Don't Let Religion Dictate Healthcare Choices

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Religion is a deeply personal issue. Everyone has the right to determine what system is right for them, and which beliefs to abide by and hold dear.

But religious doctrine on what is acceptable medicine should not imposed by law onto individuals who may not choose to be part of that religion. Doing so impinges upon personal freedom, especially when it comes to medical coverage.

The Rastafarian religion, for example, is largely against amputation. If a Rastafarian store owner legally imposed restrictions on medical coverage for his employees under the guise of religious liberty, diabetics who needed life-saving amputations or breast cancer patients who needed mastectomies could be denied – and the patients left in either financial ruin or without the care they need. Some Jehovah's Witnesses and Shinto practitioners oppose organ donation. Some Evangelical Christians oppose birth control. Christian Scientists oppose medical intervention altogether – imagine your workplace telling you that you have no medical coverage at all because it infringes on the owner’s religious freedom!

There is no way to keep all religions happy at all times with regard to medicine and law. Conflicting philosophies on what constitutes acceptable, ethical care make it impossible for religious-based law to find consensus, and takes the focus away from what should be a healthcare provider's primary concern: the patient.

The United States must do more to protect American patients' freedom to choose safe, legal, and scientifically sound medical procedures that are right for them, rather than protecting corporate religious freedom at the expense of the patient.

**Sign the petition today, calling on President Obama to stop the protecting the religious freedom of companies over the religious freedom of the individual.** Religious exemptions have no place in a secular democracy and serve only to limit the freedoms of all.