(First Things) – Healthcare is quickly becoming about much more than the provision and reception of medical treatment. To a disturbing degree, healthcare public policy is becoming a means of imposing a secularist, anti–sanctity-of-life ideology on all of society.

Consider the following examples of this accelerating trend:

Erasing pharmacists' conscience rights in Washington: In 2007, Washington state’s Board of Pharmacy—at the prompting of the governor and Planned Parenthood—promulgated a regulation requiring pharmacies to stock and dispense all FDA-approved medications. But because there are so many of these drugs, certain exceptions were made. For instance, a pharmacy may refuse to stock a drug due to low demand. In those cases, the refusing dispenser may refer patients to a pharmacy that does carry the prescribed drug. CONTINUE