Does a doctor have a right to practice his religious beliefs, such as no birth?

Question

control or abortion even if a woman was raped?

Answer 1

A doctor first of all must follow the call of duty as contained in the Hippocratic Oath - which by the way is essentially because it is aimed at saving the patient. His or her religious or personal belifes must not interfere with this doctrine because being a doctor is first and foremost a call to serve those who need medical attention. Hence whether he or she is pro-life or pro-abortion must not be a problem to him or her but whether he or she could perform the proper medical attention a patient needs.

Answer 2

He has a right to practice medicine, but he does not have the right to refuse birth control and abortion to women under his care - he must at the very least refer the woman on to another doctor. He should not take a job where practising it according to the laws of his country conflicts with his religious and ethical beliefs.

A vegetarian should not apply to work at a slaughterhouse and a pro-forced-birther should not apply to work with women who will want birth control, so long as birth control is legal.

I would not care what views a dentist or chiropodist had on birth control, but I would be angry if my GP refused to prescribe birth control or to refer me for an abortion.

Answer 3

absolutely- there are many drs. out there that will give birth control or an abortion. However, if the dr is a believer in God and believes that abortion takes the life of a child, why would you want him to do something he thinks is wrong? Even if I was ok with abortion, I would respect a dr. who would not perform one due to his convictions. Remember , in a rape situation, the man should be punished not the child sacrificed.

Answer 4

no medically he or she has to what is in the best interest of the patient with out his or hers opinion in the matter. but if it is a catholic private hospital they can exercise that belief because they license by the state and work for the church. if the facility is catholic administered, then they do not practice anything thing against actual birth which means, no birth control, plan b pills, or abortion ( IF A WOMAN WAS RAPED OR NOT) it is a sin in the eyes of our lord and savior ( that's would they say) I'm pro-choice--
i hoped this helped
good luck

Answer 5

Firstly let me say that my sect does not view abortion as a sin in all cases (for example, if the pregnancy resulted from rape).

Secondly, the phrase "even if a woman was raped" adds nothing to the question EXCEPT to try and demonize the doctor.

Thirdly, I agree with Nathan. If a medical student's religious views prohibit him/her from performing certain procedures (eg. abortion or blood transfusions), then he/she should specialize in something that does not violate their religious convictions.

At the very least, doctors should tell their patients (and potential patients) of any procedures they are unable to perform, so the patients can make alternate plans.

Answer 6

Absolutely. The doctor takes an oath to preserve life by any reasonable means available. If a doctor's religious beliefs express that an unborn child is a live, individual person, then to perform an abortion would be to violate the doctor's Hippocratic oath.

Answer 7

He/she should not, no. If a person wants to become a doctor, then they should NOT DO IT if their beliefs are going to interfere with them actually doing their job!

I don't know whether a doctor actually DOES have a right to refuse treatments etc based on that, but I really really really hope that they can't do it, because it is sick, wrong, and they should lose their jobs for something like that.

If you become a doctor, you should help ALL people, and you shouldn't become a doctor if you are against the idea of a woman being able to control her own body and her own reproduction. If you believe that, the only job you should get is a suicide case.

Answer 8

Well, I'm a doctor, and in Canada it is against the bylaws of the medical licensing authority. You can't personally be forced to perform a service, but you do have to provide a referal to someone who does.

The Hippocratic oath states "first, do no harm" and physicians morally opposed to things like abortion or birth control would consider those things harmful I suppose.

Answer 9

If he/she doesn't they should. I personally don't support abortion and especially for the birth control or rape. Does it make the baby less than human? Has your parents did anything that you felt was less than human? Does that make you a monster or less than human? We are constantly encouraging others who come from broken homes where the dad or mom was abusive, maybe an alcoholic or one drugs that "you are not your father/mother" you don't have to be like them, etc... What I find to be inhumane is a person who has life in them and has no issue with aborting that life. That to me is inhumane.

Answer 10

Wouldn't it be easy for a Dr to avoid that by just getting into a field that wouldn't put him into that spot. I don't think any general Dr or OB/GYN specialist can refuse to prescribe birth control just for their own religious reason. Mine does not prescribe me the pill because I'm an over the hill smoker, but I know it is for health reasons, since he did had me on Depo for 8 years before I decided to stop due to side effects. And with abortions they will just refer you to somebody more "experienced" in that field.