Essay 2: Autonomy quickly translates to tyranny

Do the rights of patients in healthcare
trump everyone else's rights?

Note: This excerpt is the second in a series of essays on conscience in healthcare, by Jonathan Imbody, Vice President for Government Relations of the Christian Medical Association and Director of Freedom2Care. For other essays, click "ConscienceEssay" under Topics, at left.

In a New England Journal of Medicine piece entitled, "Physicians, Not Conscripts — Conscientious Objection in Health Care,"[i] Obamacare architect Dr. Emanuel Ezekiel and professor Ronit Stahl assert that the "rights of patients" in healthcare trump everyone else's rights. But why? On what basis?

Federal Legislation Top Priorities - 2018

Note: The official positions of the Christian Medical Association and its affiliated Freedom2Care cover many policy areas. To maximize impact with current resources, CMA's Washington office focuses on the foundational right to life and freedoms of faith, conscience and speech—upon which all other rights and freedoms hinge.

Top Priorities: Freedom of faith, conscience and speech

·        Conscience Protection Act – S. 301, H.R. 644 - Prevent government coercion related to abortion.

·        Free Speech Fairness Act – S. 264, H.R. 781 - Protect free speech on political issues for nonprofit organizations including churches.

Top Priorities: Right to life

·        Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act – S. 1922, H.R. 36 (passed) - Protect developing babies from abortions at the stage in which they can feel pain.

·        House Resolution on Dangers of Assisted Suicide – H. Con. Res. 80 - Prevent assisted suicide.

Other bills supported

·        Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act – S. 811, H.R. 1881 - Protect religious freedom of faith-based child service providers.

·        Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act - H.R. 217 - Redirect tax dollars from abortion businesses like Planned Parenthood to federally qualified health centers.

·        Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act – S. 220, H.R. 37 - Save lives of babies born in an abortion.

·        No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act – S. 184, H.R. 7 (passed) - Prevent tax dollars from funding abortion.

·        Parental Rights Resolution - S J Res 48 - Proposes an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relating to parental rights.

·        Federal Disaster Assistance Nonprofit Fairness Act – S. 1823, HR 2405 – Gives community centers, including tax-exempt houses of worship, eligibility for disaster relief and emergency assistance.

·        Heartbeat Protection Act - HR 490 – would not allow a physician to perform an abortion: (1) without first determining whether the fetus has a detectable heartbeat, (2) without informing the mother of the results, or (3) after determining that a fetus has a detectable heartbeat.

Christian Medical Association and Freedom2Care Applaud Administration's Actions to Protect Conscience in Healthcare

Washington, DC—October 6, 2017: Today the nation's largest association of Christian health professionals, the 18,000-member Christian Medical Association (CMA, www.cmda.org) applauded the administration's actions to restore conscience freedoms in healthcare. The administration took action concerning the Obamacare contraceptives mandate, insurance premiums used to pay for abortions, and regarding government respect for religious freedom.

"We are thankful to see these vital conscience freedoms restored in healthcare," noted CMA Senior Vice President Gene Rudd, MD, and Ob-Gyn physician. "For millennia, medical ethics have provided for conscientious opposition to abortion by physicians who took up the practice of medicine as a healing art never to be used for the destruction of human life. And until recently, our government reinforced those ethical principles with conscience protections. We are heartened to see our government heading back in the direction of these vital freedoms that protect patients, medicine and freedom in our country."

Jonathan Imbody, director of Freedom2Care (www.Freedom2Care.org), which is affiliated with CMA said, "As Americans who have inherited a nation founded upon freedom of faith, conscience and speech, we can agree that the government must never force individuals to violate their deepest held beliefs on vital and extremely controversial issues such as abortion. When our leaders forget these principles, and take to forcing nuns to participate in matters they consider wholly immoral, the American people realize that our fundamental freedoms are in jeopardy. If the government can take away the rights of one group, then no one is safe from government coercion.

"These actions today by the administration are an important step back in the direction of freedom and respect for one another, and we look forward to more actions in the future, including restoration of the conscience rule for health professionals that President Obama gutted."

Essay 1: Weaponizing "the patient comes first" eliminates ethical protections and professional judgment

Note: This excerpt is the first in a series of essays on conscience in healthcare, by Jonathan Imbody, Vice President for Government Relations of the Christian Medical Association and Director of Freedom2Care. For other essays, click "ConscienceEssay" under Topics, at left.

Obamacare architect Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel and University of Pennsylvania professor Ronit Stahl advocate barring from medicine all physicians who would decline a patient's demand for morally controversial services such as abortion.