Zenit: Conscience Rights Under Threat

Health Issues Spark Conflicts
By Father John Flynn, LC

ROME, JUNE 1, 2008 (Zenit.org).- The attempt to limit religion to the purely private sphere is a major area of conflict in many countries. One of the areas of battle involves Christians and Church-based institutions active in health care.

Last week the California Supreme Court heard testimony regarding a discrimination lawsuit brought by a lesbian who was denied artificial insemination. The Associated Press published a background report on the case May 26. Guadalupe Benitez is objecting to being refused treatment by a private clinic, the North Coast Women's Care Medical Group.

The doctors at the clinic refused to treat Benitez based on their religious beliefs. Requiring them to act in violation of their beliefs "is a discriminatory resolution, and it discriminates against Christians," said Peter Ferrara, general counsel for the Virginia-based American Civil Rights Union. Ferrara filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting the doctors. the rest