Protection of Conscience Project News
Service, not Servitude
A law passed in 1999 included a requirement that would force Catholic hospitals to provide employee insurance coverage for artificial contraception. This has resulted in a lawsuit against the state. An application for a preliminary injunction is to be heard in a Sacramento Court in late August.
Centrepoints Spring, 2000
Mr. Benson draws attention to the erroneous notion that “secular” means “faith-free”. He argues that this error is transmitted through the culture and imposed by the courts, thus allowing the “implicit faith” of atheists and agnostics to dominate and displace all others. “Why,” he asks, “should the opinions of those who don’t know or refuse to articulate what they believe dominate those who can say what they believe in and why they think it matters?” Full Text
Cameron Maxwell of the Edmonton Sun reported that Calgary’s Roman Catholic Bishop, Frederick Henry, supports pharmacists who refuse to sell “morning after” pills for reasons of conscience, as well as nurses who do not wish to participate in abortion.
Bishop Henry spoke of the need for protection of conscience legislation for all health care professionals. He noted that it was unfair that physicians could refuse to be involved in abortions, while nurses, pharmacists and others were denied similar consideration. Henry had first-hand experience with the problems faced by conscientious objectors when he was Bishop of Thunder Bay (See Bishop protests on behalf of nurses (Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada)(1997) ). He cited the more recent case of nurses at Calgary’s Foothills Hospital to illustrate the need for legislation. (See Foothills Hospital Now Forces Nurses To Participate In Genetic Terminations ; Nurses At Foothills Hospital Rebel Over The Horrifying Results Of Late-Term ‘Genetic Terminations’) .
Markham-Stoufville, Ontario, Canada
They did it!
After a five year battle, eight Ontario nurses won the right to refuse to assist in abortions at the Markham-Stoufville Hospital, just outside Toronto. The nurses had taken their fight to the Ontario Human Rights Commission, and one nurse, Ailene George, had filed a civil suit.
They hope their victory will be precedent-setting. “I want all nurses in the future to have the right to say, “No,” said Joanne Van Halteren, one of the eight. “This will have a ripple effect.”
The case was to be heard by the OHRC, but the sides reached a mediated settlement April 13 in which the hospital issued a policy respecting the nurses’ religious objections to performing abortions.
. . . The nurses’ battle took its toll. One nurse, Ann Mahon, died of cancer in May 1998. Others suffered stress-related illnesses. Una Clennon had a lump removed from her breast that her doctor believed was brought on by stress. [Full text]
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Cecilia Moore was a probationary employee of the British Columbia welfare department when a client asked for medical coverage for an abortion. The abortion would have been a criminal offence under the law in force at the time, and was, in the view of the attending physician, not only unnecessary for medical reasons but actually contra-indicated.
Moore refused to approve coverage on the grounds that the client was ineligible under departmental policy. However, her supervisor ordered her to sign authorization for coverage. Moore persisted in her refusal, citing policy, the criminal law and her own conscientious objections to abortion. Although rated as “an excellent worker”, she was dismissed.
Seven years later the BC Council of Human Rights ruled that Moore had been a victim of ‘adverse effect discrimination’ awarding $7,703.80 for compensation in lost wages and $1,000.00 as compensation for “humiliation.”
What follows is a summary of the facts drawn from the reported case and a summary of evidence prepared for the hearing. [Full text]