical association is reported to have said that
there is no legal basis for conscientious objection by physicians in Italy,
apart from "abortion and a few in-vitro fertilization techniques." [CWNews]
15 January, 2008
Canadian abortion activist recognizes freedom of conscience for physicians
Henry Morgantaler, the Canadian physician who defied the law and was eventually
successful in having all restrictions on abortion in Canada removed, was
interviewed by the National Review of Medicine to mark the 20th
anniversary of his Supreme Court victory. When asked, "Should doctors be
allowed to conscientiously object to performing an abortion?" he said,
"Yes. One fundamental reason is that doctors should not be obliged to do things
which they don't approve of themselves, and secondly, a more practical reason, a
doctor who doesn't believe in it is more likely not to do a good job." [National
Review of Medicine]
4 January, 2008
Lawsuit filed to stop
compulsory vaccination
Lieutenant Commander Joseph J. Healy has filed suite against the U.S. Coast
Guard. Due to his opposition to abortion and Catholic faith, he asked for
exemption from an order requiring all active-duty personnel to be vaccinated
against Hepatitis A with a vaccine derived from a child electively aborted at 14
weeks gestation. His request was rejected by a Coast Guard officer who
decided that the immunizations were not contrary to Catholic teaching. [ADF
News Release]
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