Protection of Conscience Project News
Service, not Servitude
The Irish Times
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]
The Irish Times (Letter)
Reproduced with permission
Sir, –
Dr Mark Murphy states that doctors who are opposed to abortion are in no way affected by the new service and their conscientious right to objection is respected.
In fact, doctors who have a conscientious objection are legally compelled to make arrangements for the transfer of care of the pregnant woman concerned to someone who will terminate the pregnancy. For doctors who cherish human life from its origins, that is tantamount to making them accomplices in taking the life of a developing baby.
This is an abuse of conscience and contrary to the practice of medicine in the spirit of the Hippocratic oath which prohibits the direct intentional taking of human life.
Dr Murphy, who you omitted to mention is on the staff of the department of general practice at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, is one of a minority of GPs in Ireland who have signed up to provide abortion services; the vast majority of GPs have not done so – 274 was the figure recently reported by the HSE.
I am not now, nor have I ever been, a member of a pro-life group; although as an ordinary citizen, I have consistently advocated for the life of the developing baby to be legally protected and have voted accordingly.
– Yours, etc, Dr Noreen O’Carroll, (Lecturer in Medical Ethics, RCSI), Blackrock, Co Dublin.
Only doctors who are willing to perform abortions will be considered for two consultant posts at Dublin’s National Maternity Hospital. The hospital is advertising for a consultant anaesthetist and a consultant in obstetrics and gynaecology.
According to a statement from the NMH the positions include the “provision of termination-of-pregnancy services, and are for individuals willing to contribute to the provision of these services”.
A source at the hospital told the Irish Times that conscientious objection guidelines for existing staff would remain as they were before.
Baroness Nuala O’Loan, of Northern Ireland, recently warned that the Republic would be entering “uncharted territory” if it made willingness to perform abortions a condition of employment. What if doctors changed their mind, feeling in conscience that they could no longer participate in abortions, she asked.
After a referendum last year which allowed abortion to be legalised, Ireland is expanding its services quickly to provide abortions. The health department’s budget provides €7 million in funding for abortion services this year and €12 million in 2020.
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The Irish Times
The number of GPs who have signed up to provide abortion services has risen to 274, according to the latest figures from the HSE.
Ten hospitals are also providing the service, which was introduced at the start of January.
However, pro-choice organisations have claimed a lack of progress in implementing abortion, as well as restrictions on services, means it is available only to “a select few”. . . [Full text]
Irish Examiner
A “sparse” rural abortion service is forcing pregnant women to travel long distances for a termination, pro-choice groups claim.
They also describe the mandatory three-day waiting period for an abortion as “a significant barrier” for rural pregnant women.
The 35 pro-choice groups have written to Health Minister Simon Harris to express their “fear and disappointment” that some women are still unable to access timely abortion care. . . [Full text]