{"id":5544,"date":"2015-01-23T22:10:14","date_gmt":"2015-01-24T06:10:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=5544"},"modified":"2018-03-05T22:28:50","modified_gmt":"2018-03-06T06:28:50","slug":"a-modest-proposal-for-respecting-physicians-freedom-of-conscience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=5544","title":{"rendered":"A modest proposal for respecting physicians\u2019 freedom of\u00a0conscience"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalpost.com\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\">National Post<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"author\">Margaret Somerville<\/p>\n<p>The Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons is consulting on whether patients\u2019 right of access to certain procedures, such as abortion, should trump the rights of those physicians who refuse, for reasons of conscience, to provide them. Dr. Marc Gabel, a College official, chairs the working group looking at this issue, which is drafting a new policy on &#8220;Professional Obligations and Human Rights.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Gabel has been reported as saying that &#8220;physicians unwilling to provide or facilitate abortion for reasons of conscience should not be family physicians&#8221; and it seems wants the College to approve that stance. Sean Murphy, of the Protection of Conscience Project, argues that &#8220;if it does, ethical cleansing of Ontario\u2019s medical profession will begin this year, ridding it of practitioners unwilling to do what they believe to be wrong.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Freedom of conscience, like the other fundamental freedoms enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, is a fundamental pillar of democracy. So how could breaching this right be, as Dr Gabel claims, &#8220;required by professional practice and human rights legislation&#8221;? . . . [<a href=\"http:\/\/news.nationalpost.com\/2015\/01\/23\/margaret-somerville-a-modest-proposal-for-respecting-physicians-freedom-of-conscience\/\" target=\"_blank\">Full text<\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>National Post Margaret Somerville The Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons is consulting on whether patients\u2019 right of access to certain procedures, such as abortion, should trump the rights of those physicians who refuse, for reasons of conscience, to provide them. Dr. Marc Gabel, a College official, chairs the working group looking at this issue, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=5544\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;A modest proposal for respecting physicians\u2019 freedom of\u00a0conscience&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5432,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,508,459],"tags":[385,187,1475,225,566],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-5544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-canada","category-ethical-commentary","category-pluralism-secularism","tag-college-of-physicians-and-surgeons-of-ontario","tag-human-rights","tag-marc-gabel","tag-margaret-somerville","tag-physicians"],"yoast_head":"\r\n<title>A modest proposal for respecting physicians\u2019 freedom of\u00a0conscience - Protection of Conscience Project News<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=5544\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A modest proposal for respecting physicians\u2019 freedom of\u00a0conscience - Protection of Conscience Project News\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"National Post Margaret Somerville The Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons is consulting on whether patients\u2019 right of access to certain procedures, such as abortion, should trump the rights of those physicians who refuse, for reasons of conscience, to provide them. Dr. Marc Gabel, a College official, chairs the working group looking at this issue, &hellip; Continue reading &quot;A modest proposal for respecting physicians\u2019 freedom of\u00a0conscience&quot;\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=5544\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Protection of Conscience Project News\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ConscienceProject\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-01-24T06:10:14+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-03-06T06:28:50+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@consciencepro\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@consciencepro\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=5544#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=5544\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"A modest proposal for respecting physicians\u2019 freedom of\u00a0conscience\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-01-24T06:10:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-03-06T06:28:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=5544\"},\"wordCount\":192,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario\",\"human rights\",\"Marc Gabel\",\"Margaret Somerville\",\"physicians\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Canada\",\"Ethical Commentary\",\"Pluralism &amp; 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