Biting the Apple of Professional Oppression

Imagine being a post-secondary student for 10 years and accruing a debt of $200,000. Then imagine having to decide whether to continue in the profession you’ve dedicated your life to or leaving it behind to save your conscience.

That is the dilemma many face who are part of the medical profession today.

It’s been ongoing since Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton legalized abortion from conception until birth in 1973.

Let’s remember: there’s a shortage of physicians in the US. And that situation is getting worse. America will need to train more physicians. So far, most states protect the rights of medical personnel to not participate in objectionable procedures such as abortion. But in some cases, that is already changing.

The issues are what you might expect: abortion, euthanasia, and transgender drug treatments and surgery.

Some history: In May of 2019, the US Department of Health and Human Services issued a rule stating that health care workers could not be “compelled to participate in abortion, sterilization, or assisted suicide procedures.” But the rule was “vague about other services — such as hormonal and surgical treatments for transgender individuals — that some health professionals may also find objectionable on moral grounds.”

Peter Sullivan quotes Roger Severino, senior fellow and director of HHS Accountability Project at the Ethics & Public Policy Center at the time: “This rule ensures that healthcare entities and professionals won’t be bullied out of the health care field because they decline to participate in actions that violate their conscience, including the taking of human life.”

The rule affected not only doctors, nurses, and other medical staff, but also pharmacists who didn’t want to dispense contraceptives (many of which are abortifacients) and morning-after pills (also abortifacients).

Now the conflict has expanded from abortion and euthanasia (in the states where it’s legal) to transgender treatments and surgeries.

Severino again, “[HHS Secretary Xavier] Becerra is threatening to put doctors and hospitals that disagree with current transgender ideology out of business, including those with medical, religious, or moral objections to conducting sex-reassignment surgeries on minors.”

So if you believe that it’s wrong to surgically alter someone, a child in this discussion, with an operation from which there is no return, the government wants to put you “out of business.”

As things stand today, many medical professionals of faith, including those we’ve praised and lauded during the COVID pandemic, are employed in a hostile workplace.

When Adam and Eve ate the forbidden apple, they had no idea how bad their fall would turn out.

Our government has bitten a poison apple, rejecting Hippocrates’ admonition that medical professionals “first, do no harm,” and placing people of conscience between two bad options.

Damaged career or damaged patients? That’s their choice.

Photo Credit: Unsplash

Nancy E. Head’s Restoring the Shattered is out in paperback! Get your copy here!

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24 Replies to “Biting the Apple of Professional Oppression”

  1. This is so good, Nancy. You are right… it’s such a tough decision to pick between your job and your values. I feel for the men and women who are battling this.

  2. I appreciate my doctors and the journey they have taken to become medical professionals. I am praying for them as they make extraordinary decisions in each moment.

  3. It’s something, isn’t it? How far depravity and the first fall have taken humankind! Even when we just think about these medical procedures like abortion and altering a person’s sexual identity since birth, it should make us wonder why we feel the need to take on the role of God.

    1. It should, indeed. People want power and control. They tell themselves they are empowering others when they are only bringing others into oppression. Thanks, Karen. God bless!

  4. A great read Nancy. I would not want to be in the medical field these days but I am sure some day we won’t have any say over our children’s health at all. God help us.

  5. So sad that we have come to this point. In some ways our policies are evolving into those like Nazi Germany. We need to keep standing for right and keep praying.

  6. Hopefully faith and science will win out. No matter what surgery you perform on a person, their biological sex cannot be altered. They may look like the opposite sex, but biologically, they are not. When doctors refuse to participate in mutilating children, that is a noble and good stance. Common sense is needed, and I pray that the eyes of our leaders will be opened.

  7. Sounds like I need to start praying for laws to pass that protect doctors from a wide variety of issues that could violate their conscience. Thanks for letting me know.

    1. Amen, Joanna. We need to protect everyone in the medical field, even the secretaries who could be asked to mail abortion pills. And don’t forget the pharmacists. Thanks and God bless!

  8. As a teacher, I empathize with the plight of nurses and doctors forced to choose between their faith and implementing curriculum I consider damaging to young minds. I do not know what the answer is, other than prayers for God’s mercy for our nation.

  9. What a tragic situation when one must choose between a profession dedicated to saving lives or leaving one’s career because of being forced to do things that are morally wrong. You’re never afraid to tackle these hard subjects, Nancy. Thank you for this informative message. Now it’s up to us speak up.

  10. Nancy, like Daniel and his three Hebrew friends, we are living in a time where our convictions are being tested. May we know God’s truth and stand on it.

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