Doctors Say They'll Leave Practice If Forced to Perform Abortions

A recent poll by the Christian Medical Association found that 90 percent of doctors they asked said they would leave their practice if a Bush era rule was removed, forcing them to perform procedures they didn’t want to perform:

Doctors who oppose abortion and, in some cases, birth control pills say they may stop providing care if the Obama administration follows through on threats to repeal controversial Bush administration regulations aimed at allowing health care workers to refuse to provide care that conflicts with their beliefs. Opponents of the rules point out that those health care workers have plenty of other protections to fall back on.

According to a survey conducted for the Christian Medical Association, “90 percent of those surveyed said they will quit their practices before violating their conscience,” said David Stevens, the group’s executive director. Repealing the rules, which officially took effect on former President Bush’s final day in office, said Stevens, “sends a clear message: It’s open season on health care professionals of conscience — discriminate at will.”

Here’s a good question. Why is this even an issue on a federal level? What ever happened to federalism? Well, it turns out that there are protections on the state level. However:

…conscience laws are not always abortion-specific. Many reference sterilization; some are silent, allowing practitioners to exercise their right to opt out of providing sometimes controversial end-of-life care, in vitro fertilization, or even some birth control pills that some practitioners insist cause very early abortions by preventing fertilized eggs from implanting in a woman’s uterus.

The guy who wrote the rules for the Bush Administration, Joxel Garcia, said he didn’t know about these rules, and therefore thought a federal level rule was needed. But, he found out about the state level conscience rules while applying for jobs.

Maybe it’s me, but the problem here isn’t that the federal level protections are removed, but if the federal level starts forcing doctors to do something they don’t want to do. This is a great example of why federalism is so important.

The Constitution does not grant the federal government the power to compel doctors to do anything.

Here’s the rub though. If the hospital takes federal dollars, the federal government can then set the rules. Take their money, accept their rules. That’s why the Catholic Church is threatening to close one third of the hospitals in the country if Obama signs the Freedom of Choice Act.

It’s just like the mob. Just with more guns.

Photo Credit: The Consumerist