By Deacon Mike Manno
As many of you will remember I live in Iowa — West Des
Moines — to be exact. My house is about 130 miles south of Mason City, the
boyhood home of Meredith Willson, creator of that wonderful musical, Music Man
and the artful Harold Hill, er, Professor Harold Hill, music connoisseur.
Hill, of course, was a flim-flam man who, with no music
experience, tried to sell the good people of River City on the idea of a city
band. That was the scam, he sold the townsfolk on the idea, took orders for
band instruments and uniforms, then planned to skip town before the uniforms and
instruments arrived without giving the promised music lessons.
Yet he’s caught in his lie and to get out of it he performs
what can only be described as an illusion, causing the townspeople to believe
their kids can actually play music. All leading to the climactic scene where
Hill leads his faux band down Main Street as those watching see it as a
full-dressed band playing Seventy-Six Trombones.
Now why would Harold Hill remind me of Joseph Robinette
Biden Jr.? I think it is their shared ability to get folks to see what is
really not there. Mr. Biden and his minions have created an illusion around the
president just like Harold Hill created an illusion around the townsfolk in
River City that their kids could really play music and become a marching band.
The illusions created give a false impression of the man:
that he is competent, a common man, and most disturbing, he is a devout
Catholic. Let me take you to my starting point.
Back in May of 2019 a nurse at the University of Vermont
Medical Center, identified only as “Rachel,” was forced to assist in an
abortion against her religious and moral reservations. The nurse had for some
time indicated her objection to the procedure and was included in the center’s
list of objectors. On the day in question, the nurse was asked to assist with a
medical procedure, but was not told it was an abortion. It was only when she
walked into the room that she found the procedure she was to assist with was an
abortion.
The doctor performing the abortion knew of her objection
and greeted her with the words, “Don’t hate me.” She objected to assisting, and
while there were other center personnel who could have assisted the doctor,
forced her to assist under threat of termination and loss of her nursing
license.
The nurse filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services in the Trump administration. The HHS Office for Civil
Rights (OCR), after an investigation reported, “UVMMC [the medical center]
maintains a staffing policy that facially violates the Church Amendments
because the policy admits to circumstances where UVMMC can and will force staff
— on pain of adverse action or discipline — to participate in abortions against
their moral or religious objections. The policy also violates UVMMC’s
agreement, as a condition of receiving HHS funds, to comply with federal law,
including the Church Amendments and HHS’s grants regulations.”
The Church Amendment, referenced above, is a federal
statute that provides conscience protections for healthcare workers. Enacted in
1970 it protects medical persons from assisting or performing abortions or
sterilizations if such would be against the individual’s religious beliefs or
moral convictions.
The OCR also reported, “As part of its investigation, OCR
contacted UVMMC repeatedly in a good faith effort to seek cooperation from
UVMMC, but the hospital refused to conform its policies to federal conscience
laws, provide all the documents requested by OCR, or produce witnesses for OCR
interviews.”
Last year the Department of Justice filed suit against the
center. It alleged that at least 10 nurses had been coerced into assisting in
approximately 20 abortions against their will. It noted that some staff members
were allowed to refuse assistance in some matters, and only the pro-life staffers
were forced to assist with abortions. It also alleged that the center’s policy:
“Refusing to provide care [based on conscience objections] will result in the
employee being placed on paid leave while the incident is reviewed. The review
may result in corrective action up to and including termination of employment”
was, in itself, illegal.
Roger Severino, director of OCR at the time, said, “Forcing
medical staff to assist in the taking of human life inflicts a moral injury on
them that is not only unnecessary and wrong, it violates longstanding federal
law. Our investigation has uncovered serious discrimination by UVMMC against
nurses and staff who cannot, in good conscience, assist in elective abortions.”
According to the OCR suit, the hospital “discriminated
against conscience objectors because of their religious beliefs or moral
convictions opposing abortion.” UVMMC is said to have “forced and attempted to
force or required conscience objectors to assist with abortions when such
personnel object that assisting with abortions violates their religious beliefs
or moral convictions.”
A clear case of the violation of religious and conscience
rights.
But that is not the way the Biden administration saw it.
Through Mr. Biden’s fellow pro-abortion Catholic, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra,
OCR’s lawsuit was “voluntarily dismissed” by the Department of Justice in July.
Of course Planned Parenthood of Vermont supported the
dismissal. “The Department of Justice did the right thing by dropping this
politically motivated lawsuit against UVM Medical Center. For patients, health
care is personal, not political, and it is time to end government interference
when it comes to abortion care,” said spokesperson Lucy Leriche.
The center’s Dr. Steve Leffler, reacting to the dismissal,
said, “We are committed to meeting the medical needs of our patients, while
respecting the religious and moral beliefs of our employees.”
In Congress, 84 GOP lawmakers sent a letter to Attorney
General Merrick Garland and Secretary Becerra claiming that by dropping the
lawsuit they had violated federal conscience protection. “Your handling of this
case is a profound miscarriage of justice and a rejection of your commitment to
enforce federal conscience laws for Americans of all religious beliefs and creeds
— and especially for doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals who
object to abortion,” the letter said.
The American Center for Law and Justice issued a statement:
“This week, the Biden Administration has taken the unprecedented step of having
the Department of Justice voluntarily dismiss its own case without obtaining
anything in return….But the Biden Administration is so beholden to its extreme
‘abortion-is-awesome!’ wing that they can’t even bring themselves to recognize
that conscience rights exist when it comes to abortion.”
Rachel, so traumatized by the incident, has ended her
nursing career and moved to another part of the country.
Former OCR Director Severino said of the decision to drop
the case: “Such a politically motivated backstab means it’s open season on
pro-life doctors and nurses.” The Biden administration tried to force him out
of his office even though his three-year term was not up. When he refused to
resign, he was fired.
So Joe Biden is a good Catholic. Like Harold Hill he has
spun that illusion, but under the surface he is a champion of abortion and will
take every opportunity to expand the killing fields — even to the point of
denying the conscience rights of objectors, and supporting Democratic policies,
such as contained in their beloved “Equality Act” which would alter federal
civil rights laws to be replaced by the requirement that even faith-based
hospitals would have to provide abortions and that schools and other
institutions would be forced to allow gender-mixed locker and shower
facilities.
I could go on, but if you are a regular reader of this
column, you know the list by now. Sufficient to say, Mr. Biden is no friend of
the Church or of conscience protection. He is the Harold Hill of today’s
political arena and needs our prayers before he drops too far into the abyss.
(You can reach Mike at: DeaconMike@q.com and listen to him
every Thursday at 10 a.m. Central, on Faith On Trial on IowaCatholicRadio.com.)
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