Dear ProLife Medical Student or Resident , This is the 4th letter we are sending with a collection of unedited comments from your peers in answer to the question: “What do I do if my assignment includes time spent on an abortion service or Planned Parenthood clinic, or similar assignment?” AAPLOG points out that you do have conscience rights–(they come from God)– and you have conscience protection, which comes from U.S. law: The Church Amendment from the 1970’s and the Hoekstra-Coats Medical Training Nondiscrimination Act of 1995 (which declares that an entity that forced individuals or programs to participate in abortions would be discriminatory, and on that basis that entity would lose federal funding.) You have conscience rights. (And if push comes to shove, the Alliance Defense Fund and other similar legal organizations would be glad to take your case.) For practical advice, we feel much wisdom resides with those who have faced the situation. Thus, we have collected their advice in these 4 letters. NOTE: All 4 letters together can be found on our website home page under Attention ObGyn Residents, and Attention Medical Students. (This material will be put up this coming week.) Advice from your peers: I would contact the dean of the medical school and request a meeting to voice my objection. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Female I was a resident in a top 10 OB/GYN residency program. As an intern, I was asked to hold the U/S for one first trimester abortion and after that told them that I would not attend or perform abortions or go to abortion lectures. The harassment was brutal. I was discriminated against in assignments to surgical cases, in a deliberate attempt to restrict my surgical experience and ostracized by my fellow residents. Attendings gave me the cold shoulder. I was threatened by the chair but told him that he could fire me, but that I would not perform abortions or stop praying with patients. The advice about being stronger academically is very good. I got extra surgical experience by moonlighting. An attending at a Catholic hospital took me under his wing as well. Ironically, in my chief year, four junior residents stood up to the department and said that they also would not perform abortions. All power is in Jesus’ hands, and He will not abandon you. I ALWAYS found that it was better to be bold and stand for truth rather than being silent and/or hiding, (it would be nice to say that I always did the right thing, but I didn’t.). God honors holy boldness but only forgives cowardice (Prov. 25:26, Matt. 5:13). He won’t honor obnoxious behavior that disgraces His name. Another key is to have a group of people praying for you. In that hospital, people in Radiology, Environmental Services, the OR and elsewhere were praying and supporting me. In the end, the fire I went through made me a stronger Christian. Remember that God is on your side, and if you have to suffer for Him, it is well. Also remember that few chairs will openly try to fire you or damage your career, since they are afraid of legal challenges (important to remember, and to tell them if need be). xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Female I am a medical student from a prestigious med school and I just finished my ob/gyn rotation as a med student. I did end up talking to the course director prior to the rotation, but before I met with him, I talked with other medical students who I knew had the rotation and had gone before me. I would recommend talking with students at your school who share your opinion and have had the rotation (your local CMDA or Catholic group would know those students) and what they did. I would recommend talking with the course director if others have said he or she is reasonable. But, when you talk to him/her don’t site faith or other reasons other than specific legal language of it is “against your conscience rights.” That is still the law (even if it’s not reinforced) and most schools don’t want to get entangled in a legal battle with students. Usually they will work with you. Asking for an alternative usually works as well because they want you to learn and be productive. Another thing you can do is talk to other students about whether or not such experience is truly required in terms of a sign-in sheet. In my experience, even though a go to a great university, most extras don’t have a sign in sheet and they don’t know who is supposed to show up when or if anyone is coming. Often times I find myself arriving at rotations or extras and they didn’t know I was suppose to come and didn’t have any plans for me being there. So, for example my school had a “required” lecture on abortion, but there was no sign in sheet, so I just didn’t show and it didn’t make a difference, no one knew and no one cared. I just read the required chapter for the exam and was fine. In my opinion, you are spending a quarter of a million on your education and you are the consumer, so you should make the education the best for you. But, if you do go, I agree, work hard, know your facts, and be better (more cordial, better fund of knowledge, know the evidence based medicine, etc) than your med student peers. But, I would recommend requesting at the pp site to not observe the actual abortion procedure – your conscience and soul is more important than anything on this earth xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx As a former abortion provider, now pro-lifer whose ministry has operated a charity full pre-natal clinic, I would add Federally Qualified Health Clinics. FQHC’s are normally conservative and in great need of physicians. Family Planning is standard care in most FQHC’s. Some charity clinics offer family planning as well as pre-natal care. Check your area for non-profit clinics that may even offer a broader range of OB-GYN care than Planned Parenthood. Please join me in praying that the Lord will open a door for these young physicians for life-affirming service in their rotation. Carol Everet Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx I am a health care provider and have recently resigned from Planned Parenthood due to religious conflict. I suggest that if the student is forced to rotate there, he or she, can ask the preceptor to not work on the surgical or med ab services, instead work on the gyn, male services, or, if available at that branch, the prenatal service. Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Female Wow. Thankfully I did not have such an issue at Vanderbilt. My heart goes out to those students. I think a lot of it depends on how receptive their faculty is. If this is a regular event that they have students in the rotation complete, they might consider forming a petition to show that they are not alone in their pro-life stance. If the Planned Parenthood experience is a lecture/ clinic environment (in other words, no exposure to actual procedures), they could attend regardless, as this would be a good learning opportunity to hear some of the so called “facts” and “counseling” that patients receive there. I just hope that even if they feel they feel they cannot speak out for fear of grades/ evaluations, that they realize that there are many pro-life individuals in medicine! They are not alone! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Male Have him and his colleague hold the line and do an alternative. If the school refuses, then they will need to seek legal counsel. They must not be intimidated at this stage. They tried this with me and I held fast. They cannot require you, under the federal statutes (Church amendment, etc) to do anything against your conscience. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx