Extract The New Brunswick government is refusing to pay for abortions performed at private clinics, despite renewed warnings from Ottawa. Federal Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh told the province it is violating the Canada Health Act . . . New Brunswick medicare only pays for abortions up to 12 weeks, performed in hospitals with the approval of 2 physicians. About 600 women a year pay up to 750 for the procedure at the Morgentaler clinic.
Sibbald B. Abortion payment. Can Med Assoc J. 2005 Mar 1;172(5):624.
Extract I cannot understand how Dr. Ursus can claim to have a “middle-of-the- road” position on abortion . . . however, by performing these procedures or referring patients for them, he’s chosen against his smaller, defenceless patients. He is on that side of the road.
Extract The Hippocratic Oath states: “I will use treatment to help the sick according to my ability and judgment, but never with a view to injury and wrongdoing.” It is our responsibility to make these words a reality.
Extract Remember the many thousands who have served and are serving honorably, caring for American soldiers and Iraqis, and not the few who might have greatly disappointed us with their lack of proper ethical judgment.
Abstract From its emergence, preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) has been opposed by religious, feminist, and disability-rights advocates. PGD has developed, however, to extend beyond genetic diagnosis of embryos to diagnose chromosomal abnormalities. Evidence shows that PGD is safe, children born after in vitro fertilization (IVF) and PGD having no higher rate of birth defects than children of normal pregnancies. Laws may accommodate PGD directly or indirectly, but some prohibit PGD totally or except to identify sex-linked genetic disorders. When children suffer severe genetic disorders and require stem-cell transplantation, compatible donors may be unavailable. Then, IVF and PGD of resulting embryos may identify some whose gestation and birth would produce unaffected newborns, and placental and cord blood from which stem-cells compatible for implantation in sick siblings can be derived. Ethical issues concern conscientious objection to direct participation, discarding of healthy but unsuitable embryos, and valuing savior siblings in themselves, not just as means to others’ ends.
Abstract Several reports have detailed cases in which pharmacists have refused to fill prescriptions for emergency contraception. Should pharmacists have the right to refuse access to these medications? This Sounding Board article discusses arguments for and against the right to refuse and proposes a balanced solution to the problem.
Abstract The fact that certain vaccines are grown in cell strains derived decades ago from an aborted fetus is a concern for some. To understand such concerns, a standardized search identified internet sites discussing vaccines and abortion. Ethical concerns raised include autonomy, conscience, coherence, and immoral material complicity. Two strategies to analyse moral complicity show that vaccination is ethical: the abortions were past events separated in time, agency, and purpose from vaccine production. Rubella disease during pregnancy results in many miscarriages and malformations. Altruism, the burden of rubella disease, and protection by herd immunity argue for widespread vaccination although autonomous decisions and personal conscience should be respected.
Extract Religious fundamentalism and a lack of resources are the chief barriers to achieving sexual and reproductive rights for all by 2015, concluded the 2004 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) . . . Katherine McDonald, president of Action Canada for Population and Development, said that advocates of the Cairo consensus have been overly distracted by their efforts to isolate and shame US and conservative backlash and must reinvest in a commitment to human rights. “In-depth policy analyses of sexual, reproductive, and abortion rights are lacking,” she said.
Extract Three years after the US government approved mifepristone (Mifeprex or RU-486), use of the so-called “abortion pill” has increased 70%. . . . Mifepristone, a progesterone blocker, induces abortion in women who are up to 8 weeks pregnant.
Extract “Refusal clauses” and “conscience exceptions,” which allow US doctors, nurses, and healthcare workers to refuse to provide certain types of health care to patients, are being extended to hospitals, insurance companies, pharmacies, and managed care companies.
