Senator Rónán Mullen. Senator Rónán Mullen has said there should be an alternative to “State-run apparatus which insists that everybody kowtow to abortion” when it comes to maternity care in Ireland.
Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Senator Mullen said it’s a time when you would hope for “healthcare leaders to come forward from within the Catholic ranks to say, ‘An alternative is possible here that combines both excellent maternal healthcare, but total respect for human life’”.
Acknowledging the difficult situation the Sisters of Charity are in with regards to their possession of the maternity hospital site, Senator Mullen said the “least worst option” would be to sell the property to the State and “remove any direct or indirect connection of Christian faith from it”.
The concern is that this would make the congregation complicit in “something you know to be harmful,” Senator Mullen said, such as abortion.
Outlining two issues, Senator Mullen said one is the need for the Catholic Church, “people of Christian faith generally”, to be “at the forefront of giving witness to the sanctity of human life and to stand up for Christian medical ethics, to stand up for the tradition that we’ve had of excellent healthcare, including maternal healthcare, without engaging in elective medical procedures that are unethical or controversial or both”.
The other is that “it’s a real problem that there is nobody speaking either from within the Sisters of Charity or on their behalf, clearly, about what’s good about the ethical position of a faith-based hospital,” the senator said.