Universalis, your very own breviary in pixels...

Monday 5 October 2015

When did "civil liberties" stop....

.... meaning "my right to do things without government interference" and become "my right to have the government interfere to make you do things I want you to do" instead?

And did the ACLU rewrite its charter to reflect this?

"Standing up for what you believe is right" =/= "standing up for your rights," or at least it didn't use to.

After the repeal of prohibition was anyone convinced that he had a right to alcoholic beverages such that places did not serve it should be compelled to do so?
Does the right to bear arms compel anyone to sell them?
Does freedom of the press require that a newspaper publish every jackhat's letter to the editor manifesto?

Or has bleeding your adversaries with continuous meritless lawsuits become a noble practice?
Trinity Health Corporations, one of the largest Catholic health care operations in America, is seeking the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union over its refusal to provide women with abortion services at their medical facilities.  ....
The health group adheres to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ ethical and religious protocol for medical practice, which includes the refusal to perform abortions and tubal ligations within their hospitals.
These directives for Catholic health services from the USCCB have been consistently followed by Trinity Health Corporation hospitals, which also cover various other medical issues from palliative care to birth control.
The ACLU and the ACLU of Michigan are suing Trinity Health over allegations that pregnant women are being denied "emergency health care" - specifically abortions - when they seek care at their hospitals. The ACLU is also underscoring Trinity Health’s refusal to perform operations such as tubal ligations on pregnant women because of the medical directives they follow.....

The ACLU has long opposed Catholic hospitals operating according to Catholic teaching. The ACLU and the group the MergerWatch Project co-authored a 2013 report that claimed the growth of Catholic hospitals was a “miscarriage of medicine.”
The report says the ACLU’s work in this area is supported by the “generous support” of two anonymous donors as well as the Arcus Foundation, the Herb Block Foundation, the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, the George Gund Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and the Scherman Foundation.
[emphasis supplied, I just thought it might be a good idea to note who is funding the attacks on Catholic practice.]

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