There is tremendous pressure being placed on doctors and other medical professionals to eschew their own moral consciences in the provision of medical services—as distinguished from treatments. Now, in the UK, doctors who refuse to perform gender reassignment surgeries and prescribe contraception for unmarried women may be forced out of medicine altogether. From the Telegraph story:
Doctors who refuse to give contraceptives to unmarried women or carry out sex change operations face being banned from practicing under new guidelines. The General Medical Council has issued guidance warning that it would be “discriminatory” for doctors not to prescribe either the pill or morning-after pill because they disagree with people having sex before marriage…The draft GMC guidelines, entitled Personal Beliefs and Medical Practice, stipulate that doctors “cannot be willing to provide married women with contraception but unwilling to prescribe it for unmarried women”. “This would be a breach of our guidance as you would be refusing to treat a particular group of patients,” the document adds. It also warns it would be illegal for doctors to refuse to carry out “gender reassignment”, because it would also amount to discrimination.
Would anyone want a doctor not specializing in sex reassignment surgery to perform it? This seems just gratuitous to make a political point. As for contraception, I think that unless a pregnancy would lead to a pathology, doctors should be free to refuse to prescribe—so long as they alert patients ahead of time that they have that policy.
What’s going on? Across the West, I am convinced that the Medical and Political Establishments want to drive “pro life” and orthodox-believing “Christian (or Muslim, if they go that far) medical professionals that disagree with the current morality out of medicine. On a broader point, the practice of medicine is being transformed before our very eyes from a ”healing profession” into a technocracy in which “service providers” facilitate patient lifestyle choices and fulfill personal desires almost as much as treating and preventing illnesses and injuries.
Think not? Teachers in Buffalo have a taxpayer paid-for health insurance that covers tummy tucks, Botox injections, and other cosmetic surgeries! A nice perk that illustrates how many of us now look upon the medical sector.
Update: Commenter Raven quotes the original document as providing more wiggle room for conscientious objectors than reported by the Telegraph. Check out the comments for more info and a link to the original document. But the overall cultural imperialism point remains valid for reasons I have pointed out in other posts and articles. Thanks to Raven.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
