Illinois anti-abortion centers sue for right to lie to patients

Christian “crisis pregnancy centers” are abject cons that should be outlawed – how it’s possible for medically unqualified and ideologically driven charlatans to blatantly lie to their patients and steer them away from actual medical care without suffering any legal consequences is beyond me. But since they pretend to be doctors, it’s only fair they should be bound by the same code of ethics that governs actual medical professionals, and that includes providing accurate information about a patient’s options, even if they don’t agree with certain treatments.

That’s what Illinois intended with a new amendment that, beginning in January, required all medical caregivers to give their patients the plain facts free from ideological distortion. But some aren’t happy with being told they can no longer bullshit the scared and vulnerable people who come to them for help:

Christian crisis pregnancy centers in the south and far western suburbs are challenging a change in the state's right-of-conscience law that since January requires physicians and nurses to notify pregnant patients of all their available options, including abortion.

The lawsuit, filed against state officials including Gov. Bruce Rauner, claims their constitutional free-speech rights are violated by the changes to the law because they have to offer advice they find morally wrong. The clinics also allege the new law violates federal laws banning discrimination against doctors and other health care workers who do not provide or refer patients for abortions.

Supporters of the law say the changes only require health care providers to inform patients of all their options — a standard practice of care in the medical field.

To be clear, the revised law doesn’t force anti-choice doctors to perform abortions; it only tries to prevent them from outright lying to their patients about the availability or supposed harms of terminating a pregnancy. But clearly, that’s asking too much of them. That’s because they’re not in the business of providing actual medical care – that’s just the veneer they lay on to trick people into choosing them rather than going to a legitimate healthcare clinic. Their true goal is to prevent as many women from having abortions as possible regardless of the consequences to the women’s well-being.

The article provides an example of the real-life consequences of these frauds’ disinformation and obfuscation:

After her water broke prematurely, Mindy Swank was devastated to learn that not only would her baby not survive, but that she herself was at serious risk of infections that could prevent her from having another child or even threaten her life.

[…]

But her Catholic hospital refused to treat her, saying its religious restrictions only permitted it to act if she was already infected or bleeding heavily, and told her of no other treatment options.

She went to a regular hospital, but insurance would not cover her treatment in part, she said, because the Catholic hospital refused to say an abortion was medically necessary. Unable to pay for the procedure out of pocket, Swank instead went home to wait out the "nightmare."

"Desperate to prove I was sick enough for them to treat me, I brought to the hospital all the pads and clothing I had bled through," she testified. "The doctors decided that I was sick enough to induce delivery. I gave birth to a baby boy who never gained consciousness and he died within a few hours."

Those physicians, pharmacists and rapacious pretenders who put their personal prejudices above their patients’ health shouldn’t be allowed to practice medicine. They’ve shown time and again that they will let people suffer and die rather than provide care that might go against their religious hangups.

I’ll leave you with some Samantha Bee and Patton Oswalt, who do a fantastic job exposing the filthy, rotten heart of these fake clinics.

(via Secular Student Alliance | Facebook)