A New England Journal of Medicine article ("Religion, Conscience, and Controversial Clinical Practices") released Friday reveals that a majority of doctors "reported objections to abortion for failed contraception" and see the value in explaining their own moral convictions to patients.

Dr. David Stevens, CEO of the 16,000-member Christian Medical Association (CMA, http://www.cmda.org), the nation's largest association of faith-based doctors, said, "It is encouraging to see that a majority of physicians oppose such abortions. It's also encouraging to see that nearly two-thirds of doctors understand that it is good and right to explain their ethical stances to patients.

"At the same time, the study suggests that many physicians may still feel pressured to violate their own ethical integrity by referring patients to other doctors who will perform morally objectionable practices. We need laws that protect physicians' rights of conscience, and we need education to encourage doctors to stand firm on strong moral and ethical principles.

"A professional has the right and even the duty to stand firm on ethical standards. A professional by definition is someone who has professed an oath that binds him or her to clearly stated, objective ethical standards. When doctors hold themselves to those standards, patients are protected. Before doctors began to swear the "do no harm" principles inherent in the Hippocratic Oath, patients never knew whether their doctor would heal them, kill them or sexually abuse them.

"If it is morally wrong to perform an abortion or euthanasia, it is morally wrong to facilitate abortion or euthanasia with a referral. Our society has always recognized this ethical principle. It's why, for example, we prosecute accomplices who drive the getaway car in a robbery."

Dr. Al Weir, who directs CMA's Campus and Community Ministries that reaches students on nearly every medical school campus in the United States, emphasizes the need for strong ethical standards and education in medicine.

Dr. Weir noted, "Patients would be alarmed to discover that many medical schools have quietly stopped administering oaths in which doctors profess to upholding the Hippocratic standards that protect patients. We seem to have gone backward in ethical history.

"Many medical students today are taught that there are no moral absolutes, and that a doctor's role basically is to accommodate whatever the patient wants. These students need to realize that being a professional means holding to moral standards that are above the doctor and above the patient.

"Ethics and morals by definition draw bright lines that you must not cross, even if someone else is pressuring you to violate those standards. We need more doctors who have the courage to stand by the life-honoring convictions that have protected patients for millennia."

http://www.cmda.org