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Obama

Freedom of choice (medical professionals need not apply)

mood: worried worried
Does the freedom to choose extend to medical professionals? Or should such choices only be afforded to those with less medical training and experience? And, if that's the case, is anyone starting to notice how ludicrous this is? As expected, the Obama administration has waited just over a month after the inauguration to begin weighing in on the matter.

In all other cases, I thought it was a good idea for medical professionals to be exercising their best judgment. Apparently, I may have been mistaken. Courtesy the new administration, U.S. tax dollars can now be channeled to promote and provide abortions around the globe, but if a trained medical professional can't in good conscience perform an abortion (which should tell us something about the territory we're in), well, they might just need a nudge from the government to get with the program/pogrom. And of course, "the administration is looking for input from people across the ideological spectrum before it finalizes the rollback after the standard 30-day comment period," so maybe I'm just overly concerned because I'm one of those reactionary, narrow-minded, single-issue voters.

But, as I've been so often encouraged to do, I have hope. I hope I'm wrong. We'll see in 30 days or so, and God will still be sovereign then.
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Posted on Feb. 27th, 2009 at 02:43 pm | | Communicate | 14 communications |

Comments

ext_132043

I talked with a doctor I work with recently, and learned it does extend to medical professionals.
Posted on Feb. 28th, 2009 01:00 am (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

banzai

Yes: the linked story from the Tribune says it extends to medical professionals now, but suggests that policy is set to be changed by the current administration. Does that match the account given by your doctor? Or did your conversation lead you to believe something different from what the article suggests? I'm interested to hear the connection.
Posted on Feb. 28th, 2009 01:57 am (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

jeney

I'm certainly not surprised by any of this - but gosh, am I saddened by it.
Posted on Feb. 28th, 2009 03:41 am (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

banzai

What stuns me is that I think there will be people who are surprised, and I don't understand how that's even possible. From a policy perspective, this was far from a hidden agenda—agree or disagree, this has been on the table the whole time. So to not see it coming only seems possible if one is willfully ignoring the policy stances of this administration.

Posted on Feb. 28th, 2009 04:00 am (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

jeney

I have heard from a lot of Obama supporters that they just hoped he wouldn't do it. They just...hoped he wouldn't. I guess they hoped he was lying? But no - that can't be. DOT DOT DOT.

I mean, he was all about hope. He was filled and covered with it. But still - to just "hope he won't" seemed a bit naive to me. And sure enough! It was.
Posted on Feb. 28th, 2009 04:21 am (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

joneric

I've got to disagree with you on this one. The "Conscience Rule" has only been in place since mid-January. It was thrown together at the last minute by the previous administration and it was poorly written. It needs to be revised.
http://www.webmd.com/news/20081219/new-conscience-rule-controversy
Posted on Feb. 28th, 2009 04:38 am (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

banzai

Reading the WebMD article doesn't raise any new concerns for me about the "Conscience Rule"—I was familiar with its timing, and none of the implications mentioned are problems that seem (to me) to require federal intervention (I'm sure people who disagree said the same when the Bush administration implemented the rule).

I don't want to be critical of a policy that hasn't been yet been fully crafted, and I know we're not there yet. So, we'll see. But it'd require more ignorance than I have to believe the Obama administration doesn't have a strong leaning in one direction that's been both articulated and demonstrated on numerous occasions. I'm not a fan of that direction's implication on people like chippa's wife. If medicine were socialized, then I could see the federal government taking a more direct approach. But in a free market, not to mention under the rallying cry of "choice," I don't like the possibility of limiting the choices available to the most trained professionals in order to support the current administration's stance.
Posted on Feb. 28th, 2009 04:57 am (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

joneric

I don't want to Chippa's wife or my sister to be forced to perform any procedure they object to either. Call me naive, but I don't believe that to be the administration's intent with a revision of this rule.
Posted on Feb. 28th, 2009 05:35 am (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

banzai

I agree—I don't think either administration intended/intends harm. I wish intent was all it took.
Posted on Feb. 28th, 2009 05:54 am (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

its_nin

and God will still be sovereign then...

... and maybe a little pissed.
Posted on Feb. 28th, 2009 04:51 am (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

banzai

Hopefully we won't soon lose our freedom to mention that possibility. Lord, have mercy.
Posted on Feb. 28th, 2009 04:59 am (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

unblinkable

Niiiiiice.
Posted on Feb. 28th, 2009 05:53 am (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

chippa

Thanks for posting this, Lee.
Posted on Feb. 28th, 2009 04:31 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

christianlady

Some women want choice in other ways

Some women like to know they have an OB who hasn't performed abortions. Some women also like to know that when they are being treated for miscarriage, they will not be pushed aside in their grief. A fear I have with this is that good baby catching doctors will decide to be eye doctors or something. Women will then have less choices when it comes to who they pay for services when they have a child...in some places nurse midwives are not so common and women generally then have to choose between OB/family doctor.

What of the doctor who isn't trained to do late term abortions, how will that work? Will all docs have to be trained in this too just to meet the requirement that they can treat any woman who comes in wanting abortion?
Posted on Mar. 3rd, 2009 04:31 am (UTC) | | Thread | Reply