Journal Articles Archives - Page 53 of 64 - Protection of Conscience Project Library

In Good Conscience: The Legal Trend to Include Prescription Contraceptives in Employer Insurance Plans and Catholic Charities’ “Conscience Clause” Objection

Kate Spota

Extract
This Note examines Petitioner’s constitutional argument in Catholic Charities v. Superior Court as applied to a California statute drafted with a narrowly drawn “conscience clause” exemption. First, this Note describes the background for Roman Catholic opposition to contraceptives, and contrasts the reasons behind women’s rights activists’ claim for equal access to contraception as a part of reproductive freedom. Second, this Note examines the preeminent cases decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and the California Supreme Court, as well as the relevant federal statutes and administrative decisions used by the California Court of Appeal in deciding Catholic Charities. Third, this Note describes in detail the arguments advanced by the Petitioner in Catholic Charities and the court’s resulting analysis. Concluding that the Court of Appeal of California correctly decided against the Petitioner in Catholic Charities, this Note examines the possible impacts of that decision on society’s view of women and on the Catholic health care system. Finally, this Note concludes that the California Supreme Court will affirm the appellate court’s decision and hold that the mandatory inclusion of prescription contraceptives in insurance plans, even for institutions whose religious beliefs are contrary to the mandate, does not violate the Free Exercise Clause or the Establishment Clause of the U.S. or California Constitutions.

Spota K. In Good Conscience: The Legal Trend to Include Prescription Contraceptives in Employer Insurance Plans and Catholic Charities’ “Conscience Clause” Objection. Cathol U Law Rev. 2003;52(4):1081-1113.

The Killing of Psychiatric Patients in Nazi-Germany between 1939-1945

Michael Von Cranach

Israeli Journal of Psychiatry and Related Sciences

Abstract
Between 1939 and 1945, 180,000 psychiatric patients were killed in Nazi Germany. This paper opens with a brief discussion of the reasons for addressing this issue today; it is followed by the details of the so-called euthanasia program that entailed killing of patients by gas in special hospitals in the years 1939-1941, and in psychiatric hospitals in the years 1942-1945. In this latter period, patients were killed with lethal injections and through the introduction of a starvation diet. The fate of the Jewish patients and forced laborers, as well as the experiments conducted on the patients, are mentioned. Finally, some thoughts are presented to answer the question of why this could have happened. To me, the giving up of individual responsibility in an authoritarian system leads to the loss of the individual conscience and soul, including those of a psychiatrist.

Cranach MV. The Killing of Psychiatric Patients in Nazi-Germany between 1939-1945. Israeli J Psych & Related Sciences. 2003;40(1):8-18

A presentation by the same title with a similar abstract was presented at a meeting of the Israel Psychiatric Association, Jerusalem, 6th of December 2001.

Overcoming obstacles in confronting torture

Derrick Silove

Abstract
Television images of torture chambers in Iraq and reports of the escalating use of torture in Zimbabwe remind us that this form of state-sponsored abuse continues unabated in many parts of the world. . . It is timely, therefore, to consider the reasons for the inadequate attention given to the topic by health professionals.

Silove D. Overcoming obstacles in confronting torture. The Lancet. 2003 May 3;361(9368):1555.

Nurse supervisors’ actions in relation to their decision-making style and ethical approach to clinical supervision

Ingela Berggren, Elisabeth Severinsson

Extract
Findings. The essence of the nurse supervisors’ decision-making style is deliberations and priorities. The nurse supervisors’ willingness, preparedness, knowledge and awareness constitute and form their way of creating a relationship. The nurse supervisors’ ethical approach focused on patient situations and ethical principles. The core components of nursing supervision interventions, as demonstrated in supervision sessions, are: guilt, reconciliation, integrity, responsibility, conscience and challenge. The nurse supervisors’ interventions involved sharing knowledge and values with the supervisees and recognizing them as nurses and human beings.

Conclusion. Nurse supervisors frequently reflected upon the ethical principle of autonomy and the concept and substance of integrity. The nurse supervisors used an ethical approach that focused on caring situations in order to enhance the provision of patient care. They acted as role models, shared nursing knowledge and ethical codes, and focused on patient related situations. This type of decision-making can strengthen the supervisees’ professional identity. The clinical nurse supervisors in the study were experienced and used evaluation decisions as their form of clinical decision-making activity. The findings underline the need for further research and greater knowledge in order to improve the understanding of the ethical approach to supervision.

Berggren I, Severinsson E. Nurse supervisors’ actions in relation to their decision-making style and ethical approach to clinical supervision. J Adv Nurs. 2003;41(6):615-622.

Human Rights Dynamics of Abortion Law Reform

Rebecca J Cook, Bernard M Dickens

Abstract
The legal approach to abortion is evolving from criminal prohibition towards accommodation as a life-preserving and health-preserving option, particularly in light of data on maternal mortality and morbidity. Modern momentum for liberalization comes from international adoption of the concept of reproductive health, and wider recognition that the resort to safe and digniﬁed healthcare is a major human right. Respect for women’s reproductive self-determination legitimizes abortion as a choice when family planning services have failed, been inaccessible, or been denied by rape. Recognition of women’s rights of equal citizenship with men requires that their choices for self-determination be legally respected, not criminalized.

Cook RJ, Dickens BM. Human Rights Dynamics of Abortion Law Reform. Hum Rights Quart. 2003 Feb;25(1):1-59. Available from:

Prenatal screening, autonomy and reasons: the relationship between the law of abortion and wrongful birth

Rosamund Scott

Extract
This article focuses on . . . the locus and extent of legal decision-making power as regards the disabled fetus. It does this by exploring how the relationship between the law of abortion and that of wrongful birth affects the scope of a pregnant woman’s decision-making abilities in this context. . . .In order to reflect on how the law shapes and controls a woman’s (or couple’s) autonomy in this context, the article considers both the non- rights-based English legal position on abortion and its rights-based US counterpart, in addition to exploring aspects of the law of wrongful birth in both jurisdictions. It also makes some suggestions as to the value of autonomy in this context and how extensive it should be at law, although the opportunity to do so here is limited. The discussion entails reflection on the role of the medical profession, the relationship between autonomy and reasons and the interests of people with disabilities or impairments.

Scott R. Prenatal screening, autonomy and reasons: the relationship between the law of abortion and wrongful birth. Med Law Rev. 2003 Jan 01; 11(3):265-325.

Physician-Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia: German Protestantism, Conscience, and the Limits of Purely Ethical Reflection

Peter Bartmann

Abstract
In this essay I shall describe and analyse the current debate on physician assisted suicide in contemporary German Protestant church and theology. It will be shown that the Protestant (mainly Lutheran) Church in Germany together with her Roman Catholic sister church has a specific and influential position in the public discussion: The two churches counting the majority of the population in Germany among their members tend to ‘‘organize” a social and political consensus on end-of-life questions. This cooperation is until now very successful: Speaking with one voice on end-of-life questions, the two churches function as the guardians of a moral consensus which is appreciated even by many non-believers. . .I shall argue that it will be necessary to go beyond this actual controversy to the works of Gerhard Ebeling and Karl Barth for a clear and instructive account of conscience and a theological analysis of the concepts of life and suicide. On the basis of their considerations, a conscience-related approach to physician assisted suicide is developed.

Bartmann P. Physician-Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia: German Protestantism, Conscience, and the Limits of Purely Ethical Reflection. Christ Bioet. 2003;9(3):203-225.

The Limits of Conscientious Objection to Abortion in the Developing World

Louis-Jacques Van Bogaert

Abstract
The South African Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act 92 of 1996 gives women the right to voluntary abortion on request. The reality factor, however, is that five years later there are still more ‘technically illegal’ abortions than legal ones. Amongst other factors, one of the main obstacles to access to this constitutionally enshrined human right is the right to conscientious objection/refusal. Although the right to conscientious objection is also a basic human right, the case of refusal to provide abortion services on conscientious objection grounds should not be seen as absolute and inalienable, at least in the developing world. In the developed world, where referral to another service provider is for the most part accessible, a conscientious objector to abortion does not really put the abortion seeker’s life at risk. The same cannot be said in developing countries even when abortion is decriminalised. This is because referral procedures are fraught with major obstacles. Therefore, it is argued that the right to conscientious objection to abortion should be limited by the circumstances in which the request for abortion arises.

Bogaert L-JV. The Limits of Conscientious Objection to Abortion in the Developing World. Dev World Bioeth. 2002;2(2):131-143.

The Physician as a Conscientious Objector

J David Bleich

Extract
Patient autonomy certainly deserves both moral respect and legal protection, but to demand of a physician that she act in a manner she deems to be morally unpalatable not only compromises the physician’s ethical integrity, but is also likely to have a corrosive effect upon the dedication and zeal with which she ministers to patients.

Bleich JD. The Physician as a Conscientious Objector. Fordham Urban Law J. 2002;30(1): 245-265 .

The Fallacies of Objections to Selective Conscientious Objection

Amir Paz-Fuchs, Michael Sfard

Abstract
This paper critically analyzes the theoretical and pragmatic arguments raised against the refusal of individuals to serve in a specific military campaign that they view as immoral. The Israeli Supreme Court case of Zonshein v Judge-Advocate General will serve as an axis of the discussion, as it combines two related facets: first, the Court’s decision touches upon most of the difficult issues in the field of conscientious objection. And second, the development leading up to the decision was accompanied by an exceptional clash of academics, each side summoning expert opinions in support of its claim.

Courts worldwide have accepted that a categorical distinction exists between universal and selective conscientious objection. The combination of the Zonshein decision and the accompanying academic debate presents the opportunity to reexamine the theoretical and pragmatic reasons that are offered as support for distinguishing the two ‘types’ of conscientious objection. Close scrutiny finds them wanting.

Paz-Fuchs A, Sfard M. The Fallacies of Objections to Selective Conscientious Objection. Israel Law Review, Special Issue: Refusals to Serve – Political Dissent in the Israel Defense Forces. 2002 Fall; 36(3);111 – 143. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021223700017994.