Defenders of life called to polish arguments for the right to life
BC Catholic
U.S. physician and theologian is warning appeals to conscience rights may no longer be effective because they appear to pit physicians against their patients.
Instead, defenders of conscience rights must polish their rhetorical arguments in defence of good professional judgment and sound medicine, said Dr. Farr Curlin March 16. He was giving the annual Weston lecture sponsored by Augustine College.
A palliative care physician and co-director of the Theology, Medicine and Culture Initiative at Duke University in Raleigh, NC, Curlin has been called as an expert witness in the case of five Ontario doctors who are challenging the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario’s policy that would force physicians to make effective referrals on abortion, euthanasia, and other procedures they may find morally objectionable.
“The policy is outrageous and unprecedented,” Curlin said. “It’s also incoherent.” . . . [Full text]