Update 2012-09-01

1.  By Region/Country
Visit the Project News/Blog for details.

Canada

The Canadian federal government has appealed the B.C. Supreme Court decision of Carter v. Canada that struck down the law against physician assisted suicide and euthanasia. The appeal will be heard in March, 2013.  In the meantime, Madam Justice Prowse of the B.C. Supreme Court has ruled that Parliament need not change the law, pending the outcome of the appeal,but she upheld the "constitional exemption" that permits plaintiff Gloria Taylor to obtain physician assisted suicide or euthanasia in the interim.  An Associate Professor of Medicine at McGill University, has protested the Carter ruling.  He argues that the decision, if upheld, would poison the practice of medicine, and that some new profession should be created to implement it.

The leader of Alberta's Wild Rose Party, has stated that the party will reverse its position on freedom of conscience, instead adopting a policy that health care workers should be forced to facilitate services or procedures to which they object for religious or moral reasons.  The party lost the last provincial election, during which Premier Alsion Redford, the successful incumbent, said she was "very frightened" by the Wild Rose Party's support for freedom of conscience. 

United Kingdom

Two midwives who were ordered to supervise the provision of abortions are appealing the decision of the Court of Session in Edinburgh against freedom of conscience.

United States

The Republican controlled House of Representatives has voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the federal health care reform legislation recently upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.  The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor/HHS action has amended the annual appropriations bill to deny the Department of Health and Human Services funding for enforcing regulations that suppress freedom of conscience.  It is unlikely that either measure will ultimately have any effect, since the Senate is controlled by the Democrats.

The Catholic Church and Catholic institutions are being joined by other Christian groups in resisting the federal guidelines that would force employers to pay for insurance for contraceptives, embryocides and sterilization, despite moral or religious objections. The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod has spoken out, and lawsuits have been filed Grace College and Seminary of Winona Lake, Indiana, and Biola University of Mirada, California, bothEvangelical Christian colleges.

Private employers in Illinois and Michigan who object to the regulation have filed suit, and federal judge in Colorado has granted a private employer an injunction against the regulation. Other federal judges have dismissed lawsuits brought by a Catholic college and the State of Nebraska as premature.

Philippines

The Philippines House of Representatives has voted to end 19 months of debate on a controversial Reproductive Health Bill that could have an adverse impact on Passage  on freedom of conscience for objecting health care workers.[The Philippines RH bill of 2011: the shape of things to come?]  An amendment proposed would still force health care workers to refer for services to which they object for reasons of conscience, though "Without in anyway agreeing or endorsing the family planning service or procedure required by the persons concerned."  The additional phrase is insufficient to protect those who object to referral on the grounds that the act of referral itself amounts to immoral participation. The country is divided on the bill.  It is strongly opposed by the Catholic Church.

2.  News Items

All news items are now on the Project News/Blog, archived by country.  They can also be searched by topic using the blog search box. 

3.  Recent Postings

 All recent postings are now on the Project News/Blog, archived by year and month.

4.  Action Items

5.  Conferences/Papers

The Project will post notices of conferences that are explore and support the principle freedom of conscience, including the legitimate role of moral or religious conviction in shaping law and public policy in pluralist states or societies.

6.  Publications of Interest

An opinion piece in the New England Journal of Medicine asserts that "momentum is building" in favour of assisted suicide and euthanasia, citing activism in various jurisdictions and a recent Canadian court ruling that struck down the law against physician assisted suicide.  The authors support assisted suicide and euthanasia, but do not see the need for physician assistance.  They suggest that the physician role be limited to providing a written summary of a patient's condition, prognosis and alternative treatments.  Patients would then obtain lethal prescriptions from some state authority. [NEJM] The article is somewhat unclear about the extent to which the authors would be willing to permit conscientious objection. 

From the Project

Legalizing therapeutic homicide and assisted suicide:  A tour of Carter v. Canada

7.  Video

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8.  Audio

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