Saturday, October 22, 2011

CCHC is talking out of both sides of their mouth

Obviously stinging from public rebuke of their receipt of a contract which they are unable to fulfill, Dr. Rick Donlon of CCHC put a op-ed piece in today's CA

Let's address this point by point, shall we?

But what about the other concern? Will Christ Community improperly use public money to propagate a Christian viewpoint on abortion or other sexual issues?

First, we've stated publicly that we'll comply with the Title X regulations. It's no secret that we have profound moral and ethical objections to abortion, but we believe we can fulfill our contractual responsibilities without violating our consciences. Title X is not about abortion; it's about the provision of reproductive health services to the poor and uninsured. We have a solid 16-year record of providing those services to Memphis' most underserved communities.
While he is right, that is what it is SUPPOSED to be about, I am not aware that they have provided reproductive health services to the community.  Assuming that they have, they certainly have not done so with the depth and breadth that Planned Parenthood has done for many years.

Now, to the meat of the argument:

Second, while we make no apologies for our faith in Jesus Christ (it's the reason we do what we do), we never force that faith on our patients. Any discussion about religious or philosophical issues is conducted respectfully and only after obtaining the permission of the patient.

Through surveys, we've found that a significant majority of our patients are interested in discussing faith as part of their health. To exclude such an important aspect of their lives is at best an oversight and at worst medical malpractice. Those who say that conversations touching on religion between doctors and patients are always improper are effectively trying to muzzle people of faith.
Sir, you are accepting a contract from a secular organization, Shelby County Government.  It is NOT your job as a contractor of services for Shelby County Government to evangelize.  If one of your patients ask YOU about religion, that's one thing; to evangelize to someone who may not want or need it is a violation of TITLE X regulations. 

How do I know this will happen?  David Fowler of Family Action Council of Tennessee says they are working to put a "crisis pregnancy center" in CCHC.  This is a DIRECT VIOLATION of TITLE X regulations.  Supposedly Drs. Donlon and Waller have denied this, but there's the proof.  In fact, I called on Dr. Donlon in the comments to ask him about this:
LeftWingCracker writes:
Dr. Donlon, if this is so, why is David Fowler of the Family Action Council of Tennessee stating that they are working with you to put a "crisis pregnancy center" in your facility, which is a violation of Title X regulations? Here is the link, lest anyone think I am making this up -

http://www.citizenlink.com/2011/10/18...#.Tp7-mVJFtvY
 I await his response.

2 comments:

Freedonian said...

Ugh. Disgusting. This guy talks out of both sides of his mouth on this issue, then wonders why the public won't just take his word at face value?

Awarding this contract to CCHC flies in the face of what Title X was created for. This is supposed to put as few barriers as possible between women and their reproductive choices, and CCHC has talked at length about the barriers they want to put up.

Jacob Woods said...

The precedence has made it clear that there needs to be separation of church and state. Yet tax dollars still go to support religious organizations. They need to act privately, not within the realms of recieving public money.