Irish general practitioners will have the right not to perform abortions if they do not wish to, but they will be required to provide all the information patients need to access abortion elsewhere, said Harris Simon, Irish Minister of Health. “No doctor, no nurse, no midwife is obligated to provide this abortion if they conscientiously object,” he explained.
An extraordinary general meeting of the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) was held this week to discuss the practical conditions for the provision of abortion services in the country, scheduled for January 2019. ICGP wants abortion services to be provided on a voluntary basis by physicians.
Disappointed not to have been heard regarding the right to object completely, about thirty doctors walked out before the end of the general meeting (see Abortion in Ireland: doctors ask to include their right to conscientious objection in proposed legislation).
For further reading:
President of the Gynaecologists’ Syndicate: “We are not here to take away lives”
Abortion conscience clause? To revoke it would be unconstitutional
BreakingNews.ie (02/12/2018)