Update 2011-06-31
31 December, 2011
Covering the period from 1 November to 31 December, 2011
1. By Region/Country
Visit the Project News/Blog for details.
Australia
Doctors for Voluntary Euthanasia
Choice has been formed in Australia by physicians supporting
legalization of the procedure. The Australian Medical Association has
no position on euthanasia because physicians are
divided on the issue, which, the group says,
permits members to act according to their
consciences.
Canada
The Royal Society of Canada, which describes itself as "a national
organization of distinguished scholars, artists and scientists," has
published a
report advocating legalization of assisted suicide and euthanasia.
Of the six
experts, four had previously advocated legalization of the procedures, and
one has repeatedly argued that objecting physicians should be forced to
refer for abortion.
The Ministry of Health and Long Term Care in
Ontario has fully funded and
published a report
recommending mandatory abortion training for
medical and nursing students, and mandatory
referral and facilitation of abortion by all
medical practitioners, including those who
object to the procedure.
Testifying during a
trial in British Columbia Supreme Court initiated by plaintiffs who want
physician assisted suicide legalized, a regional director of palliative care
expressed the opinion that the procedure would not be support by most of his
colleagues.
Abortions have not been performed on Prince Edward Island for almost
thirty years. Women seeking abortions must go to Halifax, Nova Scotia,
or Frederiction, New Brunswick.
In November, a lobby group began to agitate for easier access
to abortion. Proposals least likely to impact freedom of conscience for health care
workers involve dropping the requirement for physician referrals, paying for
abortions done in clinics and paying the associated travel costs.
However, the group also
encourages people to make complaints of professional misconduct against
physicians who decline to refer for abortion for reasons of conscience.
Indonesia
The government of Indonesia is considering the possiblity of imposing
legal limits to population growth. Government enforced regulations
restricting births would have a signficant
impact on health care professionals who object
to some forms of birth control or abortion.
New Zealand
The New Zealand Medical Council has withdrawn
its appeal of the judgment of Justice MacKenzie
given in the High Court in Wellington in
December 2010. The judgment held that a medical
practitioner who objected to abortion for
reasons of conscience was not obliged to refer
for the procedure.
Philippines
Philippines House Majority Leader Neptali
Gonzales II states that the controversial
Reproductive Health Bill is unlikely to come to
a vote before 2012 because, for the time being,
there are enough members of congress opposed to
it to prevent its passage.
United Kingdom
A pharmacist at a Boots Pharmacy in Middleton Grange Shopping Centre,
Hartlepool, England, has been criticized for refusing to dispense the
morning after pill for reasons of conscience. Store management noted that the pharmacist acted
in accordance with the General Pharmaceutical Council’s Standard of
Conduct, Ethics and Performance, which requires objecting pharmacists
to refer customers to other providers.
A series of damning news reports have catalogued abuse and neglect of
elderly patients in Britain's state hospitals. The Care Quality Commission
conducted hospital inspections and found that "in a fifth of them the care
was so bad they were breaking the law." In such circumstances, it is possible that some health
care workers would find themselves in conflicts of conscience as a result of
the difference between their moral standards and those of the insititution.
A woman who used in vitro fertilization to achieve a pregnancy
at age 57 now concedes that her critics were right in asserting that she was
too old to have a child. The story illustrates the kind of foreseeable
problem that may cause some health care workers to refuse artificial
reproduction in some circumstances for reasons of conscience.
The Medical Defence Union and the General
Medical Council in the United Kingdom are
attempting to address problems arising from the
current legal status of assisted suicide in
England. Although the procedure is a
criminal offence, Crown Counsel are permitted to
prosecute only people whose conduct violates
guidelines that are more permissive than the criminal law. If they decide not to
prosecute a physician who has facilitated or
assisted a suicide, the GMC must decide whether
or not to charge the physician for professional
misconduct. Meanwhile, the Medical Defence
Union is warning physicians that they could be
prosecuted if they provide medical
records to a patient when they have reason to believe that the records
will be used to access assisted suicide. This provides a helpful
contrast to the frequent dismissal of the
notion that referral and other forms of indirect facilitation of
procedures may be morally significant. However, a decision by the
GMC that referral or other indirect facilitation
does not associate a practitioner with assisted
suicide would certainly be used to compel
objectors to refer or facilitiate other morally
controversial but legal procedures.
United States
The major story from the United States is the growing confrontation
between the Obama administration and religious believers, especially the
Catholic Church. This follows from a regulation from the
Department of Health and Human Services to force all employers to
pay for contraceptive, embryocidal and abortifacient drugs and devices, even
if the employers object for reasons of conscience. The "religious
exemption" provided by the regulation (referred to generally as "the
contraceptive mandate") is so narrowly drawn that it cannot be
considered to provide adequate protection for freedom of conscience.
Representatives of 60 non-Catholic groups have written to President
Barak Obama expressing their solidarity with Catholics and Catholic
institutions and their own objections to the regulation.
The US House of Representatives
Minority Leader (Democratic Party) Nancy Pelosi,
told a Washington Post Reporter that she opposes
freedom of conscience for health care workers
opposed to abortion because they would allow
women to "die on the floor." She
complained that abortion opponents "have this
conscience thing." Meanwhile the House Energy
and Commerce Sub-Committee on Health held a
hearing on the subject, which included testimony
from William J. Cox President and CEO of the
Alliance of Catholic Health Care, Dr. David L.
Stevens of the Christian Medical Association,
and the Chancellor of the Roman Catholic
Archdiocese of Washington.
Ron Paul, a US Senator
seeking the Republican nomination as the party's
2012 presidential candidate, has spoken out in
favour of freedom of conscience for health care
workers. He was among 28 US Senators who
wrote to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to
protest Department's attack on freedom of
conscience through its contracepetive mandate.
Colorado Christian University (CCU),
a non-Catholic institution, has begun a civil
suit against the US federal government for suppression
of religious freedom and freedom of conscience through
the HHS contraceptive mandate. A similar
suit has been initiated by Belmont
Abbey, a small Catholic liberal arts college in North Carolina.
A bill in the Florida State Senate that will ensure that
insurance plans covering contraceptives will not impose long waiting periods or
steep co-payments on employees includes a
protection of conscience
provision. Planned Parenthood is protesting the exemption, demanding that
employers be forced to pay for procedures or services they believe to be wrong.
75% of the delegates at a meeting of the Massachusetts
Medical Society have reaffirmed the policy of the Society against
physician-assisted suicide. An assisted suicide bill being proposed as
an initiative to be put directly to the voters in 2012 would, if enacted,
support compulsory referral by physicians for assisted suicide, something
that would be incompatible with the position of the Medical Society. It
would also require objecting institutions not only to permit referral, but
would require them to permit physicians in their facilities to contract for
off-premises provision of assisted suicide.
The University of Medicine and Dentistry of
New Jersey has hired addtional
nurses to assist with abortions at the
University Hospital, and agreed not to replace
objecting nurses who filed suit against the
University Hospital, or reduce their hours. The
objecting nurses have agreed to protect patients
in an emergency until someone else can attend to
assist. The agreement ends a civil suit filed on
behalf of 12 nurses in November by the Alliance
Defence Fund. The nurses alleged that the
hospital was threatening to discipline or
dismiss them if they did not assist with
abortions.
The trial in the case of Stormans v. Selecky began in
Washington State. The plaintiffs include a family-owned
pharmacy and two individual pharmacists, whose religious beliefs forbid them
from dispensing Plan B and Ella because they can operate as embryocides.
A Washington State regulation demands that they dispense the drugs despite
their objections.
A survey of 1800 American obstetrician/gynaelecologists
found that over half of the respondents believe
that pregnancy begins at conception rather than
implantation. The finding is significant
because it demonstrates that a significant
number of practitioners reject redefinions of
pregnancy proposed by groups like the American College of Obstetrics and
Gynecology (ACOG).
2. News Items
Continued vigiligance urged in New Jersey
Hospital reaches agreement with objecting nurses
Evangelical college sues US federal government for violating freedom of
conscience
60 non-Catholic groups write President to defend of freedom of
conscience
British General Medical Council drawing up guidelines for assisted
suicide
Assisted suicide initiative in conflict with physicians in Massachusetts
Planned Parenthood opposes freedom of conscience in Florida
Hospital hires additional staff to cover for objecting nurses
Physicians in United Kingdom warned against facilitating assisted
suicide
Indonesia considers population control law
Freedom of conscience for pharmacists on trial in Washington
Group encourages complaints against objecting physicians
Royal Society of Canada recommends legalization of assisted suicide,
euthanasia, and compulsory referral
New Jersey Hospital files brief opposing injunction supporting objectors
Attempt to discuss accommodation of objecting nurses rejected
New Zealand Medical Council accepts ruling on freedom of conscience
Most US obstetrician/gynaecologists reject ACOG definition of pregnancy
US politician dismisses "this conscience thing"
Opposition to Philippines Reproductive Health bill preventing passage
US Congressman supports objecting New Jersey nurses
Most physicians in British Columbia not supportive of assisted suicide
Australian physicians form lobby group for euthanasia
Complaints against exercise of freedom of conscience by pharmacist in UK
New Jersey hospital accused of lying
Belmont Abbey sues US federal government for attack on freedom of
conscience
Widespread neglect of elderly alleged at hospitals in United Kingdom
IVF mother admits error in having child at 57
Judge issues temporary injunction to protect objecting nurses
Ontario experts seek mandatory abortion training, referral
Evidence taken at hearing of government attack on freedom of conscience
12 nurses sue New Jersey hospital for forced participation in abortion
US Cardinal protests federal government attack on freedom of conscience
3. Recent Postings
Colorado Christian University First Evangelical
University to Fight Abortifacient Mandate
HHS and Relgious
Liberty
Religious Liberty:
the Culture and the Church
Conscience, MSNBC &
Commonweal
Obama's Choice
Conscience Rights, Nurses and Abortion
Catholic Pride and Conscience Exemptions
Conscience Exemptions and the Press
Abortion and
Prince Edward Island: Group encourages complaints against objecting
physicians
Victory for pro-life nurses in lawsuit against NJ
hospital
NJ hospital threatens employment discrimination against pro-life nurses
despite court order
A Victory for Conscience and a Culture of Life
“Nurses of Conscience” say NO to abortion coercion at UMDNJ Court temporarily stops NJ hospital
from forcing nurses
to participate in abortions
12
nurses sue NJ hospital for forcing them to
participate in abortions
Support access to health care?
Protect conscience rights.
Cooking Up a Healthy
Portion of Conscience
Ron Paul Statement on New Obamacare/HHS Regulation
Letter to HHS Secretary
Kathleen Sebelius from 28 US Senators
Hatch, Johanns Spearhead Letter To HHS On Women’s Preventive Services Mandates
Abortion committee upholds right of conscience
Testimony of Most Rev. C. Lori,
on behalf of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops
Hearing: Energy and Commerce Sub-Committee on Health
Belmont Abbey College sues the federal government
over new Obamacare mandate
Cardinal Reaffirms Support for Respect for Rights of Conscience Act
4. Action Items
5. Conferences/Papers
The Project will post notices of conferences
that are explore and support the principle freedom of conscience, including the
legitimate role of moral or religious conviction in shaping law and public
policy in pluralist states or societies.
6. Publications of Interest
7. Video
s
8. Audio
s