My Way or the Highway!

President Obama may believe in health care for all, but he certainly doesn't support the freedom of all who provide it. Continuing its pattern of selective tolerance, the White House launched its first attack on the conscience protections that President Bush finalized before leaving office. Although the process to rescind the rules has just begun, the President has made no secret of his intent to strong-arm the medical field into a state of blind submission on issues like abortion. Under the rules issued by the Bush administration last year, health care employees have enjoyed stronger protections from these controversial practices that violate their personal or religious beliefs.

On March !0, a coalition of 36 U.S. senators expressed their "grave concern" about the administration's decision to coerce doctors, nurses, and pharmacists to provide "care" against their will. In the letter to President Obama, these senators agreed, "This regulation is not about whether or not abortion should or should not be allowed in America. This regulation is about whether we will respect the deeply held moral convictions of those who have dedicated their lives to protecting the life and health of others... To compromise their right to practice [reduces]... medical professionals to mere vending machines..."

As the senators point out, nothing in these regulations bars a patient from finding a doctor or pharmacist who shares their beliefs. The President, a constitutional law expert, ought to know that the mild inconvenience of finding a new doctor or pharmacist doesn't trump a caregiver's basic freedoms. Infringing on employees' rights may help advance political correctness, but it's certainly not compatible with the President's agenda which, I would remind him, includes a call to end workplace discrimination. These rules are pro-child, pro-woman, and pro-liberty. I applaud these 36 senators for asking President Obama to reinstate them. In the abortion debate, we cannot allow safety and ethics to take a backseat to politics.

Source:Kitchen Table Blog, FRC