Category: News Releases

NJ Legislature Considering ‘Reproductive Freedom Act’

Strips Medical Workers of ‘Conscience Protection,’ Legalizes Infanticide of Born-Alive Children

News Release

Rev. Clenard H. Childress Jr.,

MEDIA ADVISORY, Dec. 1, 2020 /Standard Newswire/ — “Cowardice asks the question, is it safe? Expediency asks the question, is it politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? But conscience asks the question, is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because it is right.” – Martin Luther King

A coalition of pro-life groups and concerned activists are holding a “Day of Outrage” protest at the offices of legislators sponsoring the “Reproductive Freedom Act.” This bill removes the “conscience clause,” meaning healthcare workers must assist in abortion through all 9 months of pregnancy. It gives impunity to those who would kill a child born alive.

“The Reproductive Freedom Act is a human trafficker’s best friend,” said Rev. Greg Quinlan for Garden State Families. Quinlan stated, “The Reproductive Freedom Act will allow anyone, of any age, regardless of their residency, to receive an abortion at the expense of New Jersey taxpayers. New Jersey taxpayers will be paying for abortions for women victimized by Human Traffickers.”

“This outrageous bill strips babies of their right to live, strips women of their right to safe healthcare, strips NJ healthcare workers and taxpayers of their rights of conscience not to participate in abortion, and even disenfranchises citizens from being able to rescind it in the future. This anti-freedom bill must be stopped in its tracks,” said Christine Flaherty, Executive Director, LIFENET.

The Working Together coalition has been designed to educate the public on the details of the bill and how this bill will detrimentally affect women. New Jersey will be joining California and New York in not requiring an abortionist to be a licensed medical doctor.

Shawn Hyland, director of advocacy for the Family Policy Alliance of New Jersey, said, “This unsafe bill threatens women’s health, jeopardizes children’s safety and criminalizes medical health professionals.”

Gwen Schwarzwalder, an activist with South Jersey Pro-Life Coalition, quoted from Albert Einstein,  “Never surrender conscience even if the state demands it.”

“The Reproductive Freedom Act shamefully disregards advances in prenatal medicine. Instead, it seeks to dehumanize and deprive babies in the womb of their life and dignity. It consigns them to inhumane procedures that would not be tolerated if done to a cat or a dog” said Marie Tasy, executive director, New Jersey Right To Life.

Rev. Clenard H. Childress Jr., founder of BlackGenocide.org, stated, “This change will further endanger women’s health and put their lives at risk. This lowering of care for disproportionately African American women is typical of the callous abortion industry. Abortion is the most performed surgery on women. No doctors?”

The coalition will have another “Day of Outrage” that will span over three counties, Wednesday, December 2, starting at these NJ legislative offices

10 a.m. – Assemblywoman Mila Jasey, 511 Valley St., Maplewood (Essex County

1 p.m. – Assemblyman Vincent Mazzeo, 2312 New Rd., Northfield (Atlantic County

2 p.m. – Senator Vin Gopal, 35 West Main St., Freehold (Monmouth County

The Pro-life coalition is a promoter of Prayerful and Peaceful protest. The civil rights of all our citizens is a chief priority of the coalition.

S-3030/A-4848

SOURCE Rev. Clenard H. Childress Jr.

CONTACT: Rev. Clenard H. Childress Jr., 201-704-9325; 

John Tomicki, League of American Families, 201-725-2154

Canadian parliament asked to prohibit coercion in euthanasia

Protection of Conscience Project proposes amendment to euthanasia/assisted suicide bill

News Release

Protection of Conscience Project

The Protection of Conscience Project is asking the Parliament of Canada to make it a crime to force people to become parties to euthanasia and assisted suicide.

The Project has proposed an amendment to Bill C-7, a pending euthanasia/assisted suicide bill. The amendment would establish that, as a matter of law and national public policy, no one can be compelled to become a party to homicide or suicide, or punished or disadvantaged for refusing to do so.

The proposed amendment would not prevent the provision of euthanasia or assisted suicide by willing practitioners, nor rational arguments aimed at persuading practitioners to participate, nor the offer of incentives to encourage participation. However, it would prevent state institutions or anyone else from attempting to force unwilling citizens to be parties to killing someone or aiding in suicide.

The need for the amendment is demonstrated by policies in Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Manitoba that compel health care workers to become parties to inflicting death upon patients. Further, Bill C-7 will increase demands that they participate in euthanasia and assisted suicide in increasingly controversial cases, since it will formally legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide for people who are disabled but not dying, and for those who lose the capacity to consent after having arranged for the procedures but before they have been provided.

Parliament has used its criminal law power to prohibit procedures that might be asked of health care workers, like female genital mutilation, and the government plans to prohibit some forms of “conversion therapy.”

“It is clear that the federal government can make it a crime to force people to become parties to homicide and suicide,” said Sean Murphy, Administrator of the Protection of Conscience Project.

“The Project hopes that Liberal, Conservative, Bloc, Green and Independent parliamentarians can agree that,whatever one might think about euthanasia and assisted suicide, it is unacceptable to compel unwilling Canadians to become parties to killing other people.”

Contact: Sean Murphy, Administrator
Protection of Conscience Project
protection@consciencelaws.org

Christian Medical Association Physicians Gain Support from Congress and States in Court Fight Against Discriminatory Firing

States and Members of Congress file brief supporting conscience rule protections

News Release

For immediate release

Christian Medical and Dental Associations (USA)

Washington, DC—May 26, 2020 – Christian Medical Association physicians (CMA*, www.cmda.org) received support from states, Members of Congress, minority groups, medical affiliate organizations, and legal experts who recently filed legal briefs in a case regarding a federal conscience protection rule for health professionals.

In New York v. HHS, CMA and Dr. Regina Frost are defending against attempts by states that want to discriminate against doctors and nurses who refuse to violate their consciences and medical judgment by performing procedures such as abortions or physician-assisted suicide. This case is now in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

CMA CEO Dr. Mike Chupp noted, “As a general surgeon who did patient care for over 30 years, my professional judgment has been based upon available medical evidence, training and experience, and a deep sense of obligation to care for my patients in a way that best benefits their health. The conscientious practice of medicine depends upon the integration of these factors by a healthcare professional. The informed conscience of every healthcare professional serves as an inner compass for the best kind of patient care. The HHS conscience rule affirms that our CMA members must be protected from violating their deeply held beliefs as they seek to serve all patients with excellence and compassion.”

CMA Senior Vice President for Bioethics and Public Policy and Obstetrician-Gynecologist, Dr. Jeffrey Barrows noted, “As an Ob-Gyn physician, I have delivered many babies of mothers and fathers who specifically sought a life-affirming physician for their care. The conscience rule not only upholds and enforces decades of federal law passed on a bipartisan basis; it also helps ensure that patients will have a choice of life-affirming physicians who match their values.

“All health care professionals must have the freedom to practice medicine without being forced to violate their conscience. The updated conscience rule released by HHS in 2019 ensures this freedom, establishing conscience protections for all health care professionals, regardless of faith background.”

Evidence indicates that conscience protections help ensure patient access to healthcare at a time of physician shortages nationally. National polling commissioned by CMA and conducted in 2019 by an independent polling firm found that while faith-based health professional respondents overwhelmingly said that they care for all patients regardless of agreement with patients’ choices, none of ten said that being required to violate their consciences would force them to leave the practice of medicine.

For more information on the court case and access to the amicus briefs, see https://www.becketlaw.org/case/new-york-v-hhs/.

For legal perspectives and attorney interviews, contact Ryan Colby: media@becketlaw.org, 202-349-7219.

*The Christian Medical Association serves approximately 19,000 members and, along with the Christian Dental Association, forms the Christian Medical & Dental Associations.

Broad support to protect doctors, nurses from discriminatory firing

Medical groups, minorities, legal experts line up against New York’s attempt to block healthcare anti-discrimination law

News Release

For immediate release

Becket Law

WASHINGTON – A diverse group of states, Members of Congress, minority groups, medical affiliate organizations, and legal experts recently filed half-a-dozen briefs supporting the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s (HHS) Conscience Rule, which provides federal conscience protections for medical professionals. In New York v. HHS, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is defending Dr. Regina Frost and the Christian Medical & Dental Associations (CMDA) from attempts by states to discriminate against doctors and nurses who refuse to violate their consciences and medical judgment by performing procedures such as abortions or physician-assisted suicide.  This case is now in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Highlights from the friend-of-the-court filings in New York v. HHS:

  • A congressional brief filed by dozens of Members of Congress explained why the new rule’s provisions flowed directly from unchallenged—and bipartisan—statutory protections for medical conscience that have been on the books for decades.
  • Former Senator Coats and former Representative Weldon (the named sponsors of two key statutory conscience protections for healthcare providers) filed their own brief in support, explaining why conscience protections are important for health care providers and how the government’s new regulation supports key bipartisan statutory protections that have long been on the books.
  • The Jewish Coalition for Religious Liberty and the Coalition for Jewish Values also highlighted the disproportionate impact that New York’s lawsuit would have on medical professionals of minority faiths.
  • The Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence explained why this new rule helps the government better enforce existing federal conscience protections.
  • A coalition of medical professional organizations—including the American College Of Pediatricians, the Catholic Medical Association, and the National Catholic Bioethics Center—filed a brief highlighting ongoing threats to medical professionals of faith and explaining why this rule will help ensure medical providers cannot be coerced by employers to either violate their conscience or lose their job.

“Healthcare is one area where protecting conscience is particularly vital,” said Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, in a brief on behalf of sixteen states. “That is why Congress has routinely enacted laws to ensure that these professionals can provide care without violating their beliefs.”

Polling from last year shows that religious healthcare professionals are committed to serving all patients, but face increasing pressures to engage in procedures such as abortions that violate their faith, which could force over ninety percent of religious doctors out of the medical field.  The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a Conscience Rule last year to better enforce bipartisan laws that, for decades, have promised to allow religious doctors, nurses and healthcare professionals to serve patients without facing employment discrimination directed against their consciences. The Rule simply clarifies and enforces existing federal statutes designed to ensure religious health professionals won’t be forced out of the practice of medicine by entities that voluntarily choose to accept federal tax money. But, led by the State of New York, several states and abortion providers are suing to keep the federal funds while preventing the government from enforcing the conscience protections that they agreed to when they accepted the funds.

“It is encouraging to see this broad coalition stand up in support of conscience rights,” said Dr. Regina Frost. “I hope the Court will recognize that the Rule simply enforces common-sense, bipartisan protections that protect both medical professionals from unjust discrimination and patients from losing their doctors.”

Dr. Frost is an OB-GYN and one of nearly 19,000 medical professionals in CMDA serving the sick and vulnerable in the United States and abroad. CMDA members serve the homeless, prisoners living with HIV, and victims of opioid addiction, sex trafficking, and gang violence. Overseas, CMDA members serve in war zones, refugee clinics, and remote areas without quality healthcare. New York’s lawsuit needlessly threatens the health and well-being of at-risk, underserved populations across the globe.

Dr. Frost and CMDA are also represented by Allyson Ho and Daniel Nowicki of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP.

For more information or to arrange an interview with a Becket attorney, contact Ryan Colby at media@becketlaw.org or 202-349-7219.Interviews can be arranged in English, Chinese, French, German, Portuguese, Russian, or Spanish.

Additional Information

Case Page: New York v. HHS

Link: Friend-of-the-Court Briefs in New York v. HHS

Legal Doc: Order in New York v. HHS 11/06/2019

Link: Media Kit

“We are being bullied to participate in medical assistance in dying”

Alert from a growing number of Canadian physicians

News Release

Physicians’ Alliance Against Euthanasia

Montréal, March 9, 2020 – The Physicians’ Alliance against Euthanasia has received reports that unwilling physicians are being pressured and bullied to participate in Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD): euphemism for euthanasia and assisted suicide.  Fearing reprisals, physicians have asked that no information that could identify them be disclosed.

The pressure has been intense for many physicians, especially amongst palliative specialists, some leaving even before this latest development. Descriptions were made of toxic practice environments and fear of discipline by medical regulators.

“The anxiety, fear, and sadness surrounding my work bled into my family life, and I ultimately felt that I could not manage practicing palliative care at this stage of my life.”  (Former palliative care physician, March 2020)

In different locations across Canada over the last months to weeks there has been a change in certain hospital MAiD policies. The change seems intended to provoke crisis or confrontation: to force objecting physicians to facilitate MAiD, or to have to refuse — and face contrived allegations of “obstructing access.” 

Reports consistently focus on the MAiD providers refusing to accept full responsibility for the death of the patient and forcing other physicians to share responsibility for the death. If the physician asks to withdraw from care and allow the MAiD provider to take over as before, the MAiD provider resists assuming the natural pattern of care.

The reports we are hearing from distressed physicians describe deliberate disruption of arrangements that were previously working satisfactorily and that had permitted patients to have access to MAiD while still allowing for conscience objectors to not be involved in facilitating the patient’s death. This bullying and betrayal of collegial relationships can poison practice environments and compromise patient care. Such behavior should not be tolerated by health care administrators in Canada.

Canadian physicians having similar stories of bullying are encouraged to contact the by email: info@collectifmedecins.org.

Contact: Charmine Francis,Coordinator
438-938-9410
info@collectifmedecins.org

Resources:

Canadian Medical Protective Association: Most Responsible Physician: A key link in the coordination of care.

Lauren Vogel. Culture of bullying in medicine starts at the top.
Canadian Medical Association Journal (December, 2018

Camille Bains. Systemic change needed to address suicide among physicians in Canada, doctors say. CBC News/Canadian Press (May, 2019)

Gabrielle Horne. Physician, heal thyself: the potential crisis of conscience in Canadian medicine. What if your faith in doctors having conscience was shaken? Globe and Mail (May, 2019)