{"id":807,"date":"2004-05-14T18:35:07","date_gmt":"2004-05-15T01:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=807"},"modified":"2004-05-14T18:35:07","modified_gmt":"2004-05-15T01:35:07","slug":"project-letter-to-the-western-standard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=807","title":{"rendered":"Project Letter to the Western Standard"},"content":{"rendered":"

14 May, 2004<\/p>\n

Sean Murphy, Administrator
\nProtection of Conscience Project<\/p>\n

Should doctors be forced to abandon their faith?\u00a0\u00a0<\/a><\/em>by Terry O\u2019Neill\u00a0 draws attention to the problem of freedom of conscience in health care.<\/p>\n

A bit of history is instructive. The first protection of conscience clause debated in the House of Commons was introduced by M.P. Robert McCleave as an amendment to the Omnibus Bill that legalized abortion in\u00a0Canada in 1969. Mr. McCleave believed that abortion should<\/em> be\u00a0 legalized, but also believed that \u2018freedom of choice\u2019 should be extended to health care workers.<\/p>\n

Compare Mr. McCleave\u2019s notion of \u2018choice\u2019 with that espoused by Joyce\u00a0 Arthur. Speaking for the “Pro-choice Action Network,” she refuses to\u00a0 respect the choices of health care professionals who do not wish to participate morally controversial procedures. She seems to believe that freedom of conscience is a problem to be solved by abolishing it, at least\u00a0 in the case of those who don\u2019t agree with her. Arthur\u2019s position is doubly ironic, since Henry Morgantaler justified his defiance of Canadian abortion law in a 1970 article titled, A Physician and His Moral\u00a0Conscience<\/em>.1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Referral is not a satisfactory solution for many physicians who have\u00a0grave moral objections to a procedure. Objecting physicians hold\u00a0 themselves morally culpable if they facilitate an abortion by referring a\u00a0 patient for that purpose. Nor is this an unusual view. Consider the controversy in Canada over the deportation and torture of Maher Arar. This suggests that few believe that one can avoid moral responsibility for a\u00a0wrongful act by arranging for it to be done by someone else.<\/p>\n

Certainly, Joyce Arthur does not consider abortion to be a wrongful act. However, she has not explained why others should be forced to abide\u00a0by her moral views.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, between the writer\u2019s desk and publication, a couple of factual errors were introduced into the story.<\/p>\n

In the first place, the Project followed the case from the outset, and the student was provided with the same kind of service extended to others in similar situations. His relationship with the Project has been cordial,\u00a0 but it is incorrect to describe me as “a friend of the would-be doctor.” We have never met.<\/p>\n

More important, the final paragraph attributes to me statements that I did not make. While I am, nonetheless, in agreement with a number of the points made, I did not suggest that a devout Muslim doctor might refuse to\u00a0 treat women, nor make any statement to a similar effect.<\/p>\n

It would be most unfortunate if this falsely attributed statement were\u00a0 to contribute to the already adverse social pressures experienced by Muslims in North America. Muslim health care workers and students are\u00a0welcome to contact the Protection of Conscience Project. One of the\u00a0 Project advisors is Dr. Shahid Athar, a regent and former vice-president of the Islamic Medical Association of North America and the Chair of its\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Medical Ethics Committee<\/p>\n

\n

Notes <\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a>1. The article appeared anonymously in The Humanist<\/em>.\u00a0Quoted in Pelrine, Eleanor wright, Morgantaler: The Doctor Who Couldn\u2019t\u00a0Turn Away<\/em>. Canada: Gage Publishing, 1975, P. 79<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

14 May, 2004 Sean Murphy, Administrator Protection of Conscience Project Should doctors be forced to abandon their faith?\u00a0\u00a0by Terry O\u2019Neill\u00a0 draws attention to the problem of freedom of conscience in health care. A bit of history is instructive. The first protection of conscience clause debated in the House of Commons was introduced by M.P. Robert … Continue reading “Project Letter to the Western Standard”<\/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":[32,4,9,287,22],"tags":[1251,207,293,306,317],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-canada","category-commentary","category-news","category-protection-of-conscience-project","category-students","tag-henry-morgentaler","tag-joyce-arthur","tag-referral","tag-robert-mccleave","tag-sean-murphy"],"yoast_head":"\r\nProject Letter to the Western Standard - 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=807\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Project Letter to the Western Standard - Protection of Conscience Project News\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"14 May, 2004 Sean Murphy, Administrator Protection of Conscience Project Should doctors be forced to abandon their faith?\u00a0\u00a0by Terry O\u2019Neill\u00a0 draws attention to the problem of freedom of conscience in health care. 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