# Michigan: Just Let the Gays Die **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 22, 2004, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-just-let-the-gays-die/241464 "2004-04-22T17:45:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-just-let-the-gays-die/241464/21 "2004-04-23T02:11:46Z")
Are doctors in Michigan _required_ to perform abortions now? Is abortion considered ‘treatment’ for pregnancy? I assumed it was an elected procedure and, as such, a doctor is well within his/her rights to pass on performing it. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-just-let-the-gays-die/241464/22 "2004-04-23T02:12:53Z")
Scratch\* elected \* and replace with _elective_, and it will make me seem less like a complete idiot. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-just-let-the-gays-die/241464/23 "2004-04-23T15:10:51Z")
Oh dear . . . those poor doctors, locked up in abortion clinics, sobbing while they’re forced, at gunpoint, to perform abortions! No. The bill may claim to be about abortion, but it’s not - doctors are not FORCED to perform abortions. The goal here is to allow pharmacists to make it even harder for patients to get a hold of contraceptives. And to protect scum like that pharmacist a couple months back who declined to allow a patient to purchase a prescription for the morning after pill. Because apparently, he didn’t believe patients had a right to contraception. Your religious beliefs stop coming into play if they’re obstructing a person’s access to proper medical treatment - as determined by themself and their doctor. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-just-let-the-gays-die/241464/24 "2004-04-23T17:07:43Z")
No doctor should have to perform an abortion, prescribe a contraceptive, or for that matter order up an opiate-based painkiller if the doctor has problems with it. The hospital with which the doctor is affiliated, howevever, should either offer the service via other personnel or via referral / liaison with another facility in the area, and if they cannot provide such basic procedures they should be denied accreditation. ---
**Author:** ![kung\_fu\_lola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f4b2a3/32.png) [@kung\_fu\_lola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kung_fu_lola)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-just-let-the-gays-die/241464/25 "2004-04-23T19:50:10Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > No doctor should have to perform an abortion, prescribe a contraceptive, or for that matter order up an opiate-based painkiller if the doctor has problems with it. > > The hospital with which the doctor is affiliated, howevever, should either offer the service via other personnel or via referral / liaison with another facility in the area, and if they cannot provide such basic procedures they should be denied accreditation. That attitude is admirable, in theory. In the real world, it leads to women in rural areas or with limited resources, being unable to get treatment. I’d rather see a doctor violate their hoity-toity principles than see a woman or a child die. ---
**Author:** ![look\_ninjas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@look\_ninjas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/look_ninjas)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-just-let-the-gays-die/241464/26 "2004-04-23T22:44:38Z")
> [@FaerieBeth](#): > > Well, being a native Arkansan, I would take objection to that, but seeing as how I, too, hold the masses of fundamentalist racist homophobic rednecks in the lowest possible esteem and can’t wait for the blessed chance to someday leave this hellhole of a backward, educationally and fiscally incompetent state, I will have to say…carry on. At the soonest opportunity I will remove the only common bond\* I have with these yahoos. 😃 > FB > \*that being place of legal residence To clarify: I’m perfectly aware that there are lots of well-educated, non-bigoted, non-redneck people in Arkansas. And every time one of the rednecks does something stupid, the non-rednecks have to put up with a load of stupid comments about how everyone in Arkansas is a stupid redneck. That’s what I meant by “This must be how Arkansas feels.” ---
**Author:** ![buttonjockey308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@buttonjockey308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buttonjockey308)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2004, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-just-let-the-gays-die/241464/27 "2004-04-24T01:16:18Z")
Bah. Load of crap, I say. The story wraps around itself saying first… \*\* > [@](#): > > Opponents of the bills said they’re worried they would allow providers to refuse service for any reason. For example, they said an emergency medical technicians could refuse to answer a call from the residence of gay couple because they don’t approve of homosexuality. \*\* Then says… > [@](#): > > The Conscientious Objector Policy Act would allow health care providers to assert their objection within 24 hours of when they receive notice of a patient or procedure with which they don’t agree. However, it would prohibit emergency treatment to be refused. 1. The source for the story is fair and balanced…Just like Fox News… :rolleyes: 2. I doubt it was meant to target only gays, it was probably meant to target Pagans too, but ya know what, if my doctor objects to me, I sure as hell dont want him/her touching me in the first place. 3. Any doctor that would actually ASK if you were gay or not before treating you, should be horsedragged, and isn’t fit (and I believe this) to practice medicine, even in Michigan ;). 4. The REAL problem would be if emergency care were targeted, but it ain’t. This is just doing business with whomever you choose, and it looks like there are checks and balances to prevent the eventual racial bigotry. End result, yep, it’s a reprehensible point of view, but one people are entitled to just the same, especially people who provide a service that a) Isn’t emergently necessary b) Won’t cost someone their lives if it isn’t performed We’ll put one in the W column (oddly enough, if this goes through) for the neocons and move on, it’s really not that big of a deal. Oh, and spectrum, really, calm down. (easy for me to say, I know) but there are greater fights to be fought, and 49 more states in which to get medical care. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2004, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-just-let-the-gays-die/241464/28 "2004-04-24T01:36:32Z")
> [@kung fu lola](#): > > That attitude is admirable, in theory. In the real world, it leads to women in rural areas or with limited resources, being unable to get treatment. > > I’d rather see a doctor violate their hoity-toity principles than see a woman or a child die. Hoity-toity principles or their best medical judgement? Can we imagine a scenario where a denial of such services \*may be \* in the best interest of the patient? Even if it pisses the patient off? I agree that a woman should have the right to terminate her pregnancy. But I cannot agree that a doctor should be bound to perfom abortions on demand. ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2004, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-just-let-the-gays-die/241464/29 "2004-04-24T02:08:14Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Michigan, hell. I live in New Jersey and can’t find a primary-care GP who takes my insurance. I found one nearby, and when I told her my medical history, she told me she didn’t treat “people like me,” and that if I didn’t get out of her office, she would call the police. Now I go to the local clinic and see whichever doctor’s on duty. “People like you”? What? You mean a person with a liver, kidneys, a heart, lungs, hands, feet, a head? I mean, how radical is _that?_ :rolleyes: How many kinds of people are there, anyway? Sheesh. It isn’t like we’ve got android-humans or insectoid-humans on this earth seeking medical treatment, and it turned out that it isn’t her specialty. And even if you were an andriod hybrid, or you had little antennea sprouting out of your head and you wanted an antennea-ectomy, the ethical thing for her to do would be to politely say, “Removing antennea is not my specialty. Here, I’ll call Dr. Hector, he’s done plenty of these procedures.” No need to threaten to call the police. :eek: > [@](#): > > (Yes, I filed a complaint with the AMA) Good for you. Despite all the levity above, I am shocked and saddened that anyone would treat you in such a despicable manner. Regarding the OP, I agree with others here. Obviously this is meant to affect Catholics who don’t want to perform abortions or give out birth control. It’s a stretch to claim that this has much to do with gays. I can see the pro-choice folk having something to say, but that’s mostly it. What a misleading OP. ---
**Author:** ![kung\_fu\_lola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f4b2a3/32.png) [@kung\_fu\_lola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kung_fu_lola)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2004, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-just-let-the-gays-die/241464/30 "2004-04-24T07:46:32Z")
> [@spooje](#): > > But I cannot agree that a doctor should be bound to perfom abortions on demand. I agree with that as well. Contraception is more of a grey area, IMO, as is dispensing the Morning After Pill. I can understand Catholics not wanting to use birth control, but telling someone else not to use it crosses a line. As for MAP, there is no way of knowing whether or not it is actually “destroying life”, to quote [my favourite pharmacist](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=238055), which places it in an entirely different realm than performing an abortion, where there is a detectable heartbeat. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2004, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-just-let-the-gays-die/241464/31 "2004-04-24T14:38:04Z")
I live in Michigan. I pay for birth control out of pocket, while nearly all other scripts are covered, because my insurance is based around health system that starts with St.Somebody. Oddly enough, the coverage thru my employer is good enough that one can get breast enhancement surgery covered, and rogaine, or viagra and all sorts of things one wouldn’t think typically would be covered, I just can’t get bc. According to my pharmacist, a law was recently passed trying to address this inequity, if insurance companies cover X Y or Z drugs, they have to cover bc options for women as well. Upon checking into it with my provider, I was told that they’ve adjusted their policy to allow diaphragms. Cuz that’s the exact same, y’know. Doctors never prescribe the pill or shot to help regulate hormones for someone with PMDD or anything, right? :rolleyes: Now, I can’t really summon up much of a bitch, even though I think the company is wack, because my employer is large enough to offer me many different plans to choose from. Some cover contraceptives, this one doesn’t, but it has other advantages that make it the better choice for my family. What about the guy who’s company isn’t big enough to field that many health care plans? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michigan-just-let-the-gays-die/241464.md?page=1)