|
|
By Agoy Descallar
Now is not a good time to be a pharmacist in the United States. Even being a nurse or doctor in that country can now put you in a serious dilemma – one that’s a matter of life and death, literally. Imagine working in a pharmacy and getting a request to fill a prescription for an abortion drug such as Mifeprex. You know it’s the same as helping the client kill her unborn child, but if you refuse to fill her prescription, you’re going to lose your job.
|
Imagine being a nurse or doctor and being made to assist in a tubal ligation operation. Yielding would go against your moral convictions, but the law gives you employer grounds for your termination if you refuse to perform your duty in this case.
This is how it is in many parts of the United States right now, and if we don’t act now we could be seeing the same things in our very own country in the future, wherein medical practitioners and health workers are forced by law to carry out anti-life practices even if their conscience tells them otherwise.
The right to life includes the right of conscience
We have been advocating for the right to life but we have overlooked the right to conscience of medical practitioners and health care providers. Yes, the primary focus is still on the right of the unborn but what about those who are coerced to perform acts contrary to their conscience and are in no position to refuse?
Most of our health professionals and workers, e.g., doctors, nurses, pharmacists and barangay health workers are Christians and/or believers in God and strive to obey His commandments. But their situation as employees of health or medical institutions sometimes requires them to perform acts contrary to their moral and religious beliefs. If they refuse to perform these acts, they are either coerced or reprimanded to the detriment of their professional career and job security.
To address the lack of legal protection of these health professionals’ and/or workers’ rights of conscience, or worse non-recognition of this sacred right, the Hon. Hermilando Mandanas (Batangas, 2nd district) has filed HB 5028 or “The Rights of Conscience Act of 2006.”
The bill intends to guarantee the rights of health care service providers to refuse to perform operations and acts that are contradictory to their religious and moral beliefs and conscience. With this bill, a health worker can refuse to prescribe artificial contraceptives or abortifacient drugs and devices, for example, and to perform permanent sterilization, without fear of any repercussion.
The bill grants the following for medical and health workers:
the rights of conscience, immunity from liability
the right against discrimination because of her/his religious and moral beliefs regarding artificial birth control, abortion, sterilization, artificial insemination, in-vitro fertilization, human cloning, euthanasia, human stem cell research, fetal experimentation and other anti-life acts
Aside from medical and health workers, health and medical institutions are also granted similar rights, i.e., of conscience, immunity from liability and against discrimination.
We believe that if their right to conscience is guaranteed, and given the right orientation and moral values, medical or health care providers will carry out moral choices in the practice of their profession.
***
Another positive bill filed lately in Congress is that of the Hon. Ed Zialcita (P’que, 2nd District) – HB 5327 or “The Pregnancy Care Centers Act of 2006.”
Decades of systematic information campaigns (read: propaganda work) that portrayed artificial birth control as a necessity have created a market demand for contraceptive drugs, devices and services. If this atmosphere provided huge profits for pro-contraceptive health and medical organizations, we should also create an environment that will encourage HMOs and other NGOs to provide pro-natal services. Zialcita’s bill will promote the establishment of “pregnancy care centers” or “crisis pregnancy centers” by mandating the Department of Health to make grants and tax rebates to private and non-profit agencies and organizations that will put up these centers.
These centers are geared toward providing the following services to pregnant women: medical attention, nutritional support, housing or shelter assistance, adoption services, education and employment and other support services, free of charge.
Providing medical and other services to pregnant women, especially those in crisis situations, will imbibe pro-natal values and give these women the option to carry their pregnancy to term.
HB 5327 addresses one of the issues of our advocacy against abortion. The usual argument by pro-abortion and feminist activists is that “pro-lifers are against abortion but do not provide assistance to women in crisis” (this propaganda line denies our efforts in providing these services as well as the actual programs we do carry out for women in crisis). But with this bill, the government is tasked with supporting our long standing pro-life and pro-women programs.
If foreign governments and funding agencies are granting financial support to anti-life and anti-women programs in our country, then it is the responsibility of our government to provide financial support to pro-life and pro-women programs which will truly benefit its citizens.
|
|
|
| JOIN MAILING LIST |
 |
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| Letters to the Editor |
|
|
|
|
| Letters by Sr. Pilar |
|
|
|
|
| Love Life TV |
|
|
|
| MAGAZINE |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
| HOT TOPICS |
|
|
|
|
|
| ANTI LIFE ISSUES |
|
|
| |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
