The election of a Republican, Scott Brown, to the US Senate from the heavily-Democratic Massachusetts is the political equivalent of an tsunami. 

But it’s worth noting some of the positions taken by the defeated candidate, Democratic state Attorney General, Martha Coakley. 

Coakley, for example, was bitterly hostile to conscience rights for medical practitioners. When asked whether she believed that proposed health care legislation ought to protect doctors who were opposed to abortion, she said no. 

Coakley said: “I don’t believe that would be included in the health care bill.” She added, “I would not pass a bill . . . to say that people who believe that they do not want to provide services required under the law and under Roe v. Wade, that they can individually decide to not follow the law. The answer to that is no.” 

She concluded: “You can have religious freedom, but you probably shouldn’t work in the emergency room.” 

John Brehany, a spokesperson for the US Catholic Medical Association, said Coakley’s statement revealed “a specific hostility to faithful Catholics.” 

While he noted that “some news stories of the interview have referred to ‘devout Catholics’ in the emergency room”, in fact, the interviewer actually referenced Catholics who ‘believe what the Pope teaches.’ 

“This is the definition of a real Catholic, not of a devout Catholic. Coakley’s dismissal of their faith and rights and is a shocking display of disrespect for members of one religion,” Brehany noted. 

Bill Donahue, of the Catholic League, which defends Catholicism in the public square in the US, also weighed in on the controversy, saying that Coakley “effectively told Catholic doctors and nurses that they either perform abortions or look for another job”.

Of course, this is the standard line for liberal Democrats now: religious freedom is trumped by ‘equality’ and ‘choice’. 

Coakley is part of the Democratic administration in Massachusetts which drafted legislation to allow same-sex adoption, without a religious freedom clause. The result: Catholic adoption agencies were forced to close because they refused to refer children to same-sex couples for adoption.

Coakley’s defeat by Senator-elect Brown, who has voted against same-sex marriage in the Massachusetts Senate, and supports conscience rights for doctors, was a good result for religious freedom.