Chai Brady
Bishop Kevin Doran People who are morally opposed to abortion should never be legally forced to take part in a procedure that would end a life according to Bishop Kevin Doran.
The suggestion that it could be a healthcare professional’s duty to take a life is “totally strange” and “is in so much conflict with what healthcare is about” according to the Bishop.
“There is an idea out there in the political atmosphere that doctors like everybody else are paid to provide services to people and therefore they should do what people want them to do,” he said.
The implication is that a doctor or nurse has no investment personally in the service they provide, Dr Doran said, adding: “The thing that is significant for me is that doctors or nurses or other people in then healthcare professions, the whole rationale behind who they are as a healthcare professional is to prevent illness, to heal, and to care for people who can no longer be treated but are still with us, until they die naturally.”
Procedure
Speaking at a conference entitled ‘Abortion, Disability and the Law’ in Athlone the Bishop said that in places where abortion is permitted, healthcare providers who decided not to proceed with the procedure under conscientious objection are seen as “troublesome and unreliable employees and not good candidates for promotion”.
He also expressed concern at the idea that administrators in Catholic Hospitals, because they are in receipt of tax payer money, will not be allowed to – under conscientious objection – object to facilitating abortion if it became legal in Ireland.
“We expect people to behave conscientiously but at the same time we tell them that they no right to have a conscience,” Dr Doran added.
The conference highlighted that in many cases after a disability is diagnosed prenatally in jurisdictions where abortion is legal, parents decide to have an abortion.
Trauma
Psychiatrist Patricia Casey spoke at the conference saying the termination of a pregnancy with a “fetal anomaly” can cause “long lasting consequences for a substantial number of women” including trauma and grief.
Patricia Casey recently decided not to participate in the Oireacthas Committee on abortion saying it was “deeply unbalanced”.
Bishop Doran re-iterated this, saying that it seems a majority of the members of the committee are in favour of legalising abortion to some extent, adding the matter seemed to be “pre-judged”.