Imagine you jump through the hoops to become a doctor. First, you get into college and spend four years getting your bachelor’s degree. Then, you have another four years of med school. After eight years of school, you have another three years or longer in residency before you are even on your own. We are talking about 11+ years of hard work before you can treat people by yourself.
After all that time, you finally open your own shop. In comes a gay couple and asks to be impregnated. You give one of them fertility pills, teach her how to knock herself up, but tell her that your religious beliefs prevent you from doing the deed.
Should you, as a doctor, be forced to perform a medical procedure that you don’t want to perform?
In California, you are:
Justice Joyce Kennard wrote in the ruling that two Christian fertility doctors who refused to artificially inseminate a lesbian have neither a free speech right nor a religious exemption from the state’s law, which “imposes on business establishments certain antidiscrimination obligations.”
In the lawsuit that led to the ruling, Guadalupe Benitez, 36, of Oceanside said that the doctors treated her with fertility drugs and instructed her how to inseminate herself at home but told her their beliefs prevented them from assisting her further.
The case drew numerous friends of the court briefs from a wide variety of religious organizations, medical groups and gay civil rights organizations.
The court said the the lesbian couple’s right to not be discriminated against trumped the doctor’s right to religious freedom. I say the court is wrong. The doctor should not be forced to perform this procedure.
As a private business owner, you should not be forced to provide anything to a person you don’t want to provide it to. This goes for a black business owner who doesn’t want to sell stuff to whites, or a homosexual who doesn’t want to serve straight folks. The government simply should not force them to do something they don’t want to do.
Opponents of my position will say that I am advocating discrimination and racism. I can see where they would think that. I see myself as looking out for minorities. Who is the smallest minority in America? In the world?
The individual.
The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.
- Ayn Rand
You may not like the idea that a person can refuse service based on bigotry, but I dislike the idea of government forcing anyone to do something they don’t want to do. I’m not advocating bigotry, but the freedom to be a bigot if you choose.
Let me try to explain this better. If I go to a doctor, and they say they are not going to treat me because I am a Christian, I don’t want that guy treating me anyway. Not only will I not go to that doctor, but I will tell my family and friends what happened. If there is a market for him, he will survive. If not, then he goes out of business. I would not consider asking the government to force him to do something he didn’t want to do.
If a doctor wants to risk his or her career by refusing service to homosexuals, they should have that right. If a black business owner wants to put a sign in his window that says, “African Americans Only,” go for it. Let the market and the people decide whether they stay in business, not the heavy hand of government.
Which is worse: to allow businesses to say, “I’m not going to serve you because of X, Y or Z…” or to have government say, “You are going to serve everyone who comes to you, regardless of your religious beliefs.” I don’t want anyone to be discriminated against, but I think the latter is the more dangerous scenario.
What do you think? Should businesses be forced to serve anyone, even when they don’t want to serve them?
