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4 Faulkner L. Rev. 385 (2012-2013)
Not Only the Doctor's Dilemma: The Complexity of Conscience in Medicine

handle is hein.journals/faulklr4 and id is 411 raw text is: NOT ONLY THE DOCTOR'S DILEMMA: THE COMPLEXITY OF CONSCIENCE IN MEDICINE Elizabeth Sepper* I am going to begin by telling you about Dr. Willie Parker who grew up here in Alabama and studied to become an obstetri- cian-gynecologist. Dr. Parker spent the first dozen years of his career without thinking much about abortion. But over the years, again and again he encountered women whose pregnancies endan- gered their lives, girls who had suffered rape or incest, and mothers who were too poor to raise another child. He came to wrestle with the morality of abortion - torn between his religious tradition's teaching against abortion and his moral commitment to compas- sion for his patients. He listened to Dr. Martin Luther King's ser- mon on the Good Samaritan. According to Dr. King, the Good Samaritan was good because he did not consider the effects on himself but instead asked What will happen to this person if I don't stop to help him? Dr. Parker was moved to examine his own conscience and to ask, What happens to women who seek abortion if I don't serve them?' From that time, he began to per- form abortions, compelled by women's situations and his respect for their moral agency. Today, he is one of three abortion provid- ers in Mississippi. His conscience demands it, despite the risks of harm to himself.' . Associate Professor, Washington University School of Law. These remarks were presented at Faulkner Law Review's symposium on Overlapping Jurisdictions: What Role for Conscience and Religion? I would like to extend special thanks to the Faulkner Law Review staff, particularly Ashley Norgard, Samuel White, and William Causby, and to Jonathan Will and Jeffrey Hammond for their thoughtful comments and conversation. My thanks go out to the Faulkner Law School faculty and students and to the other partic- ipants in the symposium. I am grateful to Paul Trim and Jennifer Sundook for their re- search assistance. 1 Willie Parker, A Perspective on Later Abortion ... From Someone Who Does Them, CONSCIENCE, Jan. 2012, available at http://www.catholicsforchoice.org/conscience/current/APerspectiveonLaterAbortion.asp. 2 Interview by Star-Ledger Staff with Willie Parker, Why I Perform Abortions: A Chris- tian Obstetrician Explains His Choice, STAR-LEDGER, (May 27, 2012, 6:01 AM), http://blog.nj.com/njv-editorial-page/2012/05/why-i-perform-abortions_a_chri .html. Regarding threats to abortion providers, see Anti-Choice Violence and Intimidation, NARAL PRO-CHOICE AMERICA, (2013), http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/media/fact- sheets/abortion-anti-choice-violence.pdf, which compiles examples.

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