Wednesday 16 January 2008

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and Medical "Ethics"

A rather disappointing position from another professional organization. According to Renew America:

The political effort to protect so-called reproductive medicine has led ACOG to the conclusion, according to its Committee on Ethics, that even when healthcare providers have moral concerns about a decision a patient has made, they may not allow those concerns to translate into a refusal to provide a "service" or a prescription to that patient.

If one examines this premise and the committee's language, it becomes painfully clear that the target for the statement is the Christian medical community. For example, in the ACOG statement, we find the following:

When conscientious refusals conflict with moral obligations that are central to the ethical practice of medicine, ethical care requires either that the physician provide care despite reservations or that there be resources in place to allow the patient to gain access to care in the presence of conscientious refusal.


Unfortunately this is yet one more example of a professional organization
which has become so politicized and "PC" that it is but a shadow of its
historical self and mission. I would suggest that one would be hard pressed to
justify membership in the ACOG if one is serious about one's Catholic
faith.

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