...since apparently it's political discussions-day in my brain right now.
you guys? The Bush administration proposes conscience rule for doctors who do not want to perform, like, aborts and sterilizations and shit. which means, basically, that they can refuse to do their job, and it will be legal.
god. god, this makes my head hurt so bad. it's making me nauseous, jesus. if the doctors don't want to do it, if it's against their ethics or religious views or what the fuck ever, then change job, for god's sake. become a surgeon or a pediatrician or a heart surgeon or an opthamologist or a podiatrist or a brain surgeon or a pathologist or whatever. DON'T WORK AT AN ABORTION CLINIC, FOR GOD'S SAKES, DOES IT GET EASIER THAN THAT? JESUS.
basically, it gives the doctors the rights to refuse to handle their patients. it leaves people - it leaves thousands of women - to deal on their own when they go see a doctor and he's like "i'm sorry, you said you wanted an abortion? because your boyfriend's condom split and your body can't handle a pregnancy without, like, killing? i'm sorry, i refuse to do that, because it's against my religious views. just live with it, love." and send her out. and they give the patients NOTHING. no advice on where to go, no offer to send them to the hospital in the next city where there might be a doctor who isn't as morally inclined - nothing. they're left on their own - the patients are put not only behind the consciences of the employees, but left with NOTHING as a recourse. they're just told to go somewhere else, and for thousands and thousands of women, THERE IS NOWHERE ELSE TO GO. their doctor refuses to do what they wish (and pay for, uhum), and they're basically reduced to being worthless.
what's supposed to happen is that (THIS LAW NEVER GOES THROUGH) your doctor finds another doctor/nurse/midwife/whoever to do it. he/she leaves the patient all alone dealing with it, and it's called abandonment, and that's illegal.
...only not anymore in like 10 days, if this goes through, apparently. holy shit.
so. the bush administration can't legally forbide abortion. but they can do this, and make it really almost fucking impossible for girls to get one. people are gonna be scared to go get one, because the doctors can just go "yeah, sorry, no". it's gonna scare the shit out of every single one who actually values their ability to do as they wish with their bodies. it's a regulation that takes away a woman's right to be childless, and BAM, we're back to the 60's.
basically? anyone can get employed at an abortion clinic, and then when they're supposed to actually perform the thing, they can refuse. and the abortion clinic isn't allowed to fire them for it - they have to keep them working there, keep paying them, for jobs they won't perform. The only reason to have this rule is so that those opposed to abortion can intentionally occupy jobs they don't want to do, and form a blockade.
also, hey. does this mean doctors can refuse taking care of anyone they think are doing wrong? if they can refuse to do abortions to girls, and refuse to write out birth control because 'birth control is wrong', doesn't that mean that technically, they can refuse to take care of, like, homosexuals and trannies and shit? go 'sorry, you like dick, and my church says that's wrong, so take your illness and go someplace else, the law says i don't have to take care of you!'.
adkfjhsaasdflhskljgfoiöawutpuqwyaefas i am so pissed off, i doubt i'll even be able to sleep.