Conscience for me, not for thee

For pro-abortionists, freedom of conscience is only applicable to those who want to abort children. In New Zealand, a pro-abortion group is warning that a Catholic doctor’s refusal to prescribe contraceptives could push the country’s teen pregnancy rate up. Of course, that’s an overly simplistic analysis skewed to support her point of view.

The reality is that teenage pregnancy is not just a matter of shoving chemical castration down the throats of young girls. Contraceptives alter a fundamental and natural process of the body, treating that natural process as if it were a disease or malfunction. This can have profound consequences for the rest of her life.

We need to start treating teens as moral persons who can learn to control their urges and passions, rather than as animals who act on every urge and must have outside intervention to keep them from harming themselves.

Contempt
It’s not surprising that the pro-abortion would treat the doctor’s decision with contempt. The doctor, God bless him, confesses that he has struggled with the Church’s teaching.

“I have done this in response to a personal journey,” he told the Herald. ” ... I have been praying about God’s direction on this in my life. Over the last few weeks, in various ways, I have felt this is the direction I should take.”

Dr Hassan, who also opposes abortion and has set up a crisis support programme as an alternative, said he had long been troubled by the conflict between the Church’s teaching on contraception and his medical practice.

But Auckland Women’s Health Council co-ordinator Lynda Williams wants to dismiss him as an evil fundamentalist: “Ms Williams said she was surprised by Dr Hassan’s move. ‘It’s really out-of-the-Ark stuff these days.’”

Hassan said other Catholic doctors are following his lead. Good for them too.