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In this issue...
Front and Center
Determining
Whether to "Go
Medical": A Board
Assessment Survey
By Thomas A. Glessner
Fishers of Men
By Jim Pye
Remaining
Relevant in an Age
of Abortion-by-Pill
By Aimee Pendell
"Nevertheless,
Let Us Go"
By Patricia L. Miller
For Ten Thousand
Tomorrows
By Stephanie Rogers
For Such a Time
as This
By Lynne M. Thompson
Printing Made
Simple
Marketing 101
By Jerry Thacker
Good News,
Bad News—
Spiritual Warfare
By Mark Hiehle
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For Such a Time as This
By Lynne M. Thompson
It wasn't exactly "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," but it was very close. David Strobel, M.D., was a family physician from the sleepy town of Austin, Minnesota, population: 23,000.
At a monthly meeting of the Mower County Medical Society, Dr. Strobel agreed to be an alternative representative at the Minnesota Medical Association convention in September 2001.
Upon arriving at the convention, delegates were divided up into smaller groups and sent to various reference committees in order to review and comment on proposed association resolutions. Dr. Strobel was assigned to Committee C. When he reviewed one of Committee C's proposals, he was shocked. The resolution called for the association to declare that access to emergency contraception for assault victims should be made the standard of care. The resolution also called for the medical association to lobby for a state law requiring doctors to either provide access and information about emergency contraception or to refer patients to someone who could.
Dr. Strobel knew that if that resolution succeeded he could never, in good conscience, comply. He told the members of the committee, "We have to define our terms. 'Contraception' means the prevention of conception, but the term 'emergency contraception' in this resolution is a deception. A good period of the time, 'emergency contraception' means the use of an abortifacient—and I have a major problem with abortion.
"I oppose requiring physicians to provide information about abortifacients or the drug itself. People often ask me, 'Why are you opposed to information?' My response: 'Just because you believe destroying your child is a solution, does not mean that it is right for me to give information on how to do that.' I believe the child's right to life trumps the woman's liberty rights."
Roll CallDr. Strobel then went to the twenty-five-member committee and testified regarding his objections to the proposal's mandatory requirements. After much deliberation, the committee gutted the objectionable language so that the revised proposal could be submitted to the entire House of Delegates. However, the next day the proposal's author instead introduced the original language, choosing to ignore all of the committee's revisions. After all, who would dare speak out in front of eight hundred peers? She hadn't counted on the man from Mower County. Dr. Strobel stood to be recognized.
"It was really hard," Dr. Strobel recounted. "I told them that if this passed, I would resign my membership, and if it was put into law, I would disobey it." After hearing additional testimonies, the society decided to table the proposal and review it again next year. Dr. Strobel was relieved that his stand for principle prevailed. "Three or four physicians approached me at the convention and said, 'Please don't quit, we need you.' I wondered why they had not spoken in front of the delegation as I had. Some people wonder: 'What can one voice do?' I spoke alone and a big change happened."
Unfortunately, he didn't return home to a hero's welcome. "People I knew and respected said that the position I had taken was unconscionable. Yet, it was because of conscience that I had taken it. It is discouraging to be viewed as an ogre for loving people."
Added to these professional attacks were personal ones that appeared on the editorial pages of the local paper and in the critical mail he received at home. But Dr. Strobel said that being persecuted wasn't the worst thing that could happen. The worst thing that could happen would be for God's people to remain silent.
He was glad that he had his family and church. "Several church members who had heard about what I had done gave me great encouragement. It was a blessing."
Changing SidesDr. Strobel had just finished his family practice residency at age thirty, when he answered the call of Christ at a Lutheran Bible camp.
A former evolutionist, he commented: "I became aware of some good creation science answers to evolution. It was actually science that talked me out of being an evolutionist. I believe Scripture is absolutely reliable. That confidence changed me in a real way. It emboldened me to bear witness to my patients.
"Every patient that God sends into my office is a mission field," said Dr. Strobel. He believes all physicians are called to live for God at work. "I don't always talk about faith-related things because such statements may not be welcome, but I do mention things that suggest that I'd be willing to talk about spiritual matters.
UpdateDr. Strobel attended the 2002 convention as well. He said, "The Board of Trustees had acted on the resolution of last year and created a policy that acknowledged the value of comprehensive information, including information about 'emergency contraception.' Despite the fact that the wording is not quite what I would have chosen, it clearly gutted the original resolution that was so offensive. I have no problem being encouraged or even 'forced' to give comprehensive information about EC. For me, that means saying that this method cannot work only by preventing fertilization and must, therefore, end the life of a human being whose well being I've pledged to protect. My 'comprehensive' information would include a statement that this treatment is illegitimate."
Regarding abortion as well as physician-assisted suicide, Dr. Strobel says, "I will not administer a medication that will hasten a person's death. Do we account people as valuable because they are people or because of what they represent for us? Human beings are not means—they are ends."
| ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Lynne M. Thompson is a freelance author and correspondent for Celebrate Life magazine. She resides in Modesto, California, with her husband and two children. |
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