Lesbian’s ‘Right’ to Insemination Shouldn’t Trump Conscience, Doctors Say

Physician’s groups, religious rights attorneys, and pro-life groups say a California Supreme Court decision issued Monday takes away the right of doctors not to violate their own consciences – and they vow to fight it.

“It really is as if California has banned its citizens from having moral consciences,” said Gary McCaleb, senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), a conservative group.

The ADF is defending two San Diego-area Christian doctors who the court said were required to artificially inseminate a lesbian, even though doing so would have violated their religious beliefs.

Justices on the California Supreme Court unanimously held Monday that Drs. Christine Brody and Douglas Fenton, who work at the North Coast Women’s Care Medical Group in Vista, Calif., could not use the First Amendment’s protections of freedom of religion and free speech to be exempt from a lawsuit filed by Guadalupe Benitez, a lesbian. Read more...

Exempting freedom of speech and religion, especially in a private practice, sets a dangerous precedent. Where else will the court suspend basic constitutional rights?

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