Growing secularism seen as greatest threat facing health care workers

J.D. Long-Garcia and Joyce Coronel at »The Catholic Review Online: The battle over conscience rights has been ongoing, said Nik Nikas, president and general counsel of the Bioethics Defense Fund. “When you stand for conscience,” Nikas said, “you are indicting others.” He told a story of a Catholic medical student who was mocked by his professor for stepping out during a sterilization procedure. Alan Sears, CEO of the Alliance Defense Fund, lauded legislation recently passed in Arizona that limits and restricts the right to abortion. Religious communities are an essential part of the fabric of America, he said, and their rights of conscience must be protected. “Those who are treated in Catholic hospitals and by people like you … receive better care,” Sears said.