LifeSite News
Earlier this month, Dr. Bogdan Chazan, a renowned pro-life doctor in Poland and head of the gynecology and obstetrics department at Holy Family Hospital, was sacked and fined after he refused to participate in abortion. He spoke with LifeSiteNews about his ordeal. (See bottom for background on his case.)
Dr. Chazan, you were lynched by the media, your hospital was fined, and you were dismissed as hospital director. Does it often happen that doctors in Poland are punished as severely as you were?
Not very often. I’d even say very rarely. Generally, with people like me, things are dealt with in a quiet way. For example, more often, big corporations do not hire gynecologists who do not prescribe birth control. Nobody openly talks about the use of the “conscientious objection.” Things are hushed up, with no paper trail.
For instance, I know about a case where a well-known pro-life woman was denied a post-doctoral track. Recently, one of the candidates for director of the gynecology department at the Medical University was asked if he had signed the Declaration of Faith/Conscience (Editor’s note: This was an open letter signed by thousands of doctors in Poland; among other things, it voiced opposition to abortion.). He admitted he had, and did not get the job. Perhaps, there were other circumstances, too, but I don’t know. [Full text]