Protection of Conscience Project News
Service, not Servitude
Irish Independent
The HSE is getting a “steady return” of contracts from GPs applying to provide a medical abortion service from January, it was claimed yesterday.
A HSE spokeswoman said the “number is increasing on a daily basis”.
It is still unclear how many GPs will be ready to deliver the service from the start of next month, but potentially several hundred may have signed up. . . [Full text]
Irish Independent
WOMEN whose unborn babies have fatal abnormalities will be able to get abortions from January at the National Maternity Hospital.
The hospital’s master, Dr Rhona Mahony, made the pledge as it emerged that some maternity hospitals and GPs will not be ready to begin the extension of abortions services from that date. . . [Full text]
The Irish Times
The controversy over the governance and ownership of the new national maternity hospital when it moves from Dublin’s Holles Street to a site at the St Vincent’s hospital campus “will be resolved when it is resolved”, the Taoiseach has said.
Leo Varadkar told the Dáil that Minister for Health Simon Harris was still engaging with the existing National Maternity Hospital at Holles Street and the St Vincent’s Hospital Group to get it right “but we are confident that we can get there”. . . [Full text]
The Tablet
Obstetricians and GPs have expressed doubt that Ireland’s new abortion service will be ready for 1 January as they believe the timeframe for establishing the service is too tight. . .
. . . Meanwhile, the bishops, in a statement following their Winter General Meeting in Maynooth, said they were dismayed that, for the most part, the voices of those who voted against abortion in May’s referendum have been ignored. . .
. . . Separately, Bishop Kevin Doran has called on doctors, nurses, teachers and pharmaceutical workers to “resist” the new abortion regime. . . [Full text]
The Irish Independent
A leading bishop has called on doctors, nurses, teachers and pharmaceutical workers to “resist” the new abortion regime.
He urged such professionals to “stick together” in their resistance to the new law.
Bishop Kevin Doran said the Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy Bill, which is before the Seanad this week, has no moral force and must be resisted. “Catholics have no obligation whatsoever to obey this law,” he told the Irish Independent. . . [Full text]