Category: Countries

Obstetrics and anaesthesia job pre-conditions dismay bishops

Requirement to carry out elective abortions part of National Maternity Hospital job spec

The Irish Times

Patsy McGarry

The Catholic bishops have expressed regret at pre-conditions for applicants in recent advertisements for medical posts at the National Maternity Hospital in Dublin.

One of the main preconditions for applicants for the posts in obstetrics and anaesthesia was a requirement to carry out elective abortions if appointed. . . [T]he bishops said “this precondition runs totally counter to a doctor’s constitutional and human right to freedom of conscience. . .” [Full text]

Holy See: freedom of religion – “litmus test”of other human rights

Vatican News

Robin Gomes

Archbishop Ivan Jurkovič, Holy See’s Permanent Observer to the Human Rights Council in Geneva on March 5 attended a meeting on freedom of religion of belief.

The Holy See is reiterating its advocacy of the universal and unbiased application of the fundamental right to freedom of religion or belief saying it is the “litmus test of all other human rights”. . .

. . . The Holy See diplomat observed that increasing calls to restrict the right of conscientious objection, indicate that some politicians and even some quarters of international agencies, forgetting their nature and mandate, are still uncomfortable with the right of freedom of conscience and belief. . . [Full text]

Womb transplants could be a “vital medical service” for transgender women

BioEdge

Michael Cook

A well-known British cosmetic surgeon says that transgender women (ie, natal males) should be entitled to womb transplants when the technique becomes safe and feasible. Children have already been born after womb transplants from live and deceased donors.

Dr. Christopher Inglefield, founder of the London Transgender Clinic and a specialist in “gender confirmation surgery”, told the Mirror (UK) that it would be possible to perform the procedure on a transgender woman. . . [Full text]

State hospitals must provide abortion if Catholic clinics will not – report

Patient’s life must take precedence over ethos in emergencies, says report

The Irish Times

Paul Cullen

State-owned hospitals should provide abortions in situations where neighbouring Catholic institutions are unwilling to do so, a new report suggests. . . the report says it is clear there will be situations where abortions have to be carried out in acute hospitals, rather than maternity units. There are seven Catholic voluntary hospitals in Dublin, Cork and Limerick . . . [Full text]

Colombia takes medically assisted death into the morally murky world of terminally ill children

The Globe and Mail

Stephanie Nolan

Colombia decriminalized medically assisted death in 2015, the first country in Latin America to take the step, but it went much further last May with a regulation that made the procedure available to children.

It was a particularly striking decision in a socially conservative country where almost 80 per cent of people identify as religious Roman Catholics and where the population of evangelical Christians is growing rapidly; the churches, which vocally oppose euthanasia, are a powerful political force.

Providing assisted death to children is a controversial subject even in the field of palliative care. . . [Full text]