Your Fundamental Right to Have Me Pay for Your Abortion?
by Joseph Backholm
Yesterday, Attorney General Bob Ferguson issued an opinion stating that it was illegal for a hospital district to contract with a hospital that doesn't perform abortions if the hospital district is not providing abortion services in some other way.
The Attorney General's opinion was a response to a request from Sen. Kevin Ranker, who objects to the fact that a local public hospital district contracted with a Catholic hospital to be the primary service provider in that district. The contract allowed the hospital not to do things in violation of their faith.
Sen. Ranker requested the opinion because he is concerned that someone wanting an abortion might be delayed in getting one if the hospital in her area was unwilling to provide them. The opinion effectively says that the primary responsibility of a hospital district is to ensure access to abortion.
Somewhat obtusely, the opinion also said that the hospital could avoid this legal problem by choosing not to provide maternity care at all. In their mind, that would solve the "discrimination" involved in having a maternity ward that helps children be born without having a part of the hospital that ensure they will not be. Nevermind the disservice to the community that would result, this is like suggesting that a hospital should decline to providing service to all terminally ill patients if it objects to assisting in their patient's suicide, which is also allowed under Washington law.
While unfortunate, this decision should not be viewed in isolation. In fact, it is a local manifestation of a national campaign to require conformity with government dogma on issues like abortion as a condition of being part of the public square.
The federal government is telling the Catholic Church they must pay for contraceptives in violation of their faith. The same federal government is also telling private companies like Hobby Lobby they must provide insurance coverage for contraception in violation of their beliefs.
Here in Washington State, a bill that would have required every insurance policy to cover abortion, regardless of the conscience of either the customer or the insurance company was narrowly defeated in the 2013 session and is sure to be revived. And now, the collaboration of Sen. Ranker and the Attorney General may have created a situation in which hospitals with a conscience may be excluded from contracting with the government to provide health care services because of their beliefs.
Their argument states that the government cannot "discriminate" in the administration of health care which has the result of the government having a preference for medical providers who like abortion. The discriminatory impact this has on medical providers because of their beliefs has apparently been lost on them.
While advocates for the abortion industry will hail this decision as a victory for choice and access to health care, what this really represents is a continuation of heavy handed moralism by government and a continued shift in the way we view rights.
Some rights define what the government can't do to you. They can't imprison you without a trial or make you testify against yourself. Other rights clarify what the government can't stop you from doing. You have the right to free speech so government cannot stop you from speaking. You have the right to bear arms so the government cannot stop you from owning a gun. Abortion, if we accept for the sake of argument that it is a right, would fall into this latter category.
Still, their understanding of what the "right to an abortion" means takes it far beyond the realm of "the government can't stop you from doing it" into a place where the government is now obligated to make it convenient for you. Perhaps the government should buy everyone a firearm to make sure there are no "barriers to access" of our second amendment rights.
As we continue to slide away from the concept of inalienable rights endowed by our Creator this is what you get. The only alternative is a world of temporary rights, valued differently based on the whims of legislators, and tolerated for as long as those in government believe they continue to serve their subjective sense of the greater good.
You may like the idea that, by giving the government the power to create rights, you get the right to a publicly funded abortion. Just remember, he who has the power to create also has the power to destroy. Be careful what you wish for.
