Posted on 01/16/2009 3:09:48 AM PST by markomalley
California and six other states sued the federal government Thursday over a new rule that expands protections for doctors and other health care workers who refuse to participate in abortions and other medical procedures because of religious or moral objections.
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal sued in federal court in Hartford on behalf of the states.
They claim the federal rule, issued by the Bush administration last month and set to take effect Tuesday, would trump state laws protecting women's access to birth control, reproductive health services and emergency contraception.
California Attorney General Jerry Brown said state law already allows health care providers and workers to refuse to dispense contraceptives or perform abortions if they notify their employer in writing.
He said the new regulations would eliminate any requirement to notify the employer, the health facility or the patient.
"California has carefully and thoughtfully struck a balance between the right to use contraceptives and the right of health care providers to abstain from administering them," Brown said in a statement. "This illegal and stealth regulation threatens to erode women's hard-fought privacy rights."
At stake are billions of dollars in federal public health money received annually by the states. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services could order a return of all HHS funds from state and local governments that violate the regulation.
Rebecca Ayer, director of media affairs for the department, said the agency has not yet reviewed the lawsuits and will respond to them in court.
Under long-standing federal law, institutions may not discriminate against individuals who refuse to perform abortions or provide a referral for one. The administration has said the new rule is intended to ensure that federal funds don't flow to providers who violate those laws.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
pro-life ping! (for your lists)
Not to worry, Obambi will fix this next Tuesday.
Yup, Obamis Freedom Of Choice Act will put an end to all this pro-life clap-trap. 40 million abortions under Roe v. Wade wasn't nearly enough for the libs. God this just makes me cry.
So you can have conscientious objectors to military service, but not to abortion? It’s a ‘woman’s right to choose’ when it comes to getting an abortion, but a physician can’t choose not to perform them?
Hippocratic Oath
Original, translated into English:[1]
“ I swear by Apollo, Asclepius, Hygieia, and Panacea, and I take to witness all the gods, all the goddesses, to keep according to my ability and my judgment, the following Oath.
To consider dear to me, as my parents, him who taught me this art; to live in common with him and, if necessary, to share my goods with him; To look upon his children as my own brothers, to teach them this art.
I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone.
I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan; and similarly I will not give a woman a pessary to cause an abortion.
But I will preserve the purity of my life and my arts.
I will not cut for stone, even for patients in whom the disease is manifest; I will leave this operation to be performed by practitioners, specialists in this art.
In every house where I come I will enter only for the good of my patients, keeping myself far from all intentional ill-doing and all seduction and especially from the pleasures of love with women or with men, be they free or slaves.
All that may come to my knowledge in the exercise of my profession or in daily commerce with men, which ought not to be spread abroad, I will keep secret and will never reveal.
If I keep this oath faithfully, may I enjoy my life and practice my art, respected by all men and in all times; but if I swerve from it or violate it, may the reverse be my lot. ”
People who put their principles first are always to be admired — except, it seems, when their principles oppose abortion.
If I understand the so called Freedom of Choice Act, it will also force all hospitals to perform abortions. If this is true, then all the Catholic hospitals will close and we will have a real healthcare crisis.
If Obama does manage to get FOCA through, I hope that our Catholic bishops will either close the hospital or openly and flagrantly defy the law. I also hope they make it clear that they will openly and publicly ex-communicate any in the Congress who vote for its passage. Screw this “tax-exempt” status - and whatever else stands in the way of speaking the truth.
Why can’t they go to another doctor or pharmacist?
Seriously, it’s time to really stand up and openly defy the law when the law demands you do something God forbids.
We can’t force women to not have abortions,
but we damn well can refuse to force doctors to perform them.
As a Catholic, I only hope that Obama pushing this FOCA will quickly bring about “buyer’s remorse” to the 54% of the allegedly Catholic vote. I truly don’t believe the Bishops did enough before the election to clearly educate or lead on this matter. Yes, that would require specifically naming candidates for whom it would be morally objectionable to vote for and that would violate the law governing the tax-exempt status. I think they should have done it anyway.
I think it’s that 54% of “My people, who are called by My name”, that didn’t “humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways”, that caused God to withhold “healing our land”.
2 Chronicles 7:14 (New International Version)
14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
“Why can’t they go to another doctor or pharmacist?”
Because they want to impose their will on those they don’t agree with. They throw around the terms ‘diversity’ and ‘tolerance’, but they actually have no tolerance for alternative thoughts and ideas. They want homogeneity of thought, not diversity.
yep, noodat...
can’t have anyone around that expressly or implicitly tweaks the conscience of pro-aborts or had-aborts that killing babies is wrong.
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