A new survey shows most Americans support conscience protections for healthcare workers, who do not wish to perform procedures that violate their moral values.
The poll, commissioned by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, comes as the Trump administration has taken steps to protect conscience rights. Last month, the Department of Health and Human Services accused the University of Vermont Medical Center of unlawfully forcing a nurse to assist in an abortion procedure despite the nurse’s moral objections.
Over 80% of those included in the survey said healthcare workers should not have to participate in procedures to which they morally object. When asked whether the same protections should apply to workers in the case of abortion, just under 60% said healthcare professionals should not have to perform the procedure.
60% favored regulation to protect healthcare workers from having to perform gender reassignment surgery against their conscience.
Bishops Joseph Naumann, Robert McManus, Frank Dewane, and James Conley issued a statement warning against discouraging people of faith from pursuing medical careers.
“An overwhelming majority of Americans agree: no healthcare professional should be forced to violate deeply-held beliefs in order to keep a job,” they said. “The practice of medicine depends on those courageous and generous enough to serve all people — especially the poor and marginalized — with the highest ethical standards. If we exclude people of faith from the medical profession, Americans will suffer, especially those most in need.”
A separate survey, released by the Christian Medical & Dental Association, a faith-based association of healthcare workers, sampled Christian healthcare professionals and revealed that “91 percent said they would have to ‘stop practicing medicine altogether than be forced to violate my conscience.'” It also found that almost all of those surveyed care for patients “regardless of sexual orientation, gender identification, or family makeup, with sensitivity and compassion, even when I cannot validate their choices.”
In May, the Department of Health and Human Services announced a conscience protection rule, in which the department’s Office for Civil Rights said it would back individuals who refuse to provide medical services that go against their beliefs. The Trump administration delayed the rule until at least November in the wake of a legal challenge by the San Francisco city attorney.
Both the USCCB and CMDA polls were conducted by Heart+Mind Strategies. The USCCB survey was performed in July and included a sample of 1,004 adults. The CMDA survey was also done in July, and sampled 1,732 Christian healthcare professionals who are members of CMDA and faith-based partner organizations, including The Catholic Medical Association, Nurses Christian Fellowship, and Christian Pharmacists Fellowship International.
