Mind over what really matters

Obama is going to overturn the horrible HHS conscience clause that Bush enacted shortly before leaving a flaming reenactment of Rome under Nero the White House. But not completely.

The Bad News: Team Obama reportedly does not want to jettison the idea of a conscience clause altogether

The problem with a conscious clause is that it makes one person's opinion more important than another person's health. It's kinda the opposite of the idea of free speech. Free speech is the idea that you can have any opinion that you want, and you can say anything that you want, but you cannot cause another person physical harm to do so. It's why yelling "fire" in a crowded theater is illegal.

But perhaps the only way to show rethuglikans and forced pregnancy blow hards that a conscious clause is a really bad idea is to offer up some examples of how this could go badly for them:

Example 1) Let's pretend I am the only pharmacist in a small rural town. I am also a eco-warrior who believes that overpopulation is killing the earth. And this woman comes into my store with her 19th pregnancy. Can I refuse to to provide her with pre-natal vitamins because I believe she should have used birth control or had an abortion instead of killing the earth with more babies?

Example 2) I am a receptionist for a GP and this man and his doctor have decided that the man should have a gastric bypass. I am a firm believer in HAES and fat acceptance and I believe it is both cruel and negligent to perform surgery on someone simply because they don't look like a model. Will I get fired if I refuse to submit the referral to a bariatric surgeon?

Example 3) I am a bleeding heart feminazi drug addiction counselor and this man has enrolled in a 28 day program at my clinic to kick a drug addiction. Can I refuse to treat him because as a feminazi straw woman I believe that all men are rapists and he should be left to stew in his own addle brained morass?

People's ability to get the care they need is more important than the opinions of other people. Period. If dispensing birth control is against your beliefs, don't be a pharmacist (or a nurse who pulls out IUDs for fun. Your freedom of speech ends where someone else's body starts. And you wouldn't want it any other way, or someone like me might refuse to give you treatment for a reason you find unbelievably stupid.