Black Community News News and Commentary for Christians
California requires employers to pay for elective abortions in health insurance plans.
The state’s Department of Managed Health Care redefined “basic health care” to include killing the unborn.
The House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a bill that would address such requirements that violate the conscience of those who oppose abortion.
The Conscience Protection Act passed by a vote of 245 to 182. From CNSNews:
The key section in the bill states that “the Federal Government, and any State or local government that receives Federal financial assistance, may not penalize, retaliate against, or otherwise discriminate against a health care provider on the basis that the provider does not (1) perform, refer for, pay for, or otherwise participate in abortion; 3 (2) provide or sponsor abortion coverage; or (3) facilitate or make arrangements for any of the activities specified in this subsection.”
House Speaker Paul Ryan said nurses face suspension or job loss for refusing to have anything to do with killing a patient’s unborn child.
“And now, the state of California requires all health insurance plans to cover abortion. So if you’re a church or a religious school, it doesn’t matter. You must cover this procedure. And if it violates your conscience, too bad.”
If the bill becomes law, health care workers and others who oppose the taking of unborn life won’t face government penalties for refusing to perform, assist, or fund the killing.
Such bills shouldn’t be necessary. The right of conscience is inherent, and this right should be protected by the First Amendment at any rate. But former lawmaker David Weldon and others felt the need for more protection. He wrote about his “Weldon Amendment” in Politico. Congress has renewed this law, which passed in 2005, every year, but the federal government violates it.
“When a government overrules the conscience rights of its law-abiding citizens, it is entering into very dangerous territory,” Weldon wrote. “Some might even call it tyranny. ”
Photo credit: American Life League (Creative Commons) – Some Rights Reserved
“The right of conscience is inherent, and this right should be protected by the First Amendment at any rate.”
No matter how far back you go in western history, the right of conscience has been attacked by not just governments, but large segments of society as well. It was true in the earliest beginnings of America, in the conflict between the Massachusetts Bay Colony founders and Roger Williams who founded the Rhode Island Colony as a counterweight to their restrictive regime. The First Amendment has protected us pretty well for over two centuries, but the “living Constitution” lie perpetrated by liberals is now perilously close to gutting that and other of our natural rights because of their systemic intolerance of all dissent except theirs. Perhaps mass civil disobedience and outright defiance will eventually become necessary to reverse this emerging tyranny.