URGENT: Help on Conscience Laws - e-mail the President's Bioethics Council

[Guest guest]

For health professionals, patients, people of faith and good will:

Health providers need your help more than ever right now with

conscience legislation! The President's Council on Bioethics needs to

hear from patients that you need health providers WITH YOUR VALUES in

medical practice, ESPECIALLY in fields like ObGyn and Family Practice.

An important hearing on the right of conscience for health care

providers is coming up this Friday. Let them know in Washington that

you want Catholic, evangelical, pro-life or other doctors of faith to

take care of you. If you don't, we may be a rapidly disappearing

species! Especially potentially under a national health care plan in

unfriendly administration! A quick e-mail to the council will suffice.

A recent committee opinion ( " The Limits of Conscientious Refusal in

Medicine " ) by ACOG, the obgyn professional organization, puts all

pro-life obgyn's in jeopardy.

http://www.acog.org/from_home/publications/ethics/co385.pdf

Not only does this recent committee opinion imply that performing

abortion is " normal " obgyn practice - even though in surveys the

majority of obgyn's don't do abortions - but that obgyn's have the

DUTY to REFER for elective abortion. Furthermore, it is stated that an

abortion-deficient obgyn needs to practice in close proximity to

abortion providers so patients will have " access. " This means they

believe not only should a Catholic, evangelical, Orthodox Jewish, or

Muslim obgyn have to directly refer for abortion but also that a

pro-life obgyn should not even live in an area where he/she is the

sole obgyn provider!

This also goes for other services contrary to the faith of many health

providers such as artificial insemination, IVF, et cetera. And

especially emergency " contraception " which many physicians believe is

abortifacient. ABOG, a parallel organization that certifies obgyn's,

is going along with ACOG. This means a physician who doesn't toe the

line on these issues could potentially be thrown out of ACOG for being

" unethical " , lose board certification, hospital privileges, and

insurance contracts. We believe it will eventually lead to requiring

all obgyn's to perform abortions, as is the case in some countries

with national health services. Dr. Kathleen Raviele, President of the

Catholic Medical Assoiation, has written eloquent letters to the

offending organizations.

http://www.cathmed.org/ (scroll down on page for links to letters)

PRO-LIFE PHARMACISTS in a few states have already been prevented from

exercising conscientious objection. They are now FORCED to dispense

" Emergency Contraception " , even though some of these are small family

businesses and not big chains.

http://www.albertmohler.com/commentary_read.php?cdate=2005-04-13

And just two weeks ago the Supreme Court of California just issued a

decision against a San Diego obgyn who declined to perform artificial

insemination on a lesbian patient.

http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=34383

The situation for health providers has never been more serious. In

Sweden and other European countries with national health services,

Christian physicians - especially obgyn's have had to LEAVE MEDICAL

PRACTICE if they didn't want to perform abortions. THERE ARE WHOLE

NATIONS WITH NO CATHOLIC OBSTETRICIAN GYNECOLOGISTS. We are getting

closer to that situation in the U.S. - especially if a national health

plan is enacted under an unfriendly administration, with ACOG ethics

rules in place.

And imagine when the baby boomers get older and need expensive medical

care. Without conscience laws, family doctors, internists,

cardiologists and oncologists could get the boot for advocating what

the powers-that-be believe is " futile " care or not ordering " terminal

dehydration " as in Terry Schiavo's case. Or even outright

physician-assisted-suicide or euthanasia if it is legalized. The right

of conscience is NOT just a selfish right of physicians, but a

protection for patients. This has been the basis of Hippocratic

medicine for more than 2000 years.

Even if you cannot personally relate to a physician who does not want

to prescribe birth control pills or emergency contraception, there are

patients who value having doctors who follow their Catholic

principles. If conscience laws are abolished you as a patient may not

be able to contract with a doctor who shares YOUR values. You will be

much closer to losing your individual choices if all that is left are

doctors who will do whatever the national health care service or the

HMO's tell them to. vohttp://www.aul.org/Rights_of_Conscience

Please write the President's Bioethics Council and insist that you

want physicians who share YOUR values. Not all doctors have to do

everything! We need to have physicians who do not have to compromise

their Catholic, Orthodox, Christian, Muslim or pro-life beliefs in

order to practice medicine. Planned Parenthood has been hunting down

every single pharmacist who will not dispense emergency contraception.

And they are already gunning for pro-life obgyn's with the help of the

obgyn professional organizations, which are run by secular elites out

of touch with the beliefs of most Americans.

E-mail or write Diane Gianelli of the President's Council on Bioethics

ASAP before their next meeting on September 11-12 and let your voices

be heard. Do not let the other side drown you out!

diane.gian

Diane Gianelli

The President's Council on Bioethics:

1425 New York Avenue, NW

Suite C100

Washington, DC 20005

Phone:

Thank you!

L. Davenport, M.D.