Protection of Conscience Project News
Service, not Servitude
Irish Examiner
The Nurses&Midwives4Life Ireland group have claimed that Minister for Health Simon Harris and FF leader Micheal Martin have refused to meet them and discuss their concerns over conscientious objection legislation.
The group today said that in three weeks almost 500 nurses and midwives on the NMBI register have signed a petition for Simon Harris calling on him to protect freedom of conscience and to support the amendments in relation to freedom of conscience. . . [Full text]
The Irish Times
Bitter, chaotic, uncivil and vitriolic are just some of the words used by doctors to describe the stormy extraordinary general meeting of the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) that took place behind closed doors on Sunday.
The meeting highlighted deep divisions within the medical profession on abortion (no less than in the rest of society) and on the specific issue of conscientious objection. . . [Full text]
The Termination of Pregnancy Act 2018 came into effect in Queensland, Australia, today.
The bill permits abortion up to 22 weeks gestation for any reason; no medical indications are required (Section 5). Abortion after 22 weeks gestation may be performed for any reason that two practitioners find acceptable (Section6(1)a), including current and future “social circumstances” (6(2)b).
The bill requires disclosure of objections to abortion by a practitioner when asked by someone (not necessarily a patient) to perform or assist in the performance of an abortion on a woman, to make a decision about whether an abortion should be provided for a woman who is over 22 weeks pregnant (Section 6), or to advise about the performance of an abortion on a woman.
When a woman wants an abortion or advice about an abortion for herself, an objecting practitioner is required to refer or transfer the care of the woman to someone or an agency willing to provide it (Section 3).
Practitioners who object to abortion in principle and those who object in particular cases are often unwilling to facilitate the procedure by referral, transfers of care or other means because they believe that this makes them parties to or complicit in an immoral act. Thus, the provision for conscientious objection in the bill actually suppresses the exercise of freedom of conscience by these practitioners.
Irish Examiner
The prospect of women being able to access abortion services in Ireland in just four weeks’ time is looking increasingly uncertain following the escalation of a row between family doctors and their training body — and the snail’s pace at which the proposed legislation is moving through the Dáil.
An extraordinary general meeting of the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) held at the behest of members was thrown into disarray yesterday when dozens of doctors walked out in protest that their views were not being taken onboard ahead of the January 1 deadline for the introduction of abortion. . . [Full text]
The Irish Times
The Department of Health has told the Health Service Executive to ensure abortion will be available in all 19 maternity units from January 1st, amid continuing uncertainty over whether the Government’s deadline for the introduction of the service will be met.
The department has also asked the units to provide updates on how they plan to provide for abortion services from the New Year. Doctors in a number of smaller maternity units have said they do not have the resources to provide the service from next month. . . [Full text]