Protection of Conscience Project News
Service, not Servitude
Helsinki Times
Over 18,000 Finns have expressed their support for a citizens’ initiative calling for a right to health care professionals to refuse to participate in performing abortions on grounds of personal or religious convictions.
The initiative will be presented to the Parliament for discussion if it accumulates a minimum of 50,000 statements of support. An earlier bill on abortion only received marginal support beyond the ranks of the Christian Democrats. . . . [Full Text]
News reports indicate that an immigrant woman whom a friend says was raped in her country of origin discovered that she was pregnant after arriving in Ireland. The friend says that she asked for an abortion when she was eight weeks pregnant, but it is not clear that she was then eligible for the procedure under the new Irish abortion law. According to the reports, she again asked for an abortion in July, threatening suicide, and was found to be suicidal by a panel of two psychiatrists and an obstetrician.
The Irish Constitution and the Irish abortion law hold that the lives of both woman and child are of equal value, and both must be saved if practicable. Since the pregnancy was so far advanced, it was decided that the baby should be delivered by Caesarean section, since that would provide the baby an opportunity to survive. The woman initially refused and refused to take food or fluids. After medical authorities obtained a court order to rehydrate her she consented to the Caesarean and the baby was delivered at about 25 weeks gestation. The baby is now apparently in the custody of the state and being supported in a neonatal ward, while the mother is receiving psychiatric treatment.
The case has reignited the abortion controversy in Ireland.
BBC News
The Oxford professor posted the message on Twitter in response to a user who wrote she would be faced with “a real ethical dilemma” if she became pregnant and learned that the baby would be born with Down’s syndrome.
“Abort it and try again,” Dawkins tweeted in reply. “It would be immoral to bring it into the world if you have the choice.”
His comments have caused anger online and have been dismissed by charities, but he insists his views are “very civilised”, tweeting: “These are fetuses, diagnosed before they have human feelings.” . . . [Full Text]
Marlborough Express
An online database listing health professionals who are reportedly opposed to prescribing contraception or abortions is not sinister, the chief executive of Marlborough Primary Health Organisation says.
The My Decision website launched on Sunday lists 28 doctors, nurses, pharmacies and counsellors who object for moral or religious reasons to contraception or abortions .
Former Wairau Community Clinic GP Joseph Lee is on the list. Dr Lee, a devout Catholic, angered pro-choice campaigners when it was revealed last year he had refused to prescribe the contraceptive pill to a 23-year-old woman.
PHO boss Beth Tester said Dr. Lee no longer worked in Marlborough.
She did not mind the database. “It is not that sinister. Any doctor in Marlborough that doesn’t prescribe oral contraceptives has a notice saying so in their practice. This website database is no different.” [Full text]
Lifesite News
Pro-life health practitioners and crisis pregnancy centres in New Zealand are the target of a new website designed to intimidate those who choose not to refer for abortion or prescribe contraception.
The website, My Decision, is created by the Abortion Law Reform Association of New Zealand (ALRANZ).
The site lists health practitioners and crisis pregnancy centres which they believe women should avoid. The incomplete list includes the names of individuals or organizations, the region and town, and whether they are a doctor, nurse or other provider.
Women are asked to submit their stories of “hostile or unhelpful health professionals.” The stories are non-identifying and can be edited for length or clarity. At the time of writing only two stories had been posted. [Full text]