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...moral religious objection. In some cases, these radical new policies are intentionally designed to undermine, if not actually eliminate, the ability of governments at all levels, and even private businesses, to balance providers' "conscience" rights with the ability of patients to exercise their own conscience and gain access to health care services that they want and need.
Ever-Expanding Objections
U.S. policymakers first enacted "refusal clauses" in response to the nationwide legalization of abortion in the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. These early policies--adopted by the federal government and all but a handful of states--were designed to allow doctors and other direct providers of health care to refuse to perform or assist in an abortion, and hospitals to refuse to allow abortions on their premises ("Refusing to Participate in Health Care: A Continuing Debate," TGR, February 2000, page 8). The federal policy also applies to sterilization, and a minority of states' policies apply to sterilization or contraception more broadly.
Since the 1970s, and especially over the past decade, the refusal clause debate has spread to a larger range of health care activities and participants. Much of the new momentum comes from the advent of technologies and medical practices that some Americans find objectionable. Examples include in vitro fertilization and other assisted reproductive technologies; medical research involving human embryos or fetuses, or embryonic stem cells; and end-of-life practices such as assisted suicide or even adherence to living wills. Refusal clause advocates have used public misgivings about these technologies and practices to push for provisions applying to these activities specifically--or to any activity, without limitation--and for an increasingly wide...
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