A recent survey has shown that a majority of medical professionals would choose their conscience over their jobs.
According to a poll conducted by Heart + Mind Strategies reported by CBN, 91% of faith-based health professionals said they would leave their field should they be forced to violate their beliefs.
“As we talk to our members, this is the most important issue to them,” Dr. David Stevens, CEO emeritus of the Christian Medical & Dental Associations (CMDA) said. “And they realize if we lose this battle, they no longer will be practicing medicine.”
These procedures include abortions and gender reassignment.
The Trump administration has pushed forward several “conscience laws” in recent years, but many of these laws have been blocked due to a belief that medical professionals should disregard personal morals to care for their patients.
The poll, however, discovered that a majority of Americans do not believe in this opposition. Eighty-three percent of the public believe medical professionals should not be forced to perform procedures that violate their conscience.
“We also saw strong agreement across party affiliations: 93% of Republicans, 78% of Democrats, 81% of independents and 76% of libertarians,” Greg Schleppenbach of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops said.
Eighty-five percent of women also agreed while only 20% of the general population believe doctors and nurses should perform abortions, despite their moral objections.
Some also fear that the conscience laws would allow healthcare practitioners permission to not treat a person based off of their sexual orientation. But the survey found that 97% of faith-based professionals would treat a patient regardless of their gender identification or orientation.
Discrimination for held beliefs is also common, according to 60% of healthcare professionals.
“We’ve all heard about the Vermont case where a nurse was forced to assist in an abortion,” Stevens said. “One of our members in San Antonio, her husband is one of my staff, and she lost a job at a university because she wouldn’t prescribe an abortifacient birth control pill. In Vermont, we had to sue the state because they were going to require referrals for physician-assisted suicide,” Stevens added.
Photo courtesy: Luis Melendez/Unsplash
Comments are closed.