Y. symposium to explore 'rights of conscience'

PROVO — Doctors and nurses may not have a choice about whether they can refuse to participate in abortions and other medical procedures they personally object to if a trend toward legal and legislative protections continues to crumble.

Those "rights of conscience" are the subject of a symposium Friday at BYU, where a Catholic academic has helped organize a symposium on the topic in cooperation with an LDS colleague.

Richard Myers, a professor at the Ave Maria School of Law in Florida, told the Deseret News that while he had not heard details of Cardinal Francis George's speech at BYU earlier this week, his visit was a happy coincidence in light of the cooperation between the two faiths hosting the symposium.

Myers said the cardinal was particularly influential with members of the American Medical Association, which a few years ago proposed that all colleges and hospitals who train medical residents would be required to provide training in abortion and sterilization procedures.

Cardinal George argued that to impose the requirement would be an unfair hardship, because Catholic hospitals and clinics would not allow those training procedures in their facilities.

Cardinal George, who is president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, also voiced direct opposition last year to an Obama administration proposal that would remove "conscience protection" for "those who object to abortion and other killing procedures."

The cardinal said to do so "would be first step to moving our country from democracy to despotism. Respect for personal conscience and freedom of religion as such ensures our basic freedom from government oppression." (See George's statement at vox-nova.com/2009/03/23/cardinal-george-keep-conscience-clause)

Myers will discuss the sources of current legal protection for a right of conscience during the symposium, which includes a variety of scholars with differing views on the issue. Organizers said they purposely invited scholars whose views differ as a way to provide legitimate scholarly discussion and published papers on the topic.

"There is an irony that abortion rights are usually described as 'pro-choice.' What we've seen in recent years is a move from private choice to invoking the power of state agencies to make that 'choice' compulsory or mandatory," Myers said.

Federal legislation to protect healthcare workers from participating in procedures they find morally objectionable was put in place shortly after abortion was legalized in 1972, he said. But President Obama's healthcare plan "is a threat to policies that have been in place for several decades," including a ban on federal funding for abortion.