The Chicago Tribune ran an article on Friday titled “Obama administration may rescind conscience rule.” The ‘conscience rule’ was implemented by the Bush administration. It allows health care workers to refuse to perform an abortion or provide other family planning counseling because those procedures are in opposition to the personal beliefs of the provider.

Now, it seems the "right" to abortion will trump the right of an individual to act in accordance with their personal beliefs. The danger we run into with this situation is it allows the “rights” of those in a popular position to supersede the rights of those whose position is less popular. Once this precedent is set, where do we go next?

This past December, a Montana court ruled assisted suicide to be legal. Will the precedent set by rescinding the ‘conscience rule’ apply to assisted suicide? Will doctors and other medical personnel be forced to ‘terminate’ patients, despite their personal beliefs?

When we start subjugating the rights of those in the minority or less popular positions to the will of those who have the popular support, we begin to lose the very principles this great nation was founded upon.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/obama/chi-conscience-rulefeb27,0,1515759.story