Just as long as his conscience is clear

Dr Joseph Hassan works as a GP in Nelson, and he just sent a letter to 50 of his female patients telling them he would no longer prescribe contraception because of his religious beliefs. He also made the front page of The Press.

I'm suddenly really curious how he decided which 50 patients to send a letter to, because unless he was very part-time he would have more than 50 women patients of reproductive age. Did he go through the list trying to figure out which women were most likely to refuse the gift of fertility (his phrase not mine). Or did he choose the 50 he thought he could guilt into giving up their pills - he sounds like he was using his position as a doctor to try and get his patients to follow his religious beliefs - creep.

There are many people whittering about his right to his religious beliefs and his conscience in the article. I agree to a point, but the solution is to choose a job where the requirements are compatible with your religious beliefs. So if you have a problem prescribing contraception then don't work as a GP; go find a speciality where you won't have to deal with wicked women who want to have sex without paying the consequences.

I passionately believe that way wealth is distributed in this society is wrong. This means I stay away from jobs where part of the job is to uphold the distribution of wealth. I don't apply to be a cop, go through the training, and then raise moral objections to investigating burglaries in wealthy areas.

More seriously when doctors decide their consciences are more important than their female patients, it's the women who suffer. I had a friend who had previously found the pill helpful for her PMT. She went to a Catholic doctor, who wouldn't give my friend the pill, and gave her Prozac instead, arguing that it was better. My friend didn't react very well to the Prozac, and I've worried ever since about all the other women who go to that doctor.