Service, not Servitude
Wesley J. Smith has critized the wording of New Hampshire bill HB1653 because it “obliterates the fiduciary nature of the doctor’s role by allowing medical professionals to abandon patients for virtually any reason.” He urges that the bill be revised.[Second Hand Smoke] New Hampshire currently has no protection of conscience legislation.
A 1994 bill introduced in the US Senate by Democratic Party Senator Daniel Moynihan included the kind of protection of conscience provision now being denied to religious employers by President Obama, also a Democrat. [See 1994 provision]
A study by Dr. Sandra S. Hapenney has revealed that almost half the Catholic hospitals surveyed in seven states performed over 20,000 surgical sterilizations and billed them as “sterilization for contraceptive management.” The results of the study are disputed by Catholic Health Association of the United States, which, despite not having reviewed it, has stated that it contains “gross errors.”
Dr. Hapenney has demanded that the CHAUSA identify the errors. “Until they establish facts contrary to the findings of my research, they should avoid inaccurate and uniformed disparaging characterizations. Such attacks are as unjust and unwarranted as they are unworthy of the Catholic heritage these institutions represent.” [Daily Record]
An on-line letter to President Obama, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and members of Congress posted about 17 February has been signed by about 2,500 women, mainly Catholics, but from other denominations as well. “No one speaks for all women” on issues related to contraception and abortion, it states.
Those who purport to do so are simply attempting to deflect attention from the serious religious liberty issues currently at stake. . . . We call on President Obama and our Representatives in Congress to allow religious institutions and individuals to continue to witness to their faiths in all their fullness.
Nebraska, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Florida and Texas have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, and the U.S. Department of Labor and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis. The suit alleges violation of the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act through the HHS birth control mandate that will force insurance coverage for surgical sterilization, contraceptives and embryocides.[CNN]