Medical Ethics and the Faith Factor: The Endangered Right of Conscience

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[14] E.g., private sectarian hospitals receiving state or federal funds must make operating rooms available for abortion procedures (Alaska); physician group sued for discrimination after refusing to provide assisted reproductive services to a lesbian woman (California); mandate that pharmacists dispense “morning after pill” (Illinois)

[15] New England Journal of Medicine 2005;352(24):2471-3

[16] British Medical Journal 2006;332:294-7

[17] Edmund Pellegrino, chair of the President’s Council on Bioethics, has noted the irony of this provision since ACOG has gone to court to fight laws requiring abortion doctors to offer informed consent information to patients on the risks and alternatives to abortion [ACOG v Thornburg, 737 F.2d 283, 297-98 (3d Cir. 1984)]

[18] See for example:  www.cmda.org