Babies that are surviving late-term abortions at Melbourne’s Royal Women’s Hospital might be being left on shelves to die, according to an Anglican minister.
Dr Mark Durie, minister of St Mary’s Caulfield, said staff were finding it hard to cope with a reported six-fold increase in late-term abortions at the Women’s since abortion was decriminalised in Victoria two years ago. He said because conscientious objection by medical staff was now illegal, the hospital could employ only people who endorsed late-term abortions.
Dr Durie is bringing a motion about late-term abortion to the annual Anglican synod, which opened in Melbourne last night.
This happens in the US also. Pediatric and OB residents are not permitted “conscientious objection”. Neither are medical students. Folks who value life are forced into other fields or are dropped from their programs. It happened to a close family member (a pediatric intern called to attend an “abortion born live”. She tried to save the baby and was prevented. So she baptised the child. She was cut from the program a few weeks later despite having had a stellar record up to that point. It is traumatic to be forced to violate your conscience in order to gratify patient’s supposedly more legitimate “needs”. It does not surprise me that it has negatively impacted physician recruitment in Australia. It is one of the major reasons why there are so few pediatric subspecialists or high risk obstetricians.
But since when has anybody cared about physician conscience? Actually, I’m kind of surprised to see this article. This has been a problem at least since my junior year in medical school (1979)
Heart-rending sorrow. God grant those poor little souls peace.
Clueless,
Don’t paint with such a broad brush. Not all residency programs in the U.S. operate that way. In fact, I’d bet the majority do not.
Meanwhile here in Europe today (Thursday October 7) the Council of Europe will consider a resolution by Christine McCafferty, a former Labour MP unseated at the last election, to remove the right of medical and hospital staff to refuse on conscience grounds to assist in abortions. The Council of Europe, thankfully, is little more than a talking shop, but even so this kind of thing is deeply disturbing. In an age that allegedly values human rights there is often a staggering willingness to use coercion.
We now have laws that allow us to break all of God’s commandments and some that compel us to do so.
Congratulations, Western world. We are now as barbaric, cruel and obscene as any pagan culture.
And remember: President Obama, when he was an Illinois state senator, voted AGAINST resuscitating live-born aborted babies. His mindset would agree with the position of the Royal Women’s Hospital. Moreover, he promotes abortions’ being “safe, legal, and rare.” As someone over at Stand Firm said, “If they’re safe and legal why do they need to be rare?”
“Don’t paint with such a broad brush. Not all residency programs in the U.S. operate that way. In fact, I’d bet the majority do not.”
It was the norm in my medical school (in Chicago) in the program where I did my residency and fellowship (in Baltimore) in my sister’s residency program (a different hospital also in Baltimore) in another hospital she attended in Massachusetts and it was the norm in the program my brother trained at (in NYC) as well as the one that he currently works at (in San Francisco).
Name one program that trains Ob/Gyn residents, performs abortions and yet permits residents with pro-life views to “opt out”.