Health Care Conscience

The HHS regulations that codify several existing Federal statutes prohibiting discrimination against health professionals, who decline to participate in abortions or other medical procedures because of their religious or other moral objections, have been challenged in court. The suit was filed by attorney generals of eight states, Planned Parenthood of America and The National Family Planning Reproductive Health Association

The Obama Administration announced on February 27, 2009, it was reviewing a proposal to rescind the regulations, which took effect two days before his inauguration. In other words, then President Bush, had issued these regs before the Obama inauguration. 

Without the regulations health care professionals would be subject to the imminent threat of being forced to perform abortions, assist in abortions, train for abortions and refer individuals for abortion, despite their religious, moral and ethical objections to the practice of abortion. 

Attorneys from the Alliance Defense Fund and Center for Religious Freedom filed the motion for the following reasons. "Physicians must defend their right to practice medicine in accordance with their conscience. It's a very important principle that every physician should support." Without conscience protections, physicians or other health care professionals could be subject to government regulations that would force them to participate in the executions of death row prisoners, if the state could not find volunteers. 

The current law suits support the notion that a court can demand health care professionals perform actions they believe to be evil. This issue has been blurred in the debate. 

Matthew Bowman of the Alliance Defense Fund states: "When they try to strike down a regulation that implements law in place for thirty years, it affects every health care professional."  

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