'Conscience clause' grows in health care

[Quetzal]

'Conscience clause' grows in health care

NEW YORK (AP) -- In Congress and states nationwide, anti-abortion activists are broadening efforts to support hospitals, doctors and pharmacists who -- citing moral grounds -- want to opt out of services linked to abortion and emergency contraception.

A little-noticed provision cleared the House of Representatives last week that would prohibit local, state or federal authorities from requiring any institution or health care professional to provide abortions, pay for them, or make abortion-related referrals, even in cases of rape or medical emergency.

In Mississippi, a bill became law in July that admirers and critics consider the nation's most sweeping "conscience clause." It allows all types of health care workers and facilities to refuse performing virtually any service they object to on moral or religious grounds.

And in states across the country, anti-abortion organizations and a group called Pharmacists for Life are encouraging pharmacists to refuse to distribute emergency contraceptives, which they consider a potential form of abortion.

more...

http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/09/15/abortion.refusals.ap/index.html

[struggle4progress]

1. The natural response would be to allow people to follow ...

... their consciences, but to enact laws requiring health care providers and pharmacies to state clearly, up front and under threat of losing state licenses, what services and medicines the hospital, doctor, or pharmacy may refuse to provide. All radio, TV, newspaper, magazine, billboard, direct mail, and internet advertising for providers who might refuse service/medicine requests should be required to state clearly exactly which service/medicine requests might not be honored. In addition, interferences (such as seizure of prescriptions by pharmacists, to prevent individuals from filling the prescription elsewhere) should be subject to civil and criminal penalties. As Americans, we ought to be able to honor individual conscience without allowing officious jackasses to interfere with other people's medical care.

[bain_sidhe]

7. "notice" isn't good enough when there's no alternative

The ACLU did a good study on "conscience clauses" a few years ago - the press release is here: http://archive.aclu.org/features/f012202a.html

<snip>
In its framework for analyzing religious refusals, the report notes that it is often possible and appropriate to accommodate an individual health professional's refusal to provide a service, but only if the patient is ensured safe, timely, and feasible alternative access to treatment.

An institution claiming a right to refuse, however, raises significantly greater concerns. According to the report, it is crucial to consider if an institution, like most religiously affiliated hospitals, is operating in the public world and serving and employing a religiously diverse population. If it is, then it ought to play by public rules.

and the actual report is here (pdf format): http://archive.aclu.org/issues/reproduct/refusal_report.pdf

When you combine conscience clauses with the ever-expanding Catholic take over of public hospitals, you have literally hundreds of thousands of people left with no alternative BUT Catholic hospitals. See Women's eNews reports on that here: http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/316/context/archive

<snip>
Catholic hospitals now constitute the nation's largest single group of non-profit hospitals, according to the Catholic Health Association of the United States, with 621 hospitals and 85 million patients in 1999. Of the 20 largest non-profit systems, 10 of them are Catholic. The mega-system, Catholic Healthcare West in California, added 12 hospitals in 1999 for a total of 48 hospitals, 8,172 beds and $5.9 billion in assets.
Catholic Hospitals Expanding Fast, Denying Vital Care for Women

Catholics for a Free Choice, a pro-choice advocacy organization in Washington, D.C., reports that in the past 10 years, the number of Catholic medical care centers has grown rapidly through acquisitions, mergers, business arrangements and now consolidations. In 1998, the group says, Catholic hospitals were the sole providers of medical care in 91 communities--a 20 percent increase in a single year.

This is occurring at the same time that other hospitals, public and private, are shutting their doors or eliminating services.

[struggle4progress]

19. I don't see how one wins a debate about "conscience." And ..

.. who in their right mind would trust medical care provided by somebody who doesn't want to provide it but is required by law to provide?

The response I suggest is "balancing act." The wingnuts win on this issue only when they can huff-n-puff it into a "good versus evil" debate.

But I haven't considered the serious "no-alternatives" issue you raise ...

[JFreitas]

20. Put your money where your mouth is

I strongly believe that being a "conscience" objector in this kind of situations is really easy. If you feel that strongly about the issue you MUST quit a job where your employer (state, fed gov, hospital, whoever) might ask you to perform something so strongly against your conscience. Refusing to perform said thing and remaining in the job is the easy way out. In this way, it's easy to be a conscience objector! Go on! Object! No consequences to your actions!

Best

[Shallah Kali]

2. How the heck are they managing this without media coverage?

This is outrageous. If they won't provide they should be required to give referrals and any group that gets government $$ should not be allowed to refuse. What will be next? Fundie 'Christians' refusing to give healthcare to unwed mothers and those who are not of their faith? I remember that man undergoing drug 'treatment' by a fundie group by court order. I say 'treatment' becuase none of the staff were trained plus as a requirment to get pass the program they wanted him to convert from his witchcraft religion of catholicism to their religion. Just wait they will be refusing other medical care to those who are unworthy.

[progressivebydesign]

23. Because the republicans OWN the media..

..that's why Kerry should be ahead by 30 points right now.. The media is no more than a wing of the White House Communications Office. SIckening, isn't it???

[classof56]

3. They take it even further

And refuse to fill birth control pill prescriptions, no matter what the purpose. Some doctors who share that view are also refusing to write such prescriptions. To me, this is getting really scary on many levels. Now congress is getting into the act. Scarier still!

I have been saying (over and over) BUSH MUST GO!! Perhaps I should broaden that to include all Republicans. What on earth are they thinking???

Tired Old Cynic

[Shallah Kali]

9. Things like this make me paranoid

I wonder if they want to keep women constantly pregnant so everyone but them is too poor and overworked to fight off their political control. The wealthy will be exempt from clauses like these or even an out and out ban on all birth control. They always could find amendable doctors back when abortion was illegal or could afford to travel to another country to do what they want. It is those who don't have money to burn who will literally be screwed.

[classof56]

11. I believe you've hit the nail on the head, Shallah

It's a matter of men being in control. There've been some long and hard battles fought in the last 35 years or so by women (me included) who prefer control over our own lives. Oh, and equal pay--but that's another issue. Except that it does become a rich vs poor thing, and the poor always lose. I recall when women used to have to beg a judge (male) for an abortion when they found themselves in dire straits--a 12-year-old who'd been sexually assaulted by her stepfather, a rape victim whose doctor had told her she'd die if her pregnancy went to term...lots of examples. Those who could afford to do so would simply fly to Sweden and do what they wanted. I'm no fan of abortion, but it literally makes me sick to think of going back to those pre-Roe v Wade days. We must remain vigilant and of course...

BUSH MUST GO!!

[Warpy]

4. Since these pious jerks are refusing to fill birth control prescriptions,

this has gone far enough. Those pills can be prescribed for serveral conditions that have nothing to do with their idiotically wrong definition of abortion, and they are not qualified to secondguess any physician. What's next, refusal to dispense heart medicines, because disease is god's will? Refusal to dispense pain medication because god created suffering? (never mind that god created poppies, too)

Somehow I doubt we'll see any pharamacist who refuses to dispense any of the limp dick drugs.

If they are too holy to take the chance on filling a legal prescription, then perhaps they need to find another line of work. I'm sure there are pulpits beckoning. They simply don't belong in health care. Period.

The amendment is very telling, since it also allows physicians to allow women in emergency situations, as with an ectopic pregnancy, to die rather than disturb the holy fetus by referring them to lifesaving emergency surgery. It's obvious where the religious reich is really at. They loathe women and want them dead.

[classof56]

10. You have nailed it exactly!

As I read in an article on this topic, will pharmacists be asking men who want their "erectile dysfunction-correcting drugs" to be filled whether they're about to have sex with their wives or girlfriends--or, god forbid, another male? Of course not! This is a matter of control over women--it matters not what the outcome...in fact, the more suffering we endure, the better they like it. I grew up with this crap. Enough is enough! Time to speak out, but most importantly--time for Bush and all these idiotic Republicans to GO!!

[The Zanti Regent]

17. Does this apply to Jehovah's Witnesses too?

Will they be allowed the same right to decline to participate in blood transfusions?

Somehow, I doubt it...

[Deja Q]

5. They'll use this against GLBT folk too.

Religion is how they see it. Which is sad as, from an objective level, there's no single religion whose texts make continual sense. Some passages even contradict previous ones for the reason that the original passage was created for. Others are conveniently ignored.

A fetus is a life, yes. But why can't these "pro-life" people concentrate on the post-born for a while?

[Shallah Kali]

13. but of course they will! and against any other person who isn't one of the

Unmarried mothers, anyone not of their religion, anyone they think deserved their illness they can legally refuse treatment. What if a doctor was a skinhead? He could refuse to treat anyone who isn't white. An fundie could refuse to treat anyone who hasn't asked Jesus into his/her heart. Convert or we will let you bleed to death. I don't think I am totally paranoid because racists used to let black americans die because it was a white only hospital :mad: I am so scared and furious! Give these people an inch they will take the whole mile!

[yardwork]

6. Very few doctors perform abortions anyway!

Nobody forces anybody to perform an abortion. This is simply an excuse to allow health workers to refuse provision of contraception and life-saving procedures. This is outrageous.

It is government interference masquerading as morality. It is misinformation being used to further a narrow-minded agenda that will harm people.

[2Design]

8. why are these 'religious' people so obsessed with bodies...look

what happened to the priest in a religion obsesses with bodies..

and how many rapes and incest are from these religious peoples

The problems they are against are the ones they create.

[LizW]

12. Another tactic of anti-choice doctors

is refusing to perform prenatal testing for birth defects. I know there is one group in my city that proudly advertises that they do not perform AFP, CVS or amniocentesis. I guess their reasoning is that if they can keep you in the dark about whether the fetus has any defect, you won't decide to terminate the pregnancy. So, in effect, they make the decision for their patients.

My advice to all women of child-bearing age is to question any OBGYN you go to before you get pregnant. Make sure that he/she has your life and health as the first priority, and not just the life of your fetus.

[DaveSZ]

14. Now you see why the Supreme Court is so important

(to strike down this bullshit and protect the public).

[biftonnorton]

15. Erosion Of Lines Between Personal Beliefs And Law

always needs to be stopped. The way things are going, maybe soon the "conscience clause" will also apply to whether people decide to give health care to people of other races, ethnicities, ages, sexual orientations...

[ChrisK]

16. It's all about power...

Power over women, power over the poor, power over your choices.

If these folks (the Republicans or any power-crazed individual) could, they would trade every nickle they had for power..Its what they really want, not even money means much to them.

This whole 'Conscience clause' provision is being used to wipe away Roe vs Wade because these folks know they can't attack it head-on because they will seem less like "uniter's" and much much more like "Dividers" and they know Democrats and moderate thinking Republicans will attack them outright and it will be another nail in Bush's coffin...so to speak.

How is birth control like the pill or the "morning after" drug abortion? There is no fertilization of the embryo hence no joining of the egg and sperm so no pregnancy....so nothing is destroyed...womens eggs "die" each month and a mans sperm is only good for a week or so then its flushed, if you will, from his system...and some of these folks are doctors and seem to have missed this!?

I have no problem with a persons "conscience" getting in the way as long as he/she is willing NOT to work in a field that may conflict with there conscience. If you are in the medical field to help people you will need to remember that not all persons will have the same ideals you have an need to respect that...even when it goes against what you believe morally.


How can you have a conscience when you care nothing for people?

[zanana]

18. We always check our soul at the door...

In any given business, you'll be lying, fudging numbers or devising deceitful strategies to defeat the competition. I'm reminded of a time I worked as a sales clerk for Burlington Coat. One day, a protest was being held in front of the store. The protest was against selling fur coats. I'm against selling fur, too, but I had to work, so I had to walk right through the picket line to do my job. If I hadn't shown up for work because of my "conscience", I would have been fired. The Conservative "conscience" is a very select and flexible thing.

[BiggJawn]

21. So a care provider who is into "Faith Healing"....

Could legally refuse to fill my perscriptions on grounds that the only thig wrong with me was needing a lil' more JEEEEEEE-ZUSSSS in my life?

Maybe instead of wasting all that time and money becoming a Pharmicist, you should have sent $40 to the "Close Cover before Striking School of Divinity" and become a rattlesnake preacher instaed....

[TrogL]

22. So are they going to notify patients in advance?

In smaller hospitals during the night shift there's only one emergency room doc. If a woman comes in needing rape-related medical care eg. RU48 and the doctor won't provide it, she needs to know in advance so she can go someplace else.

If a doctor is unwilling to do his job, he needs to get into another line of work.

[Shallah Kali]

24. I doubt it - isn't that the whole point of this law?

To undo the laws that stopped hospitals from refusing to even refer rape victims to a hospital for emergency contraception?

[Sabriel]

25. How about a "conscience clause" in my income taxes?

I strenuously object to having my tax dollars go to kill Iraqis, but no one's listening. How about we form "Taxpayers for Life" and see where that gets us?

[Rose Siding]

26. This is a Talibanesque masquerade to cut service costs

If it were truly "conscience" related, wouldn't proof of marriage be required for Viagra Rx's?