Planned Parenthood, ACLU Sue over Rights of Conscience
Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union are suing the government over rules that protect health care providers' freedom of conscience.
The Department of Health and Human Services put the regulations in place last month to reinforce federal laws that protect doctors from being forced to participate in abortion and other anti-life practices.
“We consider right of conscience to be the biggest issue we face," said Dr. David Stevens, executive director of the Christian Medical Association. "If we lose this one, soon there will be no Christian health care personnel debating the other ethical issues like cloning or physician-assisted suicide.”
The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) and Christian Legal Society have intervened in the case.
“Medical professionals should not be forced to perform abortions against their conscience,” said Matt Bowman, legal counsel for ADF.
— Josh Montez
From CitizenLink.
Why can't doctors have a choice? And what about the Hippocratic Oath?
The Hippocratic Oath
(Modern Version)I SWEAR in the presence of the Almighty and before my family, my teachers and my peers that according to my ability and judgment I will keep this Oath and Stipulation.
TO RECKON all who have taught me this art equally dear to me as my parents and in the same spirit and dedication to impart a knowledge of the art of medicine to others. I will continue with diligence to keep abreast of advances in medicine. I will treat without exception all who seek my ministrations, so long as the treatment of others is not compromised thereby, and I will seek the counsel of particularly skilled physicians where indicated for the benefit of my patient.
I WILL FOLLOW that method of treatment which according to my ability and judgment, I consider for the benefit of my patient and abstain from whatever is harmful or mischievous. I will neither prescribe nor administer a lethal dose of medicine to any patient even if asked nor counsel any such thing nor perform the utmost respect for every human life from fertilization to natural death and reject abortion that deliberately takes a unique human life.
WITH PURITY, HOLINESS AND BENEFICENCE I will pass my life and practice my art. Except for the prudent correction of an imminent danger, I will neither treat any patient nor carry out any research on any human being without the valid informed consent of the subject or the appropriate legal protector thereof, understanding that research must have as its purpose the furtherance of the health of that individual. Into whatever patient setting I enter, I will go for the benefit of the sick and will abstain from every voluntary act of mischief or corruption and further from the seduction of any patient.
WHATEVER IN CONNECTION with my professional practice or not in connection with it I may see or hear in the lives of my patients which ought not be spoken abroad, I will not divulge, reckoning that all such should be kept secret.
WHILE I CONTINUE to keep this Oath unviolated may it be granted to me to enjoy life and the practice of the art and science of medicine with the blessing of the Almighty and respected by my peers and society, but should I trespass and violate this Oath, may the reverse by my lot.
The ACLU and Planned Parenthood are in the same foxhole, i.e., "Pro-Choice" equals "No Choice" for doctors and "No Choice" for baby.
Nice folks, they are. So much compassion!
The hippocritic oath is a little misleading - there is not one 'modern version,' but several. Most medical schools have a prefered version, and doctors sometimes make adjustments of their own. In particular, the prohibition on abortion is frequently ommited.
The version used above, I would guess from the number of words devoted to abortion (Rather more than Hippocrates considered needed) and the several references to God, is probably used by a Christian medical school. Non-christian schools would likely drop both the abortion part, and all the mentions of 'the Almighty' and 'holiness,' expecting that not all of their graduates would be Christian.
The modern version quoted above is also heavily revised from the origional - as respected as the name might be, Hippocrates was around two and a half thousand years ago, and much of his oath is obsolete medically, legally and culturally. The only reason it can still work today is the revision that takes it almost beyond recognition.
The origional oath forbids any attempt at surgery - considered at the time a field in which physicians should have no role.
Some of the changes would probably have most annoyed Hippocrates... somehow I don't imagine him approving of having his greek gods replaced with 'the Almighty.' The origional starts by declaring "I swear by Apollo, Asclepius, Hygieia, and Panacea, and I take to witness all the gods, all the goddesses." He might also be upset that the oath no longer requires doctors to aid in the training of future doctors, at least until you explain about how formal education works.
Absolutely, Rick. And if pro-life obstetricians are driven out of their profession then no choice either for a pregnant women who wants a doctor whose advice she can trust.
A few years back Catholic adoption placement agencies quit their business in Massachusettes because they were forced to place children with homosexuals. It's possible the same could happen if they try to force Catholic hospitals to kill little human beings.
I suppose the same could be the same for Baptist hospitals.