Ask Government to Protect Rights of Conscience

 
President Barack Obama wants to overturn rules put in place by his predecessor that protect health care providers' freedom of conscience.

The regulations went into effect in December to reinforce federal laws that protect doctors and other medical staff from being forced to participate in abortion and other anti-life practices.

"It is open season to again discriminate against health care professionals," David Stevens, head of the Christian Medical & Dental Association, told The Washington Post. "Our Founding Fathers, who bled and died to guarantee our religious freedom, are turning over in their graves."

Freedom of conscience protection also protects patients who want access to hospitals and doctors who share their worldview.

"If we fail to protect conscience rights, we could find ourselves in the future without pro-life Christian physicians practicing medicine – something that negatively impacts both patients and the culture at large," said Carrie Gordon Earll, senior bioethics analyst for Focus on the Family Action.

Rep. John Fleming, R-La., and Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., both medical doctors, are asking their colleagues to join them in signing letters urging Obama to protect rights of conscience.

Ask the Health and Human Services Department to protect rights of conscience. Comments will be accepted until April 9. Please go to www.freedom2care.org and file a comment in support of the regulations that protect freedom of conscience rights for health care professionals. Your comment will be noted for the record, then forwarded to the Obama administration.

Contact: Jennifer Mesko
Source: CitizenLink
Source URL: http://www.citizenlink.org
Publish Date: March 17, 2009
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