Category: News

Conscientious Objection in Ireland

Testimony before the Joint Committee on the Constitution (Chomhchoiste ar an mBunreacht)

Parliament of Ireland (Tithe an Oireachtais)

3 May, 2000

During hearings considering the abortion law in Ireland, the Joint Committee heard from Dr. Declan Keane, Master of the National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street. This is the biggest maternity hospital in Europe, with over 8,000 births annually. One of the questions put to Dr. Keane elicited comments about the extent of conscientious objection among Irish gynaecologists.

Dr. Keane’s testimony led to the making of a submission by the Protection of Conscience Project to the Irish parliamentary committee. [Administrator]dnesday, May 3rd, 2000.  [Testimony of Dr. Keane]

 

Controversy continues over ‘morning after pill’

The BC Ministry of Health continued to work toward making the ‘morning after pill’ more readily available at pharmacies, though it abandoned its orginal plans for dispensing the drug without prescriptions. Spokesmen for Planned Parenthood and the company marketing the drug denied that it was an abortifacient, ridiculing conscientious objectors. Planned Parenthood and the drug company use a different definition of conception and pregnancy than the objectors. See responses from the Project and Concerned Pharmacists for Conscience (not published).

 

Conscience Protection Bill Applauded

NEWS RELEASE

April 12, 2000

Canadian Physicians for Life

Canadian Physicians for Life applauds efforts before the Alberta legislature to grant protection of conscience to health care professionals who support the sanctity of life.

Recent suggestions by several regulating bodies that morally troublesome issues need only be referred to a colleague are oblivious to the principled objections of pro-life physicians. Increasingly exotic reproductive technologies may eventually offend even the most laissez-faire physicians.

There may come a day where no physician feels free from coercion to violate his or her  conscience.

Bill 212 is an amendment that, if adopted in the Alberta Legislative Assembly, will establish the rules up front. Health care professionals can confidently provide life-affirming care while retaining the choice of conscientious objection.

For further information Canadian Physicians for Life Administration Ph. (604)794-3772 Fax (604)794-3960 Email: info@physiciansforlife.ca

Calgary Bishop supports conscientious objectors

Cameron Maxwell of the Edmonton Sun reported that Calgary’s Roman Catholic Bishop, Frederick Henry, supports pharmacists who refuse to sell “morning after” pills for reasons of conscience, as well as nurses who do not wish to participate in abortion.

Bishop Henry spoke of the need for protection of conscience legislation for all health care professionals. He noted that it was unfair that physicians could refuse to be involved in abortions, while nurses, pharmacists and others were denied similar consideration. Henry had first-hand experience with the problems faced by conscientious objectors when he was Bishop of Thunder Bay (See Bishop protests on behalf of nurses (Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada)(1997) ). He cited the more recent case of nurses at Calgary’s Foothills Hospital to illustrate the need for legislation. (See Foothills Hospital Now Forces Nurses To Participate In Genetic Terminations ; Nurses At Foothills Hospital Rebel Over The Horrifying Results Of Late-Term ‘Genetic Terminations’) .

 

British Columbia pharmacists ‘must refer or dispense’

The Canadian Medical Association Journal announced that 500 pharmacists in British Columbia would be dispensing the ‘morning after pill’ without a prescription. A bulletin from the College of Pharmacists of B.C. (March-April 2000) stated that pharmacists with conscientious objections to dispensing the drug would be required to refer patients, or dispense the drug themselves if that was not possible. The bulletin also noted that future pharmacy services might expand to include drugs for suicide, cloning, genetic manipulation or execution.