Protection of Conscience Project News
Service, not Servitude
LifeSite News
RZESZOW, Poland, May 24, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – An infamous private hospital in Poland has reportedly ceased committing abortions after every doctor at the hospital signed a clause opting out based on conscience.
The abortions at the Specialist Hospital Pro-Familia in Rzeszów were first exposed by midwife Agata Rejman in January 2014 at an emotional press conference where she discussed her traumatic experiences at the hospital. . . [Full text]
Liveaction News
President Barack Obama’s Department of Health and Human Services has issued a new administrative rule that could force any hospital or health provider receiving Medicaid funding or any insurer participating in the Obamacare marketplaces to provide abortions.
HHS’s summary says the rule’s purpose is to prohibit sex discrimination in health care, which the rule defines as including “termination of pregnancy.” In addition to losing Medicaid funds, violators of the rule may be faced with civil suits as well as legal action by the Justice Department, upon it taking effect on July 18. . . [Full Text]
Baptist Press
ASHEVILLE, N.C.(BP) — The American Civil Liberties Union is launching a renewed attack against religious hospitals, claiming they should not be allowed to base the care they provide on the dictates of their sincerely held beliefs.
In a report released in May, titled “Health Care Denied,” the ACLU targets Catholic hospitals, saying they jeopardize women’s lives because they “prohibit a range of reproductive health services,” including abortion, when something goes wrong during pregnancy.
Grazie Pozo Christie, a Miami-area radiologist and a Catholic, said claims of care being denied are false.
“When a woman’s life is in danger, any treatment that a woman needs will be provided to her, even if it endangers the child,” Christie told WORLD News Service. “So there is no point in a Catholic hospital at which a woman’s life becomes really in danger.” . . .[Full Text]
Christian Medical Fellowship Blogs
Fallout from the Glasgow Midwives case continues to roll out. This month the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) released (rather quietly) their new position statement on abortion. The case of Doogan & Wood highlighted an issue with the conscientious objection clause in the 1967 Abortion Act. Specifically this was around what constituted actually being involved in an abortion procedure.
The two senior midwives at a Glaswegian maternity unit made it clear that they did not wish to be responsible for supervising junior staff involved in termination of pregnancy procedures on the basis of a conscientious objection to abortion.
Although the Scottish Court of Appeal upheld their claim, The Supreme Court eventually ruled that they had no right to opt out of supervision, delegation or support of junior staff, as the right to conscientious objection only applied to those involved in direct, clinical procedures. Supervisory roles or other areas of care could not be subject to the right to conscientious objection in the Abortion Act. . . [Full Text]
Reuters
ROME (Reuters) – Women’s rights are being violated in Italy by the serious difficulties they face in trying to obtain safe abortions due to many doctors refusing to carry out the procedure, the Council of Europe said on Monday.
Terminating pregnancies has been legal in Italy since 1978, but the council’s social rights committee found that the situation in Italy violated both the women’s right to protection of health and the doctors’ right to dignity at work.
In a significant number of Italian hospitals, even if a gynecology unit exists, there are no or very few doctors who do not object to performing abortions, the committee said. . . [Full text]