Monday, January 24, 2011

Hippocratic Oath vs the Abortion Industry----Life vs Death

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As you likely know, an important hearing is scheduled for today in Olympia at 1:30 PM in House Hearing Room B.

Lawmakers will soon decide whether to pass
HB 1366 and its companion SB 5274, both driven by the abortion industry, and both designed to essentially shut down the pro-life Pregnancy Centers in the state.

This is a classic battle of values. In this case, the value of life.

It is a clash of two very different worldviews.

This battle in Olympia reflects a larger, grander battle which is nowhere more apparent than in the Classic Hippocratic Oath that defined the medical doctor for thousands of years versus the updated, revised Oath, birthed during the sexual revolution of the 60s.

The Órko tou Ippokráti is one of the most widely known Greek medical texts. The Órko tou Ippokrátior commonly known as the Hippocratic Oath, believed to be written by Hippocrates who is often referred to as the father of Western Medicine, in its original form is clearly in favor of doing "no harm" and clearly opposes abortion.

Click here to read the
Classic Hippocratic Oath.

You will note that it is specific about doing no harm, which is often referenced as the "No Harm Clause".

"I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan."

And yes, it addresses abortion.

Although many historians believe that abortion had been legalized in Greece, the Classic Hippocratic Oath stood against popular culture and the notion that death by abortion was a "choice"---the choice of someone other than the human being killed.

The Classic version of the Oath said in the Greek, "I will not give a woman a pessary to cause an abortion."

The English translation generally says, "an abortive remedy." A "pessary" was a tool used to cause an abortion.

In either case, the Classic Hippocratic Oath valued life and did not permit doctors to take the lives of the unborn.

Now, fast forward. During the sexual revolution and all it brought to our culture, Louise Lasagna, Dean of the School of Medicine at Tufts University, wrote a revised Oath, in an attempt to replace the Classic Hippocratic Oath.

I have linked the
new Oath here. You will note the effect of moral relativism and the rush toward what Jeffery T. Kuhner called in his column this past Thursday, "America's death camps."

Kuhner wrote, "America has death camps. This is the heinous reality liberal elites have been trying to conceal."

He points to the massacre of 7 babies and a patient in the abortion clinic of Dr. Kermit Gosnell, as we also pointed out last week, that, thankfully, is now going to trial.

He also notes, as we did, that the media has purposely played down the charges against Gosnell.

He says the pro-abortion people have reduced the art of murder to a mere "medical procedure," done largely away from public view.

Kuhner says, "Abortion is the deliberate, systematic slaughter of babies in the womb. It is state sanctioned infanticide. It encodes in law the pernicious principle that there is an entire category of people---the unborn---who are less than fully human."

"Their lives," Kuhner writes, "are subject to the whims of their masters. Most societies in history have been based the oppression of an entire class; the strong dominates the weak. The law of the jungle trumps moral decency."

African Americans, the Jews, the mentally and physically handicapped come to mind.

Abortion, not sexual preference, ought to be viewed as the slavery of our time --- the urgent civil rights issue --- the great cause on behalf of an oppressed and brutalized minority.

But today, we will attempt to defend a few pro-life Pregnancy Centers across the state that advocate life---not death, against the behemoth of federally and state funded Planned Parenthood, their best friend NARAL, and their allies and representatives in the Legislature.

And those who have been misled regarding the true value of life.

God help us.

_______________
Gary Randall
President
Faith and Freedom

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