Conscience Clauses

Protecting Doctors Who Still Believe in the Hippocratic Oath

by Wesley J. Smith

Few doctors take the Hippocratic Oath anymore. But many still believe in its maxims, including not to perform abortions, assist in suicides, or otherwise harm patients or other human life.Conscience clauses are controversial. President Obama said at Notre Dame that he believes in them—but his . . . . Continue Reading »

Conscience Clauses: The Flip Side of Medical Futility

by Wesley J. Smith

“Conscience Clause” laws that would permit pharmacists to refuse to fill birth control pill prescriptions or doctors to perform abortions, are growing in political prominence. By way of push back, some states are passing laws requiring pharmacists to dispense birth control pills, and New . . . . Continue Reading »

Should Doctors Have the Right to Say No to Abortion?

by Wesley J. Smith

We hear from some, such as Dr. Sherwin Nuland, that what a doctor does or does not do at the bedside should be determined by the individual practioner’s personal conscience. This usually cuts from the side of permitting acts such as euthanasia—as Nuland asserted in the New England . . . . Continue Reading »