Posted on 03/17/2008 3:06:40 PM PDT by wagglebee
WASHINGTON, DC, March 17, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt today expressed disappointment in a new policy put forth by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists ( ACOG ) which mandates that doctors refer for abortions. He also called on the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology ( ABOG ) to reject this policy and protect the conscience rights of physicians.
In a letter sent to ABOG Executive Director Dr. Norman Grant today asking for clarification, Secretary Leavitt notes, "It appears that the interaction of the [ABOG Bulletin for 2008 Maintenance of Certification] with the ACOG ethics report would force physicians to violate their conscience by referring patients for abortions or taking other objectionable actions, or risk losing their board certification."
In particular, the Secretary expressed concern that enforcement of this ACOG policy by certain federally-funded entities would violate federal laws against discrimination.
Secretary Leavitt continues, "As you know, Congress has protected the rights of physicians and other health care professionals by passing two non-discrimination laws and annually renewing an appropriations rider that protect the rights, including conscience rights, of health care professionals in programs or facilities conducted or supported by federal funds."
"I am concerned that the actions taken by ACOG and ABOG could result in the denial or revocation of Board certification of a physician who - but for his or her refusal, for example, to refer a patient for an abortion - would be certified," he wrote.
The letter concluded: "In the hope that compliance of entities with the obligations that accompany certain federal funds will not be jeopardized, it would be helpful if you could clarify that ABOG will not rely on the ACOG Ethics Committee Report, "The Limits of Conscience Refusal in Reproductive Medicine" when making determinations of whether to grant or revoke board certifications."
Not to mention the Hippocratic Oath as it was taken for thousands of years.
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...I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone.
To please no one will I prescribe a deadly drug nor give advice which may cause his death.
Nor will I give a woman a pessary to procure abortion.
But I will preserve the purity of my life and my arts...
I am actually old enough to have taken this oath
Fracturing this oath is a great harm to self
There aren’t many physicians left who took this oath and are still practicing; unfortunately, nearly all of the doctors who, in the early 1970s, laid the groundwork to slaughter 3500 infants per day DID take this oath.
I took a medical ethics class at a seminary, where we focused on the Hippocratic Oath. Interestingly in ancient times never more than a minority of physicians followed it... It was routine for example in Rome for medical doctors to perform surgical suicide on patients who requested it (as often “enemies” of the Emperor would do...to avoid torture).
It took the Christians of late antiquity and the early medieval period to resurrect (the originally pagan) Hippocratic Oath, giving doctors universal admiration, trust and respect.
Not until modern times, or really Roe v. Wade, has the Hippocratic Oath been watered down or ignored—as scientific morals more and more comes to resemble the ethics of 1930s Germany...
The Hippocratic Oath was written sometime in the 4th Century B.C. and remained virtually the same until just a few decades ago, what could have possibly changed that made the opposition to infanticide "obsolete"?
HHMMMMMM....here in WA State they are now forcing drugstores to OFFER the abortion pills.....instead of allowing women to be forwarded onto another drugstore that dispenses it down the street....
And the more leeway they are given, the more they will try to strip it down.
If dems get into power, any doctor who refuses to perform abortions will be fired.
Yes. Better believe it because it will happen.
I never got the chance to ask him ...
During the American Civil War, some thought that naturally tanned, dark skinned people were human beings and others thought that they weren’t. I’m happy that America recognizes human life for all people of all skin colors.
What if lawmakers and public officials forced Americans to “return the escaped property” of slave owners? How would we look upon them today?
Abortion isn’t popular. Why force the best minds and most talented of professionals into infanticide that is quite disgusting and against the very nature of the health profession?
Forcing the unwilling into such a sin (slavery and abortion) means that the meek will shy away from giving service. We’ll be left with mediocre or worse professionals. Perhaps this is what Satan has in mind all along. But eventually, the collective moral courage will rouse itself and deliver the truth of abortion into the public conscience. America and the world entire will see how evil it is and will reject it as profoundly as slavery is so roundly rejected today—even by the very political party that once so vehemently defended it.
This is no longer a political issue --- it is cultural. Great many Americans no longer recognize oppression when they face it. Was it not by some committee that the decision has been reached? Why do are practicing doctors not up in arms? The issue is not even what you think about abortion but the fact that a position on that issue can be mandated. This news no longer bothers anybody...
Feminism.
Makes me proud that we have an official in Levitt who is making an issue out of this. Someone in a position of power to oppose things like this is a Godsend. Oh wait....he’s a Mormon too. Never Mind.
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Nazis was my first thought reading this.
Catholic Hospitals would be de-certified in toto.
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