Category: Repression of Conscience

Traumatised health care professionals forced to take part in abortion procedures

News Release

Doctors for Life, South Africa

The incident at Philadelphia Hospital again highlights the unbearable pressure exerted on healthcare professionals to take part in the Termination of Pregnancy Act against their conscience. The following quotes were collected from traumatized Health Care Professionals whom Doctors For Life contacted:

Healthcare worker 1: “I never really understood what a TOP was, and didn’t really think to find out, I didn’t ask the patient why she was crying before she went in, I just held her hand and told her it would be okay. When the procedure was nearing the end, I looked into the vacuum bottle to see what I could see. A hand with an arm attached to it, a tiny leg, with a kneecap, and a head without the mouth. This little tot must have been about 16 – 18 weeks. Then the realisation hit me, this is why she was crying.”

“On one occasion the nursing sister thrust open the door of the sluice room and demanded that I stay away. Being a woman, it’s never easy to say; ‘I must stay away’ we are all as inquisitive as cats. I peered into the sluice room and saw a tiny baby girl. She must have been about 23 – 25 weeks old. My heart lurched into my throat, to see this little girl gasping for air, and her little arms were grasping at air.”

“My response was to wrap her up and take her home and try and make her live. I didn’t, and she wouldn’t have made it. She tried to cry, and little grunting noises were falling on deaf ears. I too turned my back on her, and went to sit in the linen room until she passed away.”

Healthcare worker 2: ” I don’t know who to talk to, I don’t want to have part in abortion because of my convictions, but am being pressurised by the government to work in the woman’s ward. They give abortion tablets and we have to complete the mess. I am too afraid to speak over the radio for fear that my voice may be recognised and because I need to consider my income.”

Healthcare worker 3: “I work at the T.O.P. clinic but I do not want to work here yet I am being pressurised to do so. Somebody needs to stop this. They can’t do this”

Healthcare worker 4: “They are very subtle, I stood up against abortion, and afterwards there were the following repercussions: I did not get any promotion; everything I said they shot down. The district nominated me to attend a seminar, but the director said I could not go because I am against abortion. I don’t think I will speak over the radio. Everything to do with abortion gives me a mental block.”

Healthcare worker 5: “Of cause it is a traumatic experience to be part of an abortion procedure. Once I was called to take an aborted baby to the sluice. It traumatised me for a long time”

Doctors For Life International (DFL) represents 750 doctors, specialists and professors of medicine from different medical faculties across South Africa.

Doctors For Life will assist and give legal advice in cases where nurses, doctors and other healthcare workers are being pressurised to have part in abortion procedures against their conscience.

Enquiries: Dr Jay Mannie (Dep. CEO)

Mobile phone: +27(0)83 6414 382
More Information: www.dfl.org.za

 

Disciplinary Hearing of Doctor Who Won’t Prescribe Pill Open to Public

Dr. Dawson Requests Prayers and Letters of Support

Dr. Stephen Dawson, the family doctor who is in danger of losing his medical licence over his refusal to prescribe the birth control pill to unmarried women clarified his position in an interview with LifeSite last night. Dr. Dawson told LifeSite that the initial coverage in the Barrie Examiner suggested he may compromise on the matter. He clarified: “Under no circumstances will I compromise. I would rather lose my licence.”

He said that he would not apologize for refusing to offer the pill to unmarried women but would apologize for the perhaps “overzealous manner in which I presented my case to these women initially.” [Full text]

 

Doctor’s faith under scrutiny

Barrie physician won’t offer the pill, could lose his licence

 Cheryl Canning

Dr. Stephen Dawson faces a discipline committee at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario in April because he refused to prescribe birth control pills to unmarried women.

A Barrie doctor could lose his licence to practise medicine because of his religious beliefs.

Dr. Stephen Dawson faces a discipline committee at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario in April because he refused to prescribe birth control pills to unmarried women.

“If a Christian physician must forsake his religious beliefs to maintain his medical licence, we cannot delude ourselves to believe we live in a free country,” said Dawson.

Last summer, four female patients made formal complaints to the college, citing Dawson’s refusal to prescribe birth control to the “unmarried” women as the reason, he said.

Dawson believes that when a doctor prescribes birth control pills to an unmarried woman, he unwittingly promotes sex outside of marriage, because he removes the fear of pregnancy. [Full text]

No equal opportunities for nurse With pro-life views

Oregon, USA

 John W. Whitehead

According to a federal lawsuit filed by Janice, when the new supervisor-one intolerant of pro-life viewpoints-was assigned to the Women’s Clinic, Janice’s treatment on the job began to change. Indeed, not only were Janice’s religious views no longer accommodated, she was also harassed.  Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute reached a mutually agreeable resolution in Feb. 2003 with the Marion County Health Department on behalf of Janice Turner. As part of the settlement agreement, a new policy was enacted preventing discrimination of employees based upon religious or moral beliefs regarding abortion or contraception and requiring the health department to accommodate those beliefs. [Full text]

Do it anyway

More and more Canadian workers are being compelled to violate their own beliefs

 Terry O’Neill

Two of the most commonly heard expressions uttered in the name of modern egalitarian society are “workers’ rights” and “freedom of choice.” Let an employer order a non-Christian to put up Christmas decorations, and it will not be long before news-hungry media and human-rights enforcers show up in the employee’s defence (as happened in B.C. not long ago). However, a growing number of Canadian workers are being discriminated against on  conscience-related issues, and the institutions that should be protecting them are turning a blind eye to their plight. As is becoming increasingly apparent, the double standard seems to be entirely political. [Full text]