Editor's Note: This is the eighth essay in a series on conscience in healthcare, by Freedom2Care Director Jonathan Imbody. For the other essays, click "ConscienceEssay" on Topics at left.
In an April 2018 editorial published in The Hill[i]
protesting the conscience freedom protection rule proposed by the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)[ii],
American Nurses Association president Pamela Cipriano and American Academy of
Nursing president Karen Cox outline the typical "no tolerance" policy
of conscience freedom opponents. As usual, they cite a "duty to patients"
that allegedly overrides any other moral or ethical obligation, most notably
the Hippocratic oath, biblical principles and pro-life conscience convictions.
