'Conscience clause' grows in health care

[Christof]

Support sought for those who opt out of abortion, contraception

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

Edit: I apologize if this was brought up before. It makes me so angry that I needed to post this now. :grr: I encourage everyone to write your lawmakers and tell them this is unconstitutional! :grr:

[trotsky]

1. They can't win at the ballot box,

so they resort to thuggery. Typical brownshirt activities.

[brainshrub]

2. I'm anti-abortion, but I'm pro-choice.

I see no problem with "moral clauses."

If a doctor does not want to preform an abortion, why should we force her? It's not like a woman can't find another perfectly competent physician.

I also don't see why my tax dollars should be used to fund abortions. (Important exception for saving the life of the mother.)

That's my 2-cents.

Just to be clear: Making abortions illegal would be useless and ultimately lead to lots of women getting hurt. I wish I had a solution to this sticky issue... but that's why I support a womans right to choose.

[Christof]

5. If the doctor doesn't want to perform an abortion,

then he or she needs to get into a different profession. It's their JOB to perform tasks such as abortion if someone wants one. Or am I naive and have the whole job description wrong?

[brainshrub]

9. If I understand a doctors job:

it's to save life, not take it. Therefore, if your believe that a fetus is a human being, and you have taken a vow not to harm human life, then you should not be forced to perform an abortion.

As long as your condition isn't life threatening, why should a doctor preform a procedure she doesn't want to do? Just because you want cosmetic surgery doesn't mean a doctor is obligated to do it.

[jdj]

6. My tax dollars fund one hell of alot that I object to.

A doctor or pharmacy can make sure to hire fellow thugs from the xtian mafia to make sure that the business or company as a whole will not prescibe birth control or fill prescriptions. If you are out of touch with the religious right wing shadow gov't that exists in many small towns, visit the south, and then you will see why this is such a threat.

[brainshrub]

11. I live in NC.

Is that South enough for you?

And I have know idea what point you are trying to make. It don't answer the underling issue: Why should the govt force you to do something when you believe that to partake in such an action would harm human life?

If the life of the mother is in jeopardy, then I understand the dillema... but last time I checked, being pregnant is not a usually considered a disease.

[REP]

14. Pregnancy is a Life-Threatening Condition Always

Don't believe me? Fine; check out any text book on obstetrics.

If a doctor wants to make sure s/he is never in a poition to perform an abortion, s/he should stay out of obstetrics and emergency medicine. Easy enough.

If a pharmacist doesn't want to dispense birth control pills, since they can prevent implantation of pweshush pweborn blastocyst, they should pick another fucking profession.

[fortyfeetunder]

7. with your logic....

what happens when all the alternatives are gone?

As it is, our country is all for saving the unborn, but barely does squat for pre-natal care when the babies are born.

I cringe every time I hear about a young woman who has a baby and leaves it to die or actually kills it.

I'm all for contraception and when that fails, safe pregancy termination alternatives....

[zaj]

10. I've always been pro-choice... but I agree with you...

... I don't think a doctor is required to perform an abortion. Even in the case of rape.

If it's required to save the life of the patient/mother, that is a different story, and i would expect the doctor to do what the must to save the mother's life.

If it's an emergency situation, I would expect that the doctor would perform the procedure.

If it's not require immediately, then I expect the patient/mother could find an alternative doctor quickly enough to perform the procedure.

[MercutioATC]

3. Great! Let them deal with the Jehova's Witness nurse who refuses

to perform a transfusion a couple of times and they might rethink this. Let them stew in their own juices, I say.

[Christof]

4. I agree.

Since they don't want to fill birth control, then they're also screwing themselves.

What are they going to think when they get pregnant because their pharmacists didn't give them their birth control?

[Paul Hood]

8. I wonder how long

a pharmacist would last who wouldn't dispense viagra to a man, if he thought he was having sex just for fun? Or as Alan Keyes put it, if he was just a selfish hedonist.

[Nobody]

12. If you ever get faced with these moralizing idiots at the pharmacy

The pharmacist is usually not alone. There's usually a pharmacy tech there with him/her. Whichever one tells you they won't fill the prescription, ask the other person on duty to fill it instead. Pharma techs are qualified to dispense meds.

If we're going down the path to the Republic of Gideon, I damn well want to see signage warning potential customers way ahead of time so you don't end up with a non-Jehovah's Witness wanting blood pressure meds and ending up in a totally Jehovah's Witness run and operated pharmacy and discovering that these meds won't be dispensed to you.

The problem is: Schedule II opioids have been abused a lot and some doctors are writing far too many prescriptions for the purpose of diversions. Pharmacies are already allowed to refuse to dispense them if diversion is suspected. War on drugs, you know. Now it's going to non-addictive substances and for moralistic reasons.

Birth control pills? Seems to me that some of the more rabid elements of the pro-birth crowd just hate to see a young, non-pregnant woman.

[phylny]

13. I believe if someone has an objection to filling prescriptions

or performing procedures, they need to make it known to the pharmacy or the hospital or office they're working at. They need to make it publicly known. Then said pharmacy or hospital has the right to fire them without impugnity for failure to perform their duties. They are free to find employment at, say, a Catholic hospital where they do not perform abortions, tubal ligations, vasectomies, nor dispense contraceptives.

Patients, too, should know up front that their pharmacist or doctor will refuse to perform certain duties, and can therefore make informed decisions. Those who are in favor of pick and choose medicine can populate the office. Those who are opposed can find another health care provider. Pharmacies had damned well better have TWO people on staff who can dispense medicine - and absorb the cost of two salaries versus one for that shift.

I think this is a very, very dangerous precedent. I'm a speech-language pathologist, and I don't pick and choose the people I help. "Oh, he has AIDS? Sorry, won't do it. What, she's got Hepatitis? Um um, no, won't do it."

Once you start this pick and choose sort of service delivery, it all goes down the tubes. If you object, go find a place to work where it won't impact your patients. Otherwise, do your job, or pick a different profession.

[Nobody]

16. I totally agree and this pisses me off a great deal

First it was Plan B, now it's contraceptives. What's next? Blood pressure pills? Migraine headache medicine? Post op pain meds? Are we going to wind up with a system where it's a crapshoot whenever you walk into a pharmacy?

These moralizing idiots seem to think that all women should be pregnant at all times and that butting into women's business is just dandy.

I would have been fired if at my previous job as an IT professional I had refused to work on the computer of someone with a "Republican of the Year" certificate dated 2000.

[REP]

15. Most of My Prescription Drugs Are Fatal to Fetuses

Am I going to have to piss on a stick or show my tubal ligation scars to prove I'm not knocked up in case I run into an overly-sensitive pharmacist who's poor widdle conscience is afraid I might harm a fetus by taking the medicines I need to prolong my life?

[Dastard Stepchild]

17. My understanding was that the pharmacist...

was to fill the prescriptions my physican has written for me, sans questions regarding its necessity or merit. It is not the pharmacist's duty to question the appropriateness of my health care, and if they have a difficult time performing the duties of their job, perhaps a change of careers would be the best for them. I am a vegan, and I don't like meat. Hence, I don't work in a slaughterhouse. I could try to get a job there, then make a big stink about how it is an affront to my morals, but frankly, it's just best that I not take that kind of job. While health and care issues do not exist in an ethical vacuum, a degree of impartiality is necessary to provide the most responsive care for patients.
I am sorry to hear of this - it can be difficult enough to get adequate reproductive care in the South - this will add yet another barrier for women. Most unfortunate.