American Family Action Alert just sent out a note about President Barack Obama's decision to rescind the "conscience rule" that protects health care workers who refuse to participate in abortions or other medical procedures that go against their moral and religious beliefs. Here's an excerpt from that news alert:
"If the rule is rescinded, doctors, nurses and other health care workers could lose their jobs or be punished professionally for adhering to their sincerely held religious convictions. Obama's proposal would take away their religious freedom.
The current rule empowers federal health officials to cut off federal funding for any state or local government, hospital, clinic, health plan, doctor's office or other entity if it does not accommodate employees who exercise their right of conscience. It applies to more than 584,000 health care facilities..." For more details and to write the White House, go here.
Whether you are pro-choice or pro-life, you should stand up and fight this. Why? Because if the President can take away one group of people's right to choose what to believe and how to live their lives, he can take away YOUR right to choose how you'll live your life! Power corrupts, my friends, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. If you want your rights, you HAVE to allow other people their rights. If you allow one group of people to be trampled upon, you allow yourself to be trampled upon.
My Letter to President Obama
It you expect to give women the "right to choose" to have an abortion then why are you taking away the right of a doctor to choose what he will do in his own practice? If you usurp the freedom of one group, Mr. President, you usurp the freedom of others. And you do not have that right. You are usurping powers you are not authorized or delegated to have.
It is morally wrong for the federal government to force a doctor, nurse or other health care professional to participate in abortion – which stops a heartbeat and kills an innocent human life. This could cripple and damage the sensitive souls of doctors and nurses who value human life. More likely they will step down from their jobs, and our country will lose the very best health care providers we have ... the ones who actually value and uphold their oath to "do no harm."
Then again, I guess you don't value your oaths, do you Mr. President? You made an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution. And the U.S. Constitution gives you absolutely NO RIGHT to interfere in freedom of religion or the freedom of a doctor to choose by his conscience which procedures s/he will or will not legally perform.
I urge you to a) go back and read the Constitution and Bill of Rights and b) uphold the oath you took two months ago to defend it. (Actually you took that same oath before that as a Senator). Please, for once in your political career, keep an oath that you have made. Do not to rescind the “conscience rule.”
I agree. We have lost much in this nation because of a few. The President has no right to dictate how we think, feel, or how we choose to stand by our convictions.
Posted by: Ruth Seebeck | March 03, 2009 at 03:35 PM