Legislators in the Exam Room

The Commission for Reproductive Health Service Standards (CRHSS) rallied the medical community against the Reproductive Health Act when it was narrowly defeated in 2013, and continues to unite medical providers against this atrocious piece of legislation. The following article originally appeared on the CRHSS website.

Do legislators know enough about medicine and the practice of medicine to feel comfortable legislating medicine? The Policy on Abortion from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists ends with this strong statement: “The intervention of legislative bodies into medical decision making is inappropriate, ill advised, and dangerous.” By making abortion and contraception fundamental rights, the government has stepped into the exam room. Whether you are pro-life or pro-choice or pro-Chihuahua, government arbitration between doctors and patients is a slippery slope which has no end in sight.

Should doctors get together to decide conditions for the practice of law? Should doctors decide that the drafting of wills is a fundamental right, the denial of which would be discrimination? At least doctors have not had the arrogance to try to legislate another profession for their own political gain.

The Reproductive Health Act represents the height of professional arrogance, the height of political narcissism. If politicians can trample the rights of physicians, the essence of medicine, and the dignity of the women that they are dedicated to serve, they either have too much time on their hands or are deluded with self-importance.

Physicians and Medical Clinicians – Stand with your colleagues against the RHA.