Life Here and There

People should not be required to participate in abortion procedures. Period. In any sensible culture, that would make sense. But we’re currently living in times when social liberals have gone mad and many conservatives who beat around the bush a few months ago have helped them along.

If you haven’t heard, the Department of Health and Human Services is considering repealing a policy instated by the Bush administration protecting the right of healthcare providers to abstain from abortion procedures if they had a moral, religious, or conscientious objection. So we want women to have the freedom to choose abortion, but those who disagree will not be granted the freedom to abstain from a non-emergency procedure. And how does this make any sense?

The Bible speaks of people having their “consciences seared with a hot iron.” We’re there! And Cal Thomas has done a good job of writing about it. Listen to this…

Carried to its logical conclusion, repealing the “conscience rule” would allow hospitals to require pro-life doctors and nurses to participate in abortions. The Catholic Church teaches that elective abortion is a mortal sin, so the government is considering a requirement that would have a Catholic risk excommunication and the eternal damnation of his or her soul. Evangelical Christians regard abortion as equally offensive. Where is the separation of church and state when you really need it?… To repeal the conscience rule is an affront to every American who believes government ought to be under God, not play God.

What is even more shocking is the thought of where our nation will go in the future as our conscience continues to die. Thomas makes a bold assertion that doesn’t seem too far off base to me…

If you are a resident in an assisted-living center, you might consider putting an extra lock on the door, because you are next. By the time our consciences have been reprogrammed, the bureaucrat who decides you have outlived your usefulness will have forgotten how to feel guilty about anything.

It seems that our freedoms are expanding… unless we’re talking about the freedom to do no harm. God, I fear, based on history, what You will do with a people who refuse to feel guilty.