From the party of small government, and the party of the "patient doctor relationship," comes a new bill which places big government squarely in the middle of your patient doctor relationship.
It’s called a “wrongful birth” bill and it’s all about preventing women from having an abortion, even if it kills them. The Arizona Senate passed a bill this week that gives doctors a free pass to not inform pregnant women of prenatal problems because such information could lead to an abortion.
In other words, doctors can intentionally keep critical health information from pregnant women and can’t be sued for it. According to the Arizona Capitol Times, “the bill’s sponsor is Republican Nancy Barto of Phoenix. She says allowing the medical malpractice lawsuits endorses the idea that if a child is born with a disability, someone is to blame.” So Republicans are banning lawsuits against doctors who keep information from pregnant women so as to prevent them from choosing to have an abortion.
Pardon my french but -- holy fucking shit
The word "overreach" just doesn't quite cut it.
The Republicans, who supposedly believe in limited government, are trying to legislatively manipulate your prenatal care. They want to legislatively nullify the Hippocratic Oath. Nullify professional ethics itself.
This is similar to allowing pharmacists to refuse to provide birth control because it's against their religious beliefs, except in this case the doctor can refuse to tell you the truth about your unborn child because of what you might do with the information.
And how many complications could result by withholding information from someone who had no intention of having an abortion anyway? What if withholding information leads to the death of both mother and child?
According to Arizona Republicans, you should have no right to sue a doctor who withholds this information regardless of the consequences.
Adding... this is not some fringe piece of legislation. The Arizona Senate voted to pass it.