What Passes For Conscience These Days

Some nurses in New Jersey are garnering attention for the "stand" they are taking, in refusing to assist in abortion procedures at their hospital, because to do so violates their ethical tenets. Their "heroic" stand against abortion has garnered them the support of notorious women's rights foe Representative Chris Smith, who has come out in full support of their actions, because he has an election coming up and it is time to energize his base constituency: the self-appointed moral guardians of New Jersey.

If you've noticed a particular odor wafting through the air as you read, that is the taint of hypocrisy that clings to the air whenever a government official or some member of the community stands up and claims that to have anything to do with sex, the aftermath of sex, or abortion of a fetus goes against their "principles." I put principles in quotes, because in many cases, their moral and ethical system of values is so fraught with contradictory and confounding rules that it makes no sense. Conscience, as such people define it through their words and actions, involves denying others their rights because something those others do upsets them in ways that are usually tangled up more in belief than reality.

So let's examine this "conscience" these people claim is being so offended.

The Rape Of Morality

There is a movement afoot to subvert a woman's control of her own body. For the longest time, it was held in abeyance, but now the movement has reached one of the pinnacles of power in Washington, D.C.: the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Representative John Boehner, heir to that title through the power of fear-mongering and President-bashing, coupled with Tea Party fomentation and ranting, along with the abdication of backbone by the Democratic Party, now stands at the forefront of the effort to strip women, not just of choice of what to do with their bodies, but even what constitutes violation of their bodies. One of his acolytes, Representative Chris Smith on New Jersey (who, sadly, is this author's representative), is introducing a bill that, amongst other things, redefine what constitutes rape, to include only cases of overt force.

So much for the party that claims to have the best interests of America at heart.