January 9th 2009
Bush’s “midnight rule”
By Marie Alena Castle
The Star Tribune’s Dec. 28 editorial citing politics as the primary motivation for the disastrous “midnight rule” finalized by the Dept. of Health and Human Services missed the point. The rule is motivated solely by extremist religious beliefs about reproductive issues, not politics. The Bush administration is just using the political system to validate those beliefs.
This would seem to be a clear violation of the establishment clause of the First Amendment and therefore unconstitutional. Freedom of religion does not mean freedom to impose one’s beliefs on others. Those who find their beliefs in conflict with their job of serving the public should find more compatible employment. Other groups with philosophical conflicts do this; so should those with religious issues.
No Comments yet »
