A question of Conscience

So, have you heard the latest? Bush has redefined what constitutes an abortion to include many contraceptives AND, here's the kicker, is introducing a bill that will provide protection to the people within the health care industry who DENY access to these because they have a "question of conscience". And any health facility that receives ANY federal funding will lose that funding if they don't comply. Is this sinking in?

It goes so far as to allow a receptionist the right to deny a patient an appointment for an abortion, contraceptives, etc. if her conscience stands in the way.

If a woman is raped and the attending emergency doctor doesn't agree with abortion, he can legally deny her the "day after" pill. The clinic cannot fire him. So, conservative minded individuals have suddenly become a protected class? Cannot hire or fire based on gender, religion, race, blah blah blah and now "question of conscience".

So, I ask you, if a pharmacist suspecting, or even knowing, a man is having an affair on his wife has a "question of Conscience", can she decide not to fill a prescription for Viagra? What if the tending doctor is a Jehova's witness, can he deny a blood transfusion to a patient because he has a question of conscience? Where does the question of conscience begin and end? So, will the law read that a question of conscience can ONLY apply in cases of abortion? Is that because that's the only "question of conscience" that counts? What if a lab technician has a question of conscience about the treatment of lab animals?

How can the law state when a question of conscience can be applied and when it cannot?

When I was in my teens, my period cramps were really really bad. I was in severe pain for several hours and nothing we tried worked. I was 16, I hadn't even been to a gynocologist yet. My mother was still taking me to a pediatrician. And that's where she took me to discuss my cramps. The doctor prescribed me the BC pill to stop the cramps. It worked. They stopped. According to this bill, if someone along the way wanted to interfere because they had a question of conscience, they could. Even though I was not getting the prescription to be used for contraception.

This is a quotation from the Wall Street Journal about this bill: 'If the draft regulation were to prompt some insurance companies to drop coverage for prescription birth control, "that would be fantastic," said Tom McClusky, a strategist with the conservative Family Research Council.'

I have never held so much contempt for a President as I do this one; everything about him makes me want to vomit. I don't understand how his wife can live with him and still feel good about her own life. It is my understanding that she devoted a great deal of effort to help him overcome his alcoholism and get his life together. For what purpose? So he could undo the clock on women's rights? This is how he shows her his respect? It's a fucking slap in the face.