The Bush administration proposes conscience rule for doctors who don't want to do their fucking jobs
I don't know anything about politics, I've never really followed them at all, but it doesn't matter in this case - I may not be a political know-it-all, but I AM a woman. I am so fucking angry right now. And I'm not going to sugar-coat anything and I don't care if there are any Bush supporters or republicans or pro-life people on my flist who this offends.
"It's about abortion and conscience. It is very closely focused on abortion and physician's conscience."
The short of it is (if I am understanding correctly), the Bush administration is trying to make it so that anyone medically involved in an abortion procedure can walk away or not play a part if they so choose. TOO BAD, IT IS YOUR FUCKING JOB. YOU CAN'T JUST CHOOSE NOT TO DO YOUR JOB. If you can't handle it, you need to find a different profession. I am so outraged right now! That'd be like me saying, "Oh I think I'll just choose to not ring up your meat because I hate touching it. Oh, I hate tap dancing so I'm not going to teach it to your daughter even though she signed up for a tap class. I'll still sell you your other groceries, I'll still teach her lyrical, so it's okay I'm still doing my job. OH and I realize you still need your steak but no, I won't call over another cashier for you and I won't find a tap teacher for you either. Because I don't have to, so." NO REALLY, WOULD THAT HAVE GONE OVER WELL AT ALL WHEN I WAS A CASHIER OR A TEACHER. NO, IT WOULD NOT HAVE. IT'S THE REAL WORLD AND THIS IS YOUR JOB, AS A DOCTOR OR NURSE OF THIS KIND. YOU CAN'T JUST PICK AND CHOOSE WHEN YOU FEEL LIKE BEING A FUCKING EMPLOYEE. I CAN'T EVEN. Technically, anyone can refuse to do anything they don't want to do at work. And technically, they can be fired for it. But this makes it so they CANNOT be fired for refusing to do it. Why do they get a fucking exception?
So, no, it's not the woman's choice, it's everyone else's. It's the father of the child's choice to walk away, it's the rapist's choice to leave her with an unwanted pregnancy as a reminder. It's the government's choice to decide whether or not she even GETS a choice. When she DOES get the choice, it's the doctors' choice to not go through with it. EVERYONE. HAS. A SAY IN IT. EXCEPT THE PERSON IT IS HAPPENING TO. EVERYONE. MAKES. THE CHOICE. FOR HER. And not only that, but they won't make up for it at ALL. If they can't help her there, they won't make accommodations to transport her anywhere else, they won't help her find a doctor who is NOT a pussy about it, they won't do anything except say "sorry, you're fucked." And they probably won't even SAY "sorry". They technically don't have to, so why would they? They don't do anything they HAVE to do, I can't imagine they'd do anything they DON'T have to do.
Mr. Leavitt stressed that the regulation "does not affect the rights of patients" to obtain "any legal procedure."
OH MY GOD!!! YES IT FUCKING DOES! YEAH, WE HAVE THE LEGAL "RIGHT" TO GET IT, BUT THE SAME LAW THAT GAVE US THAT RIGHT ALSO ALLOWS IT TO BE REJECTED AND ESSENTIALLY REVOKED AT WILL. HOW DOES THAT NOT "AFFECT" IT.
Speak up
→ Planned Parenthood is fighting this as hard as they can. Make a donation here.
→ Write to your legislator, telling them you oppose the rule, and asking them to fight it.
→ POST SOMETHING ON YOUR JOURNAL OR FACEBOOK - spread the word.
→ You can also send your comments to consciencecomment@hhs.gov. Make sure to use “provider conscience regulation" as the subject line.
The letter I sent -
Fighting to allow anyone the right to refuse to provide contraception without making a referral to a doctor who WILL or providing transportation to another clinic where there will be a doctor who isn't so wrapped up in personal ethics as opposed to the ethics of the patient in question, is an unjust way to treat the American public. We, as citizens, have a right to make our own medical decisions.
Free speech exists, yes, but so do the consequences for whatever it is you want to say. You choose to either say it and take the consequence, or keep your mouth shut. But (if this goes through) when a doctor says "no", there IS no consequence. Why do they get an exception? Would refusal to do a huge part of YOUR job allow you to keep it?
And on the flip-side, what about when your doctor personally feels that it's not ethically right to expand the population when there are still several unadopted children in the world right now? Does he/she have the right to ADMINISTER an abortion to a mother who WANTS a child, or shove birth control down her throat just to fit his/her ethics?
What happened to remaining objective? Is that not a core requirement of being a doctor, not letting your judgment cloud the treatment of the patient? And what about when this goes beyond abortion? What happens when a doctor's "conscience" tells them they don't feel ethically right about abiding by a DNR order? There is no RESPECT at ALL in this. And as a US citizen, and a woman, I am extremely offended that the leaders of my country don't seem to value me as a human being, and don't trust me enough to make decisions about my own body. I strongly encourage you to do all in your power to prevent this rule from going through.
I'd like to bitch about this even more but I am seriously at a loss for words. And now I am honest to god crying over this because it is so horrible and there is no respect for women in this whatsoever. There are SO many things wrong with this, I can't even. I JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND ANYONE WHO IS NOT PRO-CHOICE, I'M SORRY. AND I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY THE GOVERNMENT NEEDS TO BE SO INVOLVED WITH THIS ANYWAY. WHY CAN'T IT JUST BE LEGAL, THE DOCTORS EXPECTED, AS EMPLOYEES, TO DO IT, AND THE PEOPLE WHO DON'T BELIEVE IN ABORTION DON'T HAVE TO HAVE ONE. OR, AS AN ALTERNATIVE, THEY CAN TAKE IN ALL OF THE CHILDREN THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN ABORTED - like, unless you, Miss Pro-Life, plan on raising this child that I can't or don't want to, shut the fuck up. If you WILL take it in, I'll gladly carry it to term and then give it to you. You can't just rally for something FOR SOMEONE ELSE, not knowing the person or their exact circumstance, or the reasoning behind this decision of theirs that you think is "wrong". GOD, I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT I'M TRYING TO SAY BUT IT MAKES SENSE IN MY HEAD. AND I'M GETTING OT ANYWAY. The point is, this new law/development/whatever is not right and I am furious and if people ask me why I have little to no faith in humanity or think that the world is on its way down, I'll just show them my list of things exactly like this. I am honestly terrified.
"It's about abortion and conscience. It is very closely focused on abortion and physician's conscience."
The short of it is (if I am understanding correctly), the Bush administration is trying to make it so that anyone medically involved in an abortion procedure can walk away or not play a part if they so choose. TOO BAD, IT IS YOUR FUCKING JOB. YOU CAN'T JUST CHOOSE NOT TO DO YOUR JOB. If you can't handle it, you need to find a different profession. I am so outraged right now! That'd be like me saying, "Oh I think I'll just choose to not ring up your meat because I hate touching it. Oh, I hate tap dancing so I'm not going to teach it to your daughter even though she signed up for a tap class. I'll still sell you your other groceries, I'll still teach her lyrical, so it's okay I'm still doing my job. OH and I realize you still need your steak but no, I won't call over another cashier for you and I won't find a tap teacher for you either. Because I don't have to, so." NO REALLY, WOULD THAT HAVE GONE OVER WELL AT ALL WHEN I WAS A CASHIER OR A TEACHER. NO, IT WOULD NOT HAVE. IT'S THE REAL WORLD AND THIS IS YOUR JOB, AS A DOCTOR OR NURSE OF THIS KIND. YOU CAN'T JUST PICK AND CHOOSE WHEN YOU FEEL LIKE BEING A FUCKING EMPLOYEE. I CAN'T EVEN. Technically, anyone can refuse to do anything they don't want to do at work. And technically, they can be fired for it. But this makes it so they CANNOT be fired for refusing to do it. Why do they get a fucking exception?
So, no, it's not the woman's choice, it's everyone else's. It's the father of the child's choice to walk away, it's the rapist's choice to leave her with an unwanted pregnancy as a reminder. It's the government's choice to decide whether or not she even GETS a choice. When she DOES get the choice, it's the doctors' choice to not go through with it. EVERYONE. HAS. A SAY IN IT. EXCEPT THE PERSON IT IS HAPPENING TO. EVERYONE. MAKES. THE CHOICE. FOR HER. And not only that, but they won't make up for it at ALL. If they can't help her there, they won't make accommodations to transport her anywhere else, they won't help her find a doctor who is NOT a pussy about it, they won't do anything except say "sorry, you're fucked." And they probably won't even SAY "sorry". They technically don't have to, so why would they? They don't do anything they HAVE to do, I can't imagine they'd do anything they DON'T have to do.
Mr. Leavitt stressed that the regulation "does not affect the rights of patients" to obtain "any legal procedure."
OH MY GOD!!! YES IT FUCKING DOES! YEAH, WE HAVE THE LEGAL "RIGHT" TO GET IT, BUT THE SAME LAW THAT GAVE US THAT RIGHT ALSO ALLOWS IT TO BE REJECTED AND ESSENTIALLY REVOKED AT WILL. HOW DOES THAT NOT "AFFECT" IT.
Speak up
→ Planned Parenthood is fighting this as hard as they can. Make a donation here.
→ Write to your legislator, telling them you oppose the rule, and asking them to fight it.
→ POST SOMETHING ON YOUR JOURNAL OR FACEBOOK - spread the word.
→ You can also send your comments to consciencecomment@hhs.gov. Make sure to use “provider conscience regulation" as the subject line.
The letter I sent -
Fighting to allow anyone the right to refuse to provide contraception without making a referral to a doctor who WILL or providing transportation to another clinic where there will be a doctor who isn't so wrapped up in personal ethics as opposed to the ethics of the patient in question, is an unjust way to treat the American public. We, as citizens, have a right to make our own medical decisions.
Free speech exists, yes, but so do the consequences for whatever it is you want to say. You choose to either say it and take the consequence, or keep your mouth shut. But (if this goes through) when a doctor says "no", there IS no consequence. Why do they get an exception? Would refusal to do a huge part of YOUR job allow you to keep it?
And on the flip-side, what about when your doctor personally feels that it's not ethically right to expand the population when there are still several unadopted children in the world right now? Does he/she have the right to ADMINISTER an abortion to a mother who WANTS a child, or shove birth control down her throat just to fit his/her ethics?
What happened to remaining objective? Is that not a core requirement of being a doctor, not letting your judgment cloud the treatment of the patient? And what about when this goes beyond abortion? What happens when a doctor's "conscience" tells them they don't feel ethically right about abiding by a DNR order? There is no RESPECT at ALL in this. And as a US citizen, and a woman, I am extremely offended that the leaders of my country don't seem to value me as a human being, and don't trust me enough to make decisions about my own body. I strongly encourage you to do all in your power to prevent this rule from going through.
I'd like to bitch about this even more but I am seriously at a loss for words. And now I am honest to god crying over this because it is so horrible and there is no respect for women in this whatsoever. There are SO many things wrong with this, I can't even. I JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND ANYONE WHO IS NOT PRO-CHOICE, I'M SORRY. AND I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY THE GOVERNMENT NEEDS TO BE SO INVOLVED WITH THIS ANYWAY. WHY CAN'T IT JUST BE LEGAL, THE DOCTORS EXPECTED, AS EMPLOYEES, TO DO IT, AND THE PEOPLE WHO DON'T BELIEVE IN ABORTION DON'T HAVE TO HAVE ONE. OR, AS AN ALTERNATIVE, THEY CAN TAKE IN ALL OF THE CHILDREN THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN ABORTED - like, unless you, Miss Pro-Life, plan on raising this child that I can't or don't want to, shut the fuck up. If you WILL take it in, I'll gladly carry it to term and then give it to you. You can't just rally for something FOR SOMEONE ELSE, not knowing the person or their exact circumstance, or the reasoning behind this decision of theirs that you think is "wrong". GOD, I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT I'M TRYING TO SAY BUT IT MAKES SENSE IN MY HEAD. AND I'M GETTING OT ANYWAY. The point is, this new law/development/whatever is not right and I am furious and if people ask me why I have little to no faith in humanity or think that the world is on its way down, I'll just show them my list of things exactly like this. I am honestly terrified.