Health-Care Reform and the Catholic Medical Professional Impacting Religious Liberty in America

There has been a steady and escalating attack on the religious liberty of health-care providers; currently, as we focus on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the more recent rescinding by President Barack Obama of major parts of President George W. Bush's Conscience Rule, this attack is never so evident. The culture of secular relativism increasingly is becoming hostile toward conscience rights and religion, especially the Roman Catholic Church, which is the largest nongovernmental provider of health care in this country. Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, in his recent visit to Westminster Hall of the United Kingdom addressed the "proper place of religious belief in the political process." He stated, "These are worrying signs of a failure to appreciate not only the rights of believers to freedom of conscience and freedom of religion, but also the legitimate role of religion in the public square."¹ This presentation provides an overview of the threats to conscience faced by health-care professionals, particularly with a focus on the myriad of attacks at the state level, as they are potentiated by both the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the revised Conscience Rule. Health-care professionals increasingly find that, when attempting to exercise their First Amendment rights to the free exercise of religion in health care, they are accused of violating the principle of the separation of church and state. Tragically, the very government, born out of a need to secure liberty, including religious freedom, is imposing policies that impact, the rights of not only the most vulnerable, but also those dedicated to caring for them.