Amanda, here is a thought for you. The late Jacob G. Rosenberg survived Auschwitz but lost his entire family in the Holocaust. In his last book "The Hollow Tree" (Allen&Unwin, 2009), he stated his belief that the greatest sin is self–righteousness.

leigh...i find your views and those of others like runner, on most things, despicable..

i claim the free right to tell you that. your views display what i consider to be the very worst in australian public discourse, extreme prejudice and far right vileness, disguised as good ole aussie common sense....i will continue to call it as i see it.

the history of the far right in public discourse is there, easily studied. one of its primary tactics is to constantly play the “but I’m just a normal person” line. you do this all the time…you claim normality while speaking hate, i am happy to be the person that states the obvious.

in Australian terms, i am yes of the far left it seems, i make no secret of that. In Australia decent humanity seems to have been vanished to the left yes. being a decent person is certainly not on your agenda, or the agenda of any of the current parties.

and to even try and seriously argue that a bill of rights will inhibit freedom is simply insane.

Peter Hume, again, you aught to win a medal for "Biggest strawman-constructor of the year" award- at no point did I ever say that I considered rape a 'right', endorse rape as a right.

The simple matter is, no matter WHAT you may think, the right of one party often conflicts and infringes upon the right of another.

THIS issue is one such example.

The Doctor's hypothetical rights:
-To turn someone away requesting legal services that they find unethical
-To lecture the patient on their own personal morals
-To demand payment from the patient for performing the above

The Patient
-To recieve legal medical assistance and services
-To not be subjected to any treatment outside the duty of the specialist
-To refuse payment for non-service.

Note that both directly conflict with the other. This is an example of rights. The patient entitles him/herself to services on obligation from the doctor, the service provider entitles him/herself to pick and choose said services while occupying a service-provider's office space that may hypothetically be occupied by someone more willing.

Rights will always be something that people feel entitled to- it's always a matter of some party deciding that one's rights outweigh the other.
For example, most countries in the world, populations of people mutually agree that the right to refuse sex from someone overrides the right to rape them, regardless of how many more people would want to have a gang rape- an example you seem to insist on pinning on me.
I could argue, on your own points that the right for locals to retain sovereignty over their local environment outweighs the rights for a larger outside party to "rape" it.

The author is NOT arguing she should have the right to lecture the patient of her own moral views. All she would need to say is "I'm sorry, we don't refer patients onto abortions at this practice, you'll have to go somewhere else." How are people not getting this!? Those of you who keep talking about the sin of imposing your morality are doing that to doctors who you believe must be a part of the process that enables a woman in her quest to seek an abortion, rather than simply respectfully bowing out.

Ahhh,
The sweet voice of "decent humanity" from E.Sykes of the far left...

"this article expresses the usual far right ideological clap trap, has no basis in fact, and simply regurgitates the same vicious christian propaganda that has kept people living in fear for centuries. Shame on you."

Tell us how we can be more like you, oh Master.

Sykes,

I feel the same way about you. It’s rather childish of you to think that anything you say about me will make any difference at all; you are nothing to me. But if you want to keep up your silly and totally useless diatribes against me, so be it. You clearly have nothing to say so, like any vandal, you scrawl abuse about people who don’t agree with your tyrannical and extreme socialist views of everything. You don’t believe in freedom of speech, and you seem to think that your recent appearance on OLO would put others to rights. Grow up, sonny. Other loonies have tried your juvenile little game, but they haven’t lasted long.

In future, I won’t be seeing any of your insults, so I won’t know how long it takes your to crawl back under the rock you came from.