Autonomy, Except for Religious Reasons

In Australia, a judge has ordered that a pregnant teenage who is a Jehovah’s Witness receive a blood transfusion should she need one when being induced to deliver her baby.

Why? “The court heard from experts who said that while the teenager had been very clear and consistent in her wishes she was influenced by a willingness to please her family and the community she was dependent on.” One expert testified that, “the girl could have been trying to seek approval from those around her after committing the ‘transgression’ of falling pregnant out of wedlock.”

Refusing a transfusion, as a medical expert testified, risked only the mother’s health, not the baby’s. She said that to receive a blood transfusion would be as psychologically distressful as someone raping her or committing some other act of violence to her.

Refusing treatment is an established right.  What if she refused a treatment for a reason other than her religious belief? No judge would be involved.

How about abortion? How many abortions are done to hide a “dumb mistake?” With Oprah and the rest of the culture “shouting” their abortions, how many teens are looking to please friends saying she would be stupid not to have an abortion? And then there are the boyfriends and parents demanding teens dependent on them get abortions. No judge would be involved for any pregnant woman wanting to kill her child.

But opposing abortion is labeled as a religious issue. Remember mindless slogans like, “Get your rosaries off my ovaries?”

How about assisted suicide? Patients with serious illness become increasingly dependent on their medical teams and families as caregivers, far more so than a pregnant teenager.  No judge would be involved for any sick person wanting to kill themselves.

But opposing “aid in dying” is labeled a religious issue.

This tactic has been used ever since the eugenics movement began 100 years ago that morphed into Planned Parenthood and The Hemlock Society in the 1960’s. Their quest for “autonomy” has always meant being free from whatever the Church has taught to be fundamentally wrong.

Some day, the Culture of Death will realize the Church teaches those things because God knows what will lead us all to thrive as human beings living in society, caring for one another.