Protection of Conscience Project News
Service, not Servitude
The U.S. Agency for International Development has published a directive that includes a provision that prevents the federal government from denying funds to groups because they refuse to provide services to which they have moral or religious objections. The directive concerns only specific programmes funded by one agency, but it is of interest because the Obama administration has discriminated against a Catholic agency because of its refusal to provide abortion and contraception. [CNS]
The Attorney General of Alabama is reported to be seeking to join a lawsuit against the federal government launched by the Eternal Word Television Network to stop the federal government from forcing objecting employers to provide insurance coverage for surgical sterilization, contraceptives and embryocides. The Attorney General considers the Obama administration’s regulation unconstitutional. [WAAY TV]
The Select Committee on Dying with Dignity has tabled a report unanimously recommending “relevant legislation be amended” to allow euthanasia in the province of Quebec. The Committee also recommends that objecting physicians be forced to refer for the procedure. According to the recommendations, conscientious objections by nurses will be allowed, but it does not indicate whether or not they should be compelled to participate in or facilitate the procedure by referral or other means. The Committee recommends that codes of ethics for physicians and nurses be amended accordingly. The recommendations are available in English, but the report will not be available in English until May [Quebec National Assembly].
The Philippines Congress will recess without taking a vote on the Reproductive Health Bill. The bill includes a number of provisions that are problematic with respect to freedom of conscience for health care workers. [See The RH Bill: the shape of things to come?]
The State of Washington has announced that it will appeal a decision by a U.S. District Court Judge that held that a state regulation was deliberately intended to deny freedom of conscience to pharmacists, and therefore unconstititional. [Yakima Herald]