Alberta’s College of Physicians and Surgeons (CPSA) is moving away from forcing doctors and health care professionals to support medical services like abortion, medical assistance in dying (MAID), and “gender-affirming” care.
The regulatory body has been updating its Standards of Practice, which raised concerns that it would force medical professionals to participate in services they oppose morally, according to a Jan. 3
blog post on the Campaign Life Coalition (CLC) website.
However, a
draft document on the CPSA page notes that it will be removing the term “effective referral” from the standards.
Effective referral means that if a physician does not want to provide a service based on their conscience or religious beliefs, they must refer the patient to a doctor who will perform the service.
“Based on initial feedback received, the term ‘effective referral’ will be removed from the Conscientious Objection standard,” a note in the draft document said. “Those that provide feedback during the consultation period will be consulted again during the re-consultation phase and see additional edits before final approval.”
“Forcing a doctor to make an ‘effective referral’ is to force them to participate in a procedure against their medical judgment and their conscience,” Pete Baklinski, communications director of Campaign Life Coalition, said in a Jan. 12
news release.
“In essence, many doctors of conscience see making an effective referral as them being the first domino in a series of events that result in what they view as a negative outcome for their patient.”
The Epoch Times reached out to the CPSA and was directed to its website.
Calls for Legislation
CLC said it was pleased with the change in the CPSA document, but is calling for legislation to protect doctors’ conscience rights.“Now, more than ever before, it’s time for Alberta healthcare professionals to unite and demand that their Charter-guaranteed right to ‘freedom of conscience’ be respected and protected in provincial law,” CLC National President Jeff Gunnarson said.
Mr. Baklinski said there was a desire among Alberta residents to create laws that protect health care workers in the province.
“Last November, grassroots members of the UCP passed a resolution (Policy proposal 16) at the party’s AGM calling for protection for Alberta physicians from ‘undue third-party interference,’ while, at the same time, calling for protections for doctors from being compelled to ‘prescribe treatments’ with which they disagreed,” he said. “Albertans want to protect the conscience rights of doctors. Now is the perfect time.”
MAID Expansion
CPSA’s decision to remove the clause comes as Canada looks to expand MAID services to those with mental illness.MAID became law in Canada in 2016, but it only applied to those who were terminally ill. In 2020, the House of Commons amended the Criminal Code to allow MAID for those whose natural death is not “reasonably foreseeable.”
In 2021, Parliament amended the eligibility for MAID, which included a provision that those suffering from mental illness will not be able to access MAID services for 24 months. During that time, the ministers of justice and health were to “initiate an expert review tasked with making recommendations … guidance and safeguards for MAID for persons suffering from mental illness,” the justice department
website says.
In 2022, the federal government announced legislation that would extend the temporary exclusion of eligibility for those with mental illnesses. Those with mental illness seeking MAID were prevented from accessing the service until March 2024.
Justice Minister Arif Virani indicated in December 2023 that the government was looking at whether to further delay the availability of MAID for those with mental illnesses. He said that cabinet would consider information from medical experts, a joint parliamentary committee, and other stakeholders.
“We'll evaluate all of that comprehensively to make a decision whether we move ahead on March 17, or whether we pause,” he told
The Canadian Press in a wide-ranging interview.
Both options are “on the table,” he added.
Data from a Statistics Canada
report in February 2023 found that MAID deaths rose by 35 percent from 2020 to 2021, with 10,029 deaths in 2021 compared to 7,446 the year prior. A total of 3.3 percent of all deaths in Canada in 2021 were from medically assisted suicide, up from 2.4 percent in 2020.
Matthew Horwood contributed to this report.
