September 21, 2012
(HLIAmerica.org) - In the September 13 issue of the New England
Journal of Medicine, Dr. Lisa Harris laments that there is no discussion of
conscience protection for abortion providers:
The persistent failure to
recognize abortion provision as “conscientious” has resulted in laws that do
not protect caregivers who are compelled by conscience to provide abortion
services, contributes to the ongoing stigmatization of abortion providers, and
leaves theoretical and practical blind spots in bioethics with respect to
positive claims of conscience — that is, conscience-based claims for offering
care, rather than for refusing to provide it.
Exactly what does Dr. Harris
feel the need to be protected from? As an abortion provider she is free to follow
her conscience and provide abortions to women in the United States at any stage
of pregnancy for any reason whatsoever. What obstacle is threatening her
conscience-based decision to provide abortions? Who is trying to force her to
abstain from including abortions in her medical practice?
On the other hand, medical
practitioners who oppose abortion face intense pressure from state licensing
agencies, insurance companies, and professional accreditation societies to
participate in abortions and compromise their moral principles. This pressure
comes in spite of the fact that abortion is a wholly elective procedure that,
as a major medical symposium in
Dublin recently affirmed, is unnecessary for women’s health. Failure to
perform abortion causes no harm. Legal protection for doctors, nurses,
pharmacists, and other health care workers who oppose abortion is essential for
them to work without unfair coercion and discrimination.
The truth is that Dr. Harris
is confusing the legal concept of conscience protection with societal and
cultural respect and acceptance. The stigmatization of abortion providers is
not the result of legal conscience protection for abortion opponents. Rather,
it is the very nature of abortion that draws condemnation.
Health care providers who
choose to include the wanton destruction of human life within the womb as part
of their medical practice must accept that large numbers of people, including
many of their colleagues, will find such work morally reprehensible. Abortion
is an affront not only to Catholics, but to many other Christians, as well as
Orthodox Jews and Muslims. It contradicts human dignity by designating some
human lives as disposable. Legal protection of conscience cannot guarantee a
general approval of your conscience-based decisions.
Dr. Harris might point to
many newly enacted restrictions on abortion as obstacles to her
conscience-based decision to be an abortion provider. However, elective
abortion has dire physical, emotional, and spiritual consequences for women. Any
limits on abortion that currently exist are meant to protect women and minimize
adverse effects. Waiting periods make sure women have the opportunity to
consider alternatives. Pre-abortion ultrasounds and mandated scripted warnings
of side effects make sure women are fully informed of the consequences of
abortion. Parental notification laws respect the integrity of the family and
protect parental rights. They give young girls the family support they need but
may be too afraid or confused to seek. Dr. Harris cannot use her own
conscientious decisions as grounds to perform abortions with no legal
limitations. The law has a duty to protect the weak and vulnerable from the
strong and powerful. The fact that abortion is legal means that thousands of
defenseless unborn children are unprotected from the conscience-based decisions
of abortionists.
In her closing statement,
Dr. Harris asserts:
Failure to recognize that
conscience compels abortion provision, just as it compels refusals to offer
abortion care, renders “conscience” an empty concept and leaves us all with no
moral ground (high or low) on which to stand.
As long as abortion is legal,
Dr. Harris and other abortionists are sadly free to ply their trade within the
scope of the law. Be aware, however, that a great many acts are legal yet
immoral. A declaration that abortionists feel compelled by their consciences to
kill defenseless human beings in the womb will do nothing to remove the stigma
of their gruesome occupation. Rather, it will only highlight how malformed
their consciences must be for them to desire the deaths of innocent children
and the ill effects of abortion on mothers.
Denise Hunnell, MD, is a
Fellow of Human Life International (HLI). She
writes for HLI’s Truth
and Charity Forum. This article first appeared on CNSNews.com.
Sursă: LifeSiteNews
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