The Department of Health and Human Services is considering adopting rules that would strengthen government respect for and protection of the conscience rights of healthcare workers.

If you are a healthcare worker, or even if you’re not, you can visit the site to offer your comments. Comments close at midnight on March 27.

It is imperative that healthcare workers are free to work in an environment where their consciences are protected, and where they are not forced to participate in procedures with which they have moral or religious reservations. This is basic respect for human rights. Insisting that healthcare workers deny their deepest held convictions in exchange for a license to practice their profession, or to demand that they shelve their consciences prior to clocking in for a shift, is a dangerous idea. We don’t want our healthcare workers to be robots, simply carrying out the demands of doctors, hospital administrators, or the state, no questions asked. Nurses, in particular, are often the last line of defense against over-zealous or misguided administrators and practitioners who have little regard for their patient’s best outcome. They need to know that they are free to speak out without fear of discipline or termination. It is precisely the silencing of healthcare workers that allows unethical practices to continue unabated. One of those practices, the systematic elimination by abortion of children with Down Syndrome, will be addressed in my next post.

Please take a few moments to read the proposed rule change and offer your comments.

Be Christ for all. Bring Christ to all. See Christ in all.