• Contact Us
  • Classifieds
  • About
  • Home

Pathway

Missouri Baptist Convention's Official News Journal

  • Missouri
    • MBC
    • Churches
    • Institutions & Agencies
    • Policy
    • Disaster Relief
  • National
    • SBC Annual Meeting
    • NAMB
    • SBC
    • Churches
    • Policy
    • Society & Culture
  • Global
    • Missions
    • Multicultural
  • Columnists
    • Wes Fowler
    • Ben Hawkins
    • Pat Lamb
    • Rhonda Rhea
    • Rob Phillips
  • Ethics
    • Life
    • Liberty
    • Family
  • Faith
    • Apologetics
    • Religions
    • Evangelism
    • Missions
    • Bible Study & Devotion
  • E-Edition

More results...

Rep. Diane Black, R-Tenn.

Standing up for conscience

November 15, 2017 By Evan Wilt

(WNS) – Pro-life advocates on Nov. 8 urged Congress to ensure passage of a bill protecting the conscience rights of healthcare providers.

Tears streamed down Cathy DeCarlo’s face as she recounted her experience as a nurse in New York City. In May 2009, DeCarlo entered an operating room assuming she was there to treat a woman after a miscarriage only to find out the unborn baby was still alive. Her supervisor instructed her to help assist in the abortion or risk disciplinary action. DeCarlo reluctantly followed orders, fearing she would lose her job.

“I watched in horror as the doctor dismembered and removed the baby’s bloody limbs,” she said. “I still have nightmares about that day.”

Rep. Diane Black, R-Tenn., authored the Conscience Protection Act to make sure something like that never happens again. If passed, the bill would enshrine federal protections for nurses and other healthcare professionals against participating in abortions and provide legal recourse for employees if hospitals continue to coerce them.

Black introduced the bill in January, and she helped include it in the House appropriations package for fiscal year 2018. Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., sponsored companion legislation in the Senate.

The House and Senate must coalesce around an end-of-year spending package, and pro-life lawmakers hope the Conscience Protection Act makes it into the final version.

“Healthcare is about saving life, eradicating disease, mitigating disability—not taking life,” said Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., one of the bill’s original sponsors. “At the very least, healthcare providers should have the right to not be coerced into facilitating abortion.”

The legislation has 124 co-sponsors in the House, including two Democrats—Reps. Dan Lipinski of Illinois and Collin Peterson of Minnesota. The House already approved its appropriations package with the Conscience Protection Act intact, but the Senate has not. The two chambers are still in deep discussions to reconcile the massive government-funding bill before the Dec. 8 deadline.

Lankford told me he’s doubtful the Conscience Protection Act would get a vote as a standalone bill in the Senate, noting the appropriations process is the best option. But he expects to face opposition in the effort: “I mentally can’t understand why there would be opposition by some, but I’m sure there will be.”

Comments

Featured Videos

Lick Creek Fellowship - A Story of Cooperation

A declining rural church faced closure after years of dwindling attendance and aging members. But after the doors closed, a small group stepped in to build something fresh from its legacy. Watch this video to hear this story of cooperation and new life.

Find More Videos

Trending

  • The blessing of staying

  • Hooked on serving: One trip was all it took to seek out MODR training

  • Students accept call to faith, ministry during a peak year at Super Summer

  • Bellevue Baptist Church search committee announces Lifeway’s Mandrell as pastor candidate

  • First-person: The Cooperative Program fostered my passion for church planting

  • MBU sports team focuses on more than athletics

Ethics

Churches, religious broadcasters prevail in lawsuit challenging Johnson Amendment

Diana Chandler

The Johnson Amendment, as it formerly restricted political comments from the pulpit, is null and void, according to a July 7th binding consent judgment.

FIRST-PERSON: Liberty for all – a Baptist distinctive

Baptist Press

More Ethics Stories

Missouri

Students accept call to faith, ministry during a peak year at Super Summer

Dan Steinbeck

More than 1,600 students gathered across three Missouri Super Summer camps this June, making 2025 the largest year in the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) camp’s recent history and resulting in dozens of spiritual decisions.

Copyright © 2025 · The Pathway