South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster has signed a pro-life bill to protect doctors and nurses from forced abortion.
The legislation protects doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals and organizations from forced participation in procedures, such as abortion that violate their conscience. It enjoyed the support of pro-life groups such as Alliance Defending Freedom.
Matt Sharp, the senior advisor to Alliance Defending Freedom, applauded McMaster for signing the bill: “Americans should not be forced to violate their conscience, and doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals are no exception. Patients are best served by physicians who are free to act by their oath to “not harm.”
“The MED Act ensures that medical professionals are not forced to violate this oath by being required to participate in specific procedures or treatments that conflict with their ethical, moral, or religious beliefs,” Sharp said.
Sharp told LifeNews that doctors and nurses need additional legal protections as the Democrats and the Biden admin try to force them to perform or promote abortions.
“As the Biden administration continues to attack medical rights of conscience at the federal level, we commend Gov. McMaster and the South Carolina Legislature for supporting medical professionals and the patients they serve by enacting the MED Act. Thanks to their leadership, South Carolina healthcare heroes are free to care for all patients in a compassionate, ethical manner,” he said.
Last year, the Biden administration dropped a lawsuit against a hospital accused of tricking a pro-life nurse into aborting an unborn baby. That decision was only a harbinger of things to come.
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Earlier this year, Christian medical leaders raised the alarm about a potential new pro-abortion mandate from the Biden administration that could shut down Christian health care across the U.S.
In April, officials from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services confirmed to Politico that they plan to repeal a Trump administration rule that protected pro-life medical workers from being forced to kill unborn babies in elective abortions. It is believed that that amendment has come into effect.
In response to the news, pro-life leaders criticized the Biden administration for forcing hardworking Americans to choose between exercising their beliefs and being able to feed their families.
“Physicians, nurses, and other medical providers should enjoy the same constitutional protections, free to live and work in a manner consistent with their faith,” Matt Bowman, senior advisor to Alliance Defending Freedom, said in a statement. “Yet the Biden administration’s proposed rule would force health workers to perform medical procedures that directly violate their religious beliefs or risk losing their jobs.”
The rule that HHS wants to prevent protected doctors, nurses, and other health professionals from being forced to perform abortions and other medical procedures that violate their religious and ethical beliefs. Issued by the Trump administration, the rule added weight to conscience protection laws by allowing the federal government to withdraw taxpayer funding from hospitals, universities, and other healthcare providers that violate the rights of conscience of their employees. However, abortion groups and Democratic leaders sued the Trump administration, and a federal judge blocked the rule.
Jacqueline Ayers, the senior vice president of policy, organization, and campaigns for Planned Parenthood, told Politico they are excited about Biden’s new rule in government. She twisted the issue, calling the protection of conscience “discriminatory.”
“As state politicians continue to deprive people of their sexual and reproductive rights and freedoms, the Biden-Harris administration must repeal these discriminatory policies and ensure that people have access to the health care and information they need when they need I,” Ayers said. † “We look forward to the details of the new rule and are excited about this step forward.”
Forcing doctors and nurses to abort unborn babies or lose their jobs is real discrimination, and pro-life advocates are urging the president to withdraw his plan.
“This is an illegal and gross overstepping of executive power, and we urge the government to withdraw this harmful proposal immediately,” Bowman said.
Meanwhile, Christian medical leaders are preparing for future attacks on the rights of conscience. This year, five major Catholic organizations formed the Catholic Health Care Leadership Alliance to defend religious freedom and Catholic health care in the U.S.
As Wesley J. Smith, attorney, award-winning author, and senior fellow at the Discovery Institute’s Center on Human Exceptionalism wrote on First Things earlier this year:
Threats to religious freedom in the United States have become so dire that five major Catholic organizations have formed the Catholic Health Care Leadership Alliance (CHCLA), a not-for-profit coalition dedicated to defending the rights of Catholic hospitals, nursing homes, and others. Settings. as well as Catholic doctors, nurses, and pharmacists – to provide care and treatment by the moral precepts of the Catholic Church. The CHCLA’s primary mission will be to act as a threat exchange center for Catholic health care and to coordinate an effective response through political and democratic engagement. The CHCLA will also work on evangelism, education, and mutual support for patients and professionals.
Pro-life leaders feared President Joe Biden would work to dismantle religious freedom for pro-life medical workers after his administration dropped a lawsuit last year defending a pro-life nurse allegedly forced to deliver an unborn baby. TThe nurse in Vermont said she had been tricked into assisting with an elective abortion, even though the doctors knew her objections; she said they told her she would help with a miscarriage. To abort.