The Bioethics Program

Professor Baker’s editorial on Conscience and the Unconscionable in Bioethics:

EDITORIAL

CONSCIENCE AND THE UNCONSCIONABLE

ROBERT BAKER

ABSTRACT

No Abstract

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DIGITAL OBJECT IDENTIFIER (DOI)

10.1111/j.1467-8519.2009.01735.x About DOI

Article Text

A year ago I sat between a Catholic priest and a bioethicist on a panel1 debating President Bush's initiative to extend 'antidiscrimination' protections to health professionals who refuse to perform a 'legal medical service or procedure' for 'reasons of conscience.' These 'civil rights' protections were designed to protect health professionals against their professional societies and their employers who, the Bush administration claimed, 'would force physicians to either violate their conscience by referring patients for abortions . . . or risk losing their board certification,' or their job. As Assistant Secretary of Health Garcia, MD, explained, 'health providers shouldn't have to check their conscience at the hospital door. The proposed rule will help ensure that doesn't happen.'2

Full text:

Conscience And The Unconscionable

Bioethics

Volume 23 Issue 5, Pages ii - iv

Published Online: 26 May 2009