If i’m a programmer working at a company, and that company asks me to write code that would enable autonomous rockets for warfare (like armed drones), i might refuse because i have ethical concerns about it. But i’m still a programmer.
From the view of catholic hospital staff, providing abortions might be murder, and they have ethical concerns about it. They are still a hospital.
In both your programmer case and the case of the catholic hospital staff member you have a very clear option, you can not work at that facility.
Don’t want to write code for military weapons, cool then work somewhere that doesn’t do that.
Don’t want to provide abortions at your work, cool then work in a medical facility that doesn’t provide them. Many facilities don’t perform abortions just because they aren’t intended to, such as clinics etc so you should work there.
Your programmer case also doesn’t make sense because extending the metophor you want companies to be allowed to not develop software that is used by the military…they can already do that.
Does refusing to program a drone prevent a cancer patient from receiving treatment? Do these drones prevent organ rupture in ectopic pregnancies? When asked to program armed drones, are you also sitting face-to-face with a person who is suffering or dying because you aren’t actively programming them?
The denial of healthcare involves victims. Nobody’s hurt when you refuse to do a drone-programming job, but witholding a medically-necessary abortion directly results in avoidable human suffering. That’s the key difference that makes these situations incomparable.
Ok but your thing is an actual problem and their thing is a made up non-problem which it is their job and (ironically) sacred hippocratic duty to perform.
The real irony is that, while Hippocrates was not a Christian, the hippocratic oath forbids doctors to perform abortion.
Today, doctors take an amended oath in most countries with a few changes but the original Hippocratic oath tries to instill a reverence for life in the practitioners of medicine.
I honestly disagree.
If i’m a programmer working at a company, and that company asks me to write code that would enable autonomous rockets for warfare (like armed drones), i might refuse because i have ethical concerns about it. But i’m still a programmer.
From the view of catholic hospital staff, providing abortions might be murder, and they have ethical concerns about it. They are still a hospital.
Nah, for the catholic hospital staff they probably shouldn’t have a job if it goes against their personal ethics.
But organizations do not have religion.
In both your programmer case and the case of the catholic hospital staff member you have a very clear option, you can not work at that facility. Don’t want to write code for military weapons, cool then work somewhere that doesn’t do that. Don’t want to provide abortions at your work, cool then work in a medical facility that doesn’t provide them. Many facilities don’t perform abortions just because they aren’t intended to, such as clinics etc so you should work there.
Your programmer case also doesn’t make sense because extending the metophor you want companies to be allowed to not develop software that is used by the military…they can already do that.
Does refusing to program a drone prevent a cancer patient from receiving treatment? Do these drones prevent organ rupture in ectopic pregnancies? When asked to program armed drones, are you also sitting face-to-face with a person who is suffering or dying because you aren’t actively programming them?
The denial of healthcare involves victims. Nobody’s hurt when you refuse to do a drone-programming job, but witholding a medically-necessary abortion directly results in avoidable human suffering. That’s the key difference that makes these situations incomparable.
Ok but your thing is an actual problem and their thing is a made up non-problem which it is their job and (ironically) sacred hippocratic duty to perform.
The real irony is that, while Hippocrates was not a Christian, the hippocratic oath forbids doctors to perform abortion.
Today, doctors take an amended oath in most countries with a few changes but the original Hippocratic oath tries to instill a reverence for life in the practitioners of medicine.
Then don’t get a job at a defense company. If you don’t want to provide abortions, don’t get a job at a hospital.