A New South Wales bill could deter some of the brightest and best from entering health services By Greg Walsh One of the main concerns about the Bill recently introduced to amend New South Wales [NSW] laws on abortion is how health practitioners with a conscientious objection to participating in abortion will be regulated. Under …
Continue reading "The conscience rights of health practitioners must be protected"
By Alexa Moutevelis Coombs Recently, the University of Vermont Medical Center was accused of forcing a nurse to assist with an abortion against her will, a violation of federal conscience rights laws. According to Vice, the fact that a pro-life nurse objected to performing an abortion “shows we need to be more discerning about who …
Continue reading "No Pro-lifers Need Apply: Vice Says Pro-Life Nurses Not ‘Worthy of Serving Public’"
By Wesley J. Smith There was a day in the not-too-distant past when physicians were respected, even revered, as learned professionals. We understood that doctors followed a “higher calling.” Indeed, physicians were expected to adhere to a code of conduct—epitomized by the Hippocratic Oath’s venerable injunction, “do no harm.” Times have changed. The old hierarchies …
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By SPUC — the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children A Vermont nurse has been left ‘traumatised’ after a hospital ‘violated her civil rights’, by forcing her to partake in an abortion procedure, despite her deep-held moral objections. The nurse, who has not been named, believed that she would be participating in a procedure …
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By Dave Andrusko Editor’s note. My family and I will be on our vacation through August 27. I will occasionally add new items but for the most part we will repost “the best of the best” — the stories our readers have told us they especially liked. This post won’t be long but I think …
Continue reading "Story makes clear why pro-abortionists so loathe those who protect the unborn and the “unalienable rights of conscience and religious freedom”"
By Dave Andrusko Talk about time flying! Had not the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA) sent out an advisory tonight, I would have completely forgotten that it was a year ago today that the Supreme Court did the right thing in NIFLA v. Becerra. Preceding the 5-4 decision (it should have been …
Continue reading "A major victory for the right of conscience one year ago today"
By Michael Cook Conscientious objection must be one of the hottest topics in bioethics at the moment. In the US, the Trump Administration is trying to permit it; in Canada, the Ontario government is trying to snuff It out. It would be helpful if we could agree on what conscience is — then we could …
Continue reading "A materialist view of conscience could be bad news for supporters of conscientious objection"
Doctors must refer patients for ‘medical assistance in dying’ By Michael Cook Back in 2006, Oxford University’s Professor Julian Savulescu published a frontal attack on the notion of conscientious objection in medicine in the BMJ [British Medical Journal], a popular medical journal. At the time it seemed odd rather than dangerous, the dream of an …
Continue reading "Ontario court affirms right of state to compel participation in euthanasia"
By Wesley J. Smith The culture of death brooks no dissent. In Canada, doctors have been ordered to bend the knee. Here’s the story: The Canadian Charter (Constitution) guarantees “freedom of conscience and religion”— a stronger and more explicit protection of religious liberty than our First Amendment. After the Supreme Court created a right to …
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By Wesley J. Smith The New York Times has published an opinion column by cardiologist Sandeep Jauhar that decries the Trump administration’s increased enforcement of medical conscience. But he actually promotes a one-way conscience right that favors protecting the predominate ideological views of the medical intelligentsia, while forcing dissenters to sacrifice their own religious and …
Continue reading "Medical Conscience for Me, but Not for Thee"
By Wesley J. Smith The Left once honored conscientious objection, such as the civil-rights movement’s campaign of peaceful civil disobedience (who didn’t?) and men refusing to be drafted during Vietnam. But when conscientious objectors refuse to obey policies with which the Left agrees, the screaming, howling, and name calling could shatter eardrums. Case in point: …
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“Conscience protection should not fluctuate as administrations change” Editor’s note. Last week we posted a story headlined, “HHS announces final rule protecting individuals and health care entities from discrimination on the basis of their exercise of conscience.” I had not seen the following important contribution until today. WASHINGTON—Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, …
Continue reading "Chairmen of U.S. Bishops’ Conference Commend Administration on New Regulations Protecting Rights of Conscience in Health Care"