Now this is change I can believe in:
President Barack Obama plans to revoke a last minute rule from the Bush administration to shield health workers who refuse to participate in abortions or other medical activities that go against their beliefs. [...]
The rule issued by Bush health chief Michael Leavitt prohibited groups that take U.S. money from firing, denying professional certification to or otherwise discriminating against medical providers who refused to perform or assist in abortions or give referral information.
I can already hear the shrieking and whining about how unfair this is to anti-choice health care workers — conveniently overlooking the fact that those workers are already protected by existing conscience rules — 3 of them. This new one just increases the scope of services that can be denied to the point of absurdity, not just abortion but everything from contraception to HIV tests to blood transfusions — basically whatever “offends” the health care worker.
Most bizarrely, the new regs stipulate that health care workers don’t even have to inform prospective employers of procedures they object to. Hypothetically, an anti-choicer could get a job at Planned Parenthood and wreak all kinds of havoc.
Besides, this is what it comes down to:
But why should the religious beliefs of others trump those of patients and employers? People who don’t want to participate in medical procedures they find abhorrent have a simple solution: They can choose to work elsewhere.
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http://www.calgaryherald.com/opinion/editorials/Doctors+have+constitutional+rights/1331259/story.html
Here is our Alberta variation on this theme and the as usual, rude and ignorant response from the Catholic Herald.
While not law, standards of practice have considerable clout over doctors who violate the rules. They can be fined and even have their licenses suspended or revoked if they are really bad. In reaction to this proposed standard, one Edmonton doctor said she would rather quit and become a grocery clerk than be forced to refer women for abortions. I only hope the grocery store makes sure she’ll sell the birth control products on the shelf before they hire her, the meat if she’s a vegetarian, the caffeine products if she’s a Mormon, the books and magazines if she’s a fundamentalist…etc.
calgal – Thanks for the link. Such paranoia and such hypocrisy.
Anti-choice health care workers don’t like the wording of a policy because it’s “too vague” and they think it might put them in the position of having to do procedures they object to. And yet, they’d be perfectly okay with something worded like Bush’s midnight conscience rule, which is purposely so vague that it can include anything: just whatever offends the health care provider. That’s just rich.