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Girl. Disposable. It’s a nightmarish scenario for Australian physician Dr. Mark Hobart, 55, who stands to lose his license for refusing to perform a sex-selection abortion and then for not referring the couple on to another physician. She told Dr. Hobart her husband wanted a son, not a daughter.It’s important to know that the woman went to another doctor, had the abortion a few days later, and lack of access to abortion is not the reason Hobart, a practicing Catholic with an impeccable 30-year career, is under siege by the Medical Board of Victoria. There is no need for an...

A Royal Navy medic was jailed for seven months today after he refused to draw a gun because he disagreed with the war in Afghanistan. Leading Medical Advisor Michael Lyons disobeyed the order by an officer to pick up an SA80 as part of rifle training on the grounds that it was 'against his moral beliefs.' Lyons, 25, told a court martial he became disillusioned with the service after reading about troops killing civilians on whistle-blowing website Wikileaks. He had already applied for, but had been denied, conscientious objector status when he was ordered to undertake the rifle training before...

Hartford, Conn. (AP) -- Officials say a junior officer at a Connecticut submarine base has received an honorable discharge after suing the Navy, saying his Quaker beliefs prevent him from participating in war. . . . As part of his honorable discharge, he will reimburse the Navy for his education.

A Muslim soldier from Texas who joined the U.S. Army last year now wants to leave the military, claiming he is a conscientious objector whose devotion to Islam has suffered since he took an oath to defend the United States against all enemies. Pfc. Naser Abdo, a 20-year-old infantryman assigned to the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Ky., filed for conscientious objector status in June because his faith and the military simply don't mix, he told FoxNews.com. The Army has deferred his scheduled deployment to Afghanistan.

Sporting a dragon tattoo on his forearm and skulls on both biceps, Cliff Cornell's looks tough. But he dissolves into tears as he reflects on his return to the Army four years after he fled to Canada to avoid the war in Iraq. "I'm nervous, scared," Cornell said, wiping puffy eyes beneath his sunglasses Monday at a Savannah hotel after a three-day bus ride from Seattle. "I'm just not a fighter. I know it sounds funny, but I have a really soft heart." Cornell, 29, of Mountain Home, Ark., planned to turn himself in to military police Tuesday at nearby...

Desmond T. Doss, Sr., the only conscientious objector to win the Congressional Medal of Honor during World War II, has died. He was 87 years old. Doss never liked being called a conscientious objector. He preferred the term conscientious cooperator. Raised a Seventh-day Adventist, Doss did not believe in using a gun or killing because of the sixth commandment which states, “Thou shalt not kill” (Exodus 20:13). Doss was a patriot however, and believed in serving his country. During World War II, instead of accepting a deferment, Doss voluntarily joined the Army as a conscientious objector. Assigned to the 307th...

Story of Conscientious Objector to be Theatrical Movie February 22, 2006 Silver Spring, Maryland, United States .... [ANN Staff] Nearly 60 years ago, a young Seventh-day Adventist who refused to bear arms was responsible for one of the greatest acts of heroism by a single person in combat. Now, that story is going to be developed as a major motion picture, and is expected to bring the message of non-combatancy to millions. Desmond T. Doss, a 24-year-old medic from Lynchburg, Virginia, stayed atop a blood-soaked escarpment on the island of Okinawa on May 5, 1945, lowering down soldiers pinned...

Kevin Benderman spends his days sitting in a plastic chair in the stockade at Fort Lewis, Wash., completing a 15-month sentence for "missing movement" with his unit. Jeremy Hinzman is raising his baby boy in Toronto, awaiting a court date when he hopes the Canadian government will grant him political asylum. Aidan Delgado is back in school, studying religion at the New College of Florida and practicing Buddhism. All three are among a small but growing number of soldiers who have become disillusioned with the war in Iraq and are trying to get out of their required service. Increasing numbers...

Going to war, more than job opportunities and money for college, is the post-September 11 allure for joining the armed services, military officials say. And, in a trend that bewilders and dismays those opposed to the war in Iraq, enlistment numbers are up and recruiting goals are mostly being met or exceeded.

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. -- U.S. Marine Cpl. Joel D. Klimkewicz says he's willing to clear land mines and risk his life for his country. He's just not willing to pick up a gun. Because of his new-found religious faith, the Birch Run native is spending his holidays behind bars as a conscientious objector, convicted by military superiors who see him as a disobedient soldier. "I couldn't see Jesus Christ taking human life," said Klimkewicz in a phone interview from the Camp LeJeune military prison. "In my faith, what I believe is that we're all citizens of heaven. Citizens of heaven...

Cardinal Warns of a Sign of Totalitarianism Defends Conscientious Objection in Face of Same-Sex "Marriage" Proposal VATICAN CITY, MAY 3, 2005 ( Zenit.org).- A nation that does not accept conscientious objection is a totalitarian state, says a Vatican official who was criticized for speaking out against Spain's proposal to legalize same-same marriage. Cardinal Alfonso López Trujillo, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, made that statement to the Vatican's Fides news agency after he was assailed by Spanish government officials for exhorting public officials not to officiate at weddings between homosexuals and to invoke conscientious objection. The lower house...

The family of a soldier imprisoned after refusing to work claiming he was a conscientious objector was surprised this week by news that he was transferred from a prison in Germany to one in Oklahoma. Former Army Spc. Blake Lemoine, 23, was given a bad-conduct discharge and seven-month prison term last month after being convicted of willfully disobeying orders he received while working in supply for the 596th Maintenance Company in Darmstadt, Germany. He was transferred from a military prison in Mannheim, Germany, to one in Fort Sill, Okla., on Monday, according to an Army spokesman. “Shock,” was the way...

Sgt. Kevin Benderman faces a tougher battle in his bid for discharge as a conscientious objector. The Fort Stewart soldier learned Wednesday that the investigating officer considering Benderman's request is recommending against his application. Benderman, 40, is still in the early stages of the process that could lead to his obtaining conscientious objector status. Experts say it could take a year or more. But the negative recommendation now makes Benderman's task more difficult. Benderman said that the investigating officers' packet includes incorrect information and material that has nothing to do with his conscientious objector application. "I'm going to file a...

The coming economic crisis. Unemployment. Health care for the poor. The almost 1,500 dead soldiers. The almost 100,000 dead Iraqis. Armstrong Williams and Maggie Gallagher. The Christian Conservative takeover of our nation. The missing 9 billion. The missing weapons of mass destruction. The impending invasion of Iran, and Syria. The total failure to protect us on 9-11.

Objecting to the Objector By Robin Mullins Boyd January 18, 2005 The Savannah Morning News recently ran a front page article about another one of the "poor" soldiers that has been so damaged by our military system that he has filed for conscientious objector status. The article stated that Sgt. Kevin Benderman had served one tour in Iraq but refused to serve another. He filed for conscientious objector status just weeks before his unit was deployed to Iraq. The article got me thinking about objecting to things that I disagreed with. If a soldier can claim offense to his conscience,...

Seventh-day Adventists are criticizing the Marine Corps for sentencing a Marine to seven months in prison for refusing to bear arms after undergoing a religious conversion. (snip) "In 36 years of dealing with these cases, this is the first one I've seen go so far," said Richard O. Stenbakken, a retired U.S. Army chaplain and Seventh-day Adventist Church pastor. (snip) "There is no reason anyone should get a felony conviction for a religious conversion." When ordered May 12, 2004, to draw a weapon from the unit's armory for a training exercise, the Marine refused. (snip) "There is a certain criteria...

Perry O'Brien went to war. Then he said no. America's campaign against the spread of terrorism has been divisive over the last three years, beginning with the invasion of Afghanistan, the hunt for Osama bin Laden and later the war in Iraq. It has split families and friends, become fuel for media pundits and classroom discussion, and made soldiers out of another generation. Perry O'Brien, 22, has the kind of background typical of soldiers in today's military: He's from a good family, is full of ideas and wants to serve his country. In another way he's not so typical. Three...

The Conscientious Objector Released by D'Artagnan Entertainment Before the Vietnam era, Hollywood movies celebrated the heroism of America's fighting men. Films like the Howard Hawks's classic Sergeant York (1941) told Americans the compelling stories of real-life soldiers against the backdrop of their nation's destiny. (Alvin C. York was a hero of World War I.) William Wyler's The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) depicted the lives of several American G.I.s after they returned home. One of the characters in the film, Homer Parrish, a young man who lost his hands during the war and finds it difficult to adjust to...

Staff sergeant seeks conscientious objector status, says he will not take part in `oil-driven war' NORTH MIAMI, Fla. - A U.S. soldier who refused to return to Iraq after seeing civilians killed reported to his unit in Florida on Tuesday and said he would go to prison rather than take part in "an oil-driven war." Staff Sgt. Camilo Mejia, who is seeking to be declared a conscientious objector, met with officials at his Florida National Guard unit after repeating his determination not to return to the Middle East and fight. "I'm prepared to go to prison because I'll have a...

Marine faces trial for refusing to fight`Against war,' reservist didn't want to kill during Iraq conflict `It's my right to be a conscientious objector,' he say[s.] KATHLEEN KENNA STAFF REPORTER A military trial that opens today in New Orleans is the first to try an American for refusing to fight during the Iraq war. Stephen Funk, 21, a U.S. Marine reservist, said he faces the possibility of court martial with uneasy calm. "I'm burned. I can't see them not doing it," he said by phone from Louisiana. "I just didn't expect it to be as big as it is." Funk...