needless to say, i have argued many times in favor of the sort of conscience clauses that obama is rescinding. one measure of the decency of any institution is the extent to which it does not require the people embedded in it to violate their own religious and ethical commitments. it's worth acknowledging that he wants to tighten and not eliminate such regulations, and that's better than ditching them. but one suspects they'll basically be ditched. if the argument really is that this will prevent people from getting blood transfusions or something, or even that it presents serious barriers to care of various kinds, then i want to see the evidence. and i want to weigh actual barriers to care against actual conscience rights of practitioners. it's easy to invent a case where you have a christian science emt and a hemophiliac, a lot harder to find the actual problems actual people are actually having.

if you want to see the gist or force of my argument: imagine that your own job assigns you a task you find deeply morally repugnant. don't let your pro-choice position govern the general question. imagine that your boss tells you to torture, or censor, or lie your ass off: whatever it is you actually object to. opting out is not only important to your self-respect: it is important feedback to the institution.