Protection of Conscience Project News
Service, not Servitude
Irish Independent
FEWER than one in 10 of the country’s GPs have signed up to provide medical abortions since the new law was rolled out on January 1, although the number is increasing.
The HSE said that 236 of around 2,500 GPs are now participating in providing medical abortions. . . [Full text]
Irish Independent
A distraught woman whose unborn baby was diagnosed with a fatal foetal abnormality was refused a termination at one of the country’s biggest maternity hospitals, it was claimed yesterday.
The woman who was attending the Coombe hospital in Dublin was certified by two doctors as eligible for an abortion under the new legislation, which has been in operation for nearly three weeks.
It’s understood the woman was 13 weeks into her pregnancy. . . [Full text]
The Irish Times
Next week will mark one month since the introduction of general abortion services for the first time in the history of the Irish State. In the final weeks of 2018, there were dire warnings from senior medics and family doctors that the January 1st deadline was being “rushed” and was “dangerously unrealistic”.
Only nine maternity hospitals were ready to provide full access to abortion care, with the remaining 10 expected to come on board shortly. Some 240 general practitioners have now signed up to the service. Despite the less than comprehensive level of access, abortions are now happening across the country in hospitals and in general practices.
But in the short time since the enactment of the law, some serious concerns have emerged. . . [Full text]
The Times
Some hospitals are having “difficulty” providing abortion services because of the number of staff who are objecting.
Cliona Murphy, chairwoman of the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said that in some cases it had been difficult to find enough staff to carry out a surgical abortion. . .[Full text]
Irish Medical Times
The Medical Council has deleted four paragraphs of its ethical guide and amended another to remove “any conflict” with the newly introduced legislation facilitating for the medical termination of pregnancy. . . [T]he Council confirmed its Ethics Working Group is continuing to work on the Guide. . . . [Full text]