The university’s annual medical ethics conference kicked off on March 2 with a lecture by Notre Dame Law Professor Carter Snead. The conference was sponsored by the Notre Dame Alumni Association and the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture, which Snead will lead as of June 2012.
Snead’s lecture focused on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services mandate requiring nearly all employers to cover abortion-inducing drugs, contraceptives, and sterilizations. He presented two main objections that Catholics have expressed in response to the mandate: the concern for life and the concern for religious liberty.
The pro-life objection stems from the fact that hospitals will have to supply patients with all Food and Drug Administration-approved contraceptives, such as Plan B, which prevents implantation of the embryo.
Snead also argued for the importance of religious liberty.
“Americans should have the freedom to believe and affirm and live faith; however, the mandate will force some employers to facilitate behavior they hold to be gravely immoral,” he said. The mandate, he argued, puts doctors with prolife convictions into a difficult position, one in which a doctor must deny his religious beliefs to obey the law or risk his job.
After Snead discussed why the mandate should concern Catholics, he posed the question, “Why should a non-Catholic (or non-religious) person with no moral concerns about contraceptives be concerned about all of this?” He placed the issues within a larger context, arguing that the mandate constituted the endorsement of abortifacient drugs and was unprecedented violation of religious liberty and conscience. More broadly, he considers the mandate to be an example of irresponsible social engineering and a significant erosion of civil society. Snead also talked about the economic costs of the mandate and argued that social science research does not support the mandated measures.
Near the end of his lecture Snead drew attention to the opinion of Cardinal Francis George, archbishop of Chicago, who said that the mandate could force Catholic institutions, including Catholic hospitals, to close.
Philosophy graduate student Bryan Pilkington worked closely on the conference with Professor David Solomon, who has organized the conference since its inauguration almost 20 years ago.
“We chose Professor Snead to give the opening lecture because he is such an excellent scholar, especially with regards to legal bioethics,” Pilkington said. “What makes this conference so special is its small group discussion format. Rather than having people sit and listen to lectures all day, Snead’s lecture was the only lecture of the conference.”
Pilkington believes the conference offers a unique opportunity to participants.
“It provides an opportunity for practicing medical professionals to critically reflect on the field of medicine and challenging issues they encounter in their everyday lives,” he said. “From my experience, there aren’t many other conferences that offer this opportunity.”
Kat Stultz is a freshman living in Welsh Fam and studying pre-med and theology. Her indomitable spirit is shaken neither by running injuries nor the stresses of life. Contact her at kstultz@nd.edu.
