Does an Illinois bill threaten doctors’ conscience rights? Depends on whom you ask

Catholic News Agency

Matt Hadro

Springfield, Ill., May 29, 2015 / 03:13 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- An Illinois bill that some say threatens the conscience rights of medical providers is currently under consideration in the state’s general assembly.

Catholics and pro-lifers are divided among themselves over the implications of SB 1564 for the conscience rights of medical providers.

While the state’s Catholic Conference is neutral on the bill, the Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom states that it “would force medical facilities and physicians who conscientiously object to involvement in abortions (and other procedures) to refer for, make arrangements for someone else to perform, or arrange referral information that lists willing providers, for abortions.” . . . [Full text]

 

Illinois controversy about legislative overreach

 Catholic bishops withdraw opposition, others remain opposed

Confrontation centres on complicity

Sean Murphy*

 Introduction

Among American states, Illinois has the most comprehensive protection of conscience legislation, the Health Care Right of Conscience Act (HCRCA). In 2009 an attempt was made to nullify the Act with respect to abortion, contraception and related procedures by introducing HB 2354 (Reproductive Health and Access Act), but the bill died in committee two years later.1 Now it appears that the HRCA may be changed by Senate Bill 1564. Critics say the bill tramples upon physician freedom of conscience,2 while the bill’s supporters, like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), claim that the bill is “about making sure no one is withholding information from the patient.”3

SB 1564 was actually drafted by the ACLU,3 but it was introduced by Illinois Senator Daniel Biss. He said that the amendments were partly in response to the case of a woman who was miscarrying over several weeks, but who was refused “diagnosis or options” in the hospital where she had sought treatment.4  Senator Bliss was apparently referring to the story of Mindy Swank, who testified before a Senate legislative panel about her experience.  The Illinois Times reported that she suffered “a dangerous, weeks-long miscarriage” because of the refusal of Catholic hospitals to provide abortions.5

Unfortunately, the Illinois Senate Judiciary Committee does not record or transcribe its hearings, and conflicting news reports make it difficult to determine exactly what happened at some critical points in her story.  Moreover, it appears that the Committee did not hear from the hospitals and physicians who were involved with Ms. Swank, so we are left with a one-sided account of what took place.6

Nonetheless, as a first step in considering the particulars of the bill and the controversy it has engendered, it is appropriate to review the evidence offered to support it.  We will begin with Mindy Swank’s testimony, even if some details are lacking, and then examine the experience of Angela Valavanis, a second case put forward by the ACLU to justify SB 1564.7  [Full Text]

Norton to ensure public hospitals offer abortion services

Stabroek News

Staff Writer

Minister of Public Health Dr George Norton has committed to making abortion available at all public health facilities in Guyana.

“The law says that it is a woman’s right to have a medical termination of a pregnancy if she so desires. It is therefore the government’s duty to provide that facility,” Norton told Stabroek News on Thursday.

Norton stressed that this commitment is not him personally advocating anything but simply fulfilling the mandate of his ministry. . . [Full text]

 

Doctors wrestle with role in assisted suicide

Huge ethical problem. Crisis of conscience. Religious conflict.

Chronicle-Herald

Mary Ellen MacIntyre

Like doctors across this country, those who practise medicine in Nova Scotia wonder what the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision on physician-assisted death will mean to them.

“The silence from the (federal) government has been deafening and the province is waiting for Ottawa,” said Dr. Gus Grant, speaking to the 20th annual meeting of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia on Friday.

Grant, the organization’s registrar and CEO, told the gathering that physicians must take part in discussions on how the new law will affect their practice and their treatment of patients. . . [Full text]

 

Colombia’s bishops seek conscience protection in wake of euthanasia directives

Communicado de la Comisión Permanente de la Conferencia Episcopal de Colombia

Statement of the Permanent Committee of the Episcopal Conference of Colombia

(Extract)

 . . . La Iglesia Católica quiere ahora reiterar, a través de la voz de sus pastores, su firme desaprobación a este grave extravío ético y moral. Consideramos gravísimo que derechos fundamentales, como el derecho a la vida, a la libertad de conciencia o a la libertad religiosa, consagrados en nuestra Carta Magna, sean injustamente restringidos por organismos que deberían ser garantes de la Constitución y de los derechos de los colombianos. . . . The Catholic Church now wants to reiterate, through the voice of its pastors, its firm disapproval of this serious ethical and moral loss. We consider it very serious that fundamental rights, such as the right to life, freedom of conscience or religious freedom, enshrined in our Constitution, are unjustly restricted by organizations that should be guarantors of the Constitution and of the rights of Colombians.
Como Iglesia Católica, siempre respetuosa del ordenamiento jurídico como base fundamental de la sociedad, solicitamos al Gobierno que, en los diversos campos sociales, entre ellos el de la salud, garantice a nuestras instituciones el poder desarrollar su labor en pleno acatamiento de sus propios valores e ideales. . . As a Catholic Church, always respectful of the legal system as the fundamental basis of society, we ask the Government, in the various social fields, including health, to guarantee our institutions to develop their work in full compliance with their own values and ideals. . .

[Full text]