Category: Abortion

‘Abortion skills’ training for medics prompts concerns for pro-life students

Christian Today

Staff Writer

The Christian Institute has raised concerns about the right to conscientious objection after the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) said it would teach and assess “abortion skills”. 

In its ‘Better for Women’ document, the RCOG is calling on the General Medical Council (GMC) to “review the Undergraduate medical curriculum to include the importance of abortion care to students”. . .

The RCOG added it would “teach abortion skills as a part of its core curriculum and assess those skills through examination”. . . [Full text]

10% of GPs have signed up to provide abortion services, HSE confirm

BreakingNews.ie

Sarah Slater

Almost a year since abortion services were legalised in Ireland just over 300 GPs have agreed to carry out the procedure, according to new figures.

The procedure known as, Termination of Pregnancy (TOP), was signed into law, by President Michael D Higgins, and introduced on January 1 this year.

At the start of this month, 347 GPs had signed up to provide the service. There are 3,500 GPs nationwide, a third of whom are women. . . [Full text]

Bill 207 may have served its true purpose

Medicine Hat News

Jeremy Appel

Bill 207 has been aborted, at least for the time being.

The controversial piece of legislation, which would have allowed health-care providers to refuse to provide certain medical services under the guise of “freedom of conscience,” was quashed Thursday night in committee.

It was a thinly-veiled effort to roll back abortion, assisted suicide and transgender rights as a concession to the religious right. It rightfully provoked fierce public backlash from the very health-care providers whose rights it purported to protect. . . [Full text]

Religious Discrimination Bill may deny ‘vulnerable’ rural patients health care, AMA warns

ABC News

Lauren Roberts

The health of “vulnerable” people living in remote communities across Australia could be put at risk if the Commonwealth pushes ahead with its Religious Discrimination Bill 2019, experts say.

Australian Medical Association NT president Dr Rob Parker has written to Federal Attorney-General Christian Porter asking for significant changes to the proposed legislation.

Dr Parker was concerned conservative doctors could deny vulnerable patients health care on moral grounds, leaving them with few other options. . . [Full text]

Controversial conscience rights bill for Alberta physicians voted down

‘This is a very political thing and a very cynical thing and it is not about physicians’

CBC News

Wallis Snowdon

A controversial private member’s bill that called for more protection for Alberta health workers who invoke conscience rights was rejected Thursday by an all-party committee of the legislature. 

The Conscience Rights Act for Healthcare Workers, or Bill 207  — introduced by Peace River MLA and UCP (United Conservative Party) backbencher Dan Williams — would have meant doctors could not be sued or sanctioned for refusing to provide a service that goes against their moral beliefs. 

Some doctors and patient advocates said the bill would limit access to medical services such as contraception, abortion and assisted dying. . .[Full text]