UK church leaders: Pharmacists could be forced to dispense lethal drugs

Crux

Simon Caldwell

The General Pharmaceutical Council in the UK announced in a statement that personal values and beliefs should not compromise person-centered care. The statement caused concern among bishops and Catholic organizations that British pharmacists could be forced to dispense lethal drugs under plans to prohibit conscientious objection on the grounds of religion.

MANCHESTER, England – The Catholic Church has predicted that British pharmacists could be forced to dispense lethal drugs under plans to prohibit conscientious objection on the grounds of religion. . . [Full text]

Alabama senate committee OKs assisted suicide ban, conscience bill

Both bills move to the full Senate.

Montomery Advertiser

Bryan Lyman

The assisted suicide ban, sponsored by Sen. Phil Williams, R-Rainbow City, would it make it a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison to assist in a suicide or deliberately prescribe a drug to assist with a suicide. . . .

The conscience bill, sponsored by Sen. Paul Sanford, R-Huntsville, would allow a health care provider to refuse to provide services they morally object to if they submit their objection in writing. The objection would not apply in life-threatening situations where no other providers were available . . . [Full text]

Polish abortion laws provoke mass Women’s Day protests

DW

Poland’s abortion laws are already very restrictive, now the government is seeking to tighten them further still. But fierce opposition to limits on women’s rights is growing.

For days now, thousands of people have been taking to the streets in Poland to protest restrictions on women’s rights. This is the first time that Anna and Viktor, both in their mid-30s, have taken part in such a demonstration. They are both Catholic, and voted for the ruling right-wing conservative Law and Justice Party (PiS) in 2015. In the past they had no interest in “feminist” women’s protests, yet a fateful event and the trauma that followed changed their outlook. . . [Full text]

 

Italy Needs Abortion Doctors

The Daily Beast

Barbie Latza Nadeau

ROME — If a woman wants to end her pregnancy in Italy, she has the legal right to do so under the public health system within the first 90 days, or first trimester, of the gestation. The law, known in Italy as Law 194, has been on the books for nearly 40 years, but it has one major flaw, say pro-choice advocates: It allows for doctors, nurses, anesthetists, and other assistants to an abortion procedure to be conscientious objectors. Boiled down, that means that many administrators of hospitals and clinics who do not support the pro-choice law simply hire abortion doctors who object to performing abortions.

The practice of hiring conscientious objectors is all-too-common across Italy. The national estimate of conscientious objectors hired as public health gynecologists mandated to perform abortions is around 70 percent, meaning seven out of 10 doctors can, but won’t, do the procedure. . . [Full text]

 

Italy’s legal loophole saw woman denied abortion by 23 different hospitals

Mirage News

An Italian woman has revealed she was turned away from 23 hospitals in north-west Italy when she was seeking abortion services, highlighting the disconnect between the country’s abortion laws and its Catholic influence.

The anonymous 41-year-old mother of two came forward to share her story in Il Gazzettino after she became pregnant when her contraceptive failed. She was refused an abortion by her gynecologist and her local hospital, and then began contacting other hospitals which also refused to carry out the procedure.

The hospitals said they didn’t have an opening within the 12-week timeframe, or that they didn’t have doctors who were willing to do the procedure. . . [Full text]