Irish bishops are not backing down when it comes to abortion, making clear medical staff at Catholic hospitals in Ireland will not be terminating pregnancies.
The hard-line stance against abortion comes just months after Ireland voted overwhelmingly to rescind the European island’s Eighth Amendment, which previously banned abortion in the country, valuing both the life of the mother and her unborn child equally.
But now, following Ireland’s pro-abortion vote, the country’s progressive politicians are expecting all health-care organizations — even those with religious creeds — to provide all “women’s health services,” including abortion.
The directive came from Simon Harris, minister for health in the Irish government:
All publicly funded health services providers in State will be expected to provide legal health services- incl. women’s health services. This should be a statement of the obvious!Conscientious objection is for individuals, not institutions. Excellent article by @ellenmcoyne 1/2
— Simon Harris TD (@SimonHarrisTD) July 25, 2018
I have also set up a group chaired by Catherine Day to examine how voluntary providers interact with our health service overall. Very important work and group due to report to me shortly. 2/2
— Simon Harris TD (@SimonHarrisTD) July 25, 2018
The Irish government is claiming it will allow objections from individual medical personnel but is refusing to provide cover for entire institutions. However, according to the Irish Catholic bishops’ Code of Ethical Standards for Health Care, the two are one in the same.
The code, which was given to the Irish government earlier this month and applies to roughly 20 hospitals connected to religious orders, states:
The ethos of a health care institute has the character of an “institutional conscience.” It contributes to the formation of politic and the making of judgements in a manner which is consistent with reason. The ethos of the institution guides the institution in identifying both its operational priorities and the activities in whish it cannot participate with integrity.
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said religious organizations are “entitled to come up with their own ethical guidelines but the ones that should be followed in publicly funded hospitals are those of the medical council and that is what I would very much expect to happen.”
“We need to work out a process and a system over the next couple of years when it comes to both health and education to make sure that the approach is one that is more appropriate for a modern country,” he continued, according to The Catholic Herald.
Varadkar went on to say he would like to see a clearer and stricter separation of church and state, arguing the Catholic Church “should no longer be at the center of public life, but it shouldn’t be excluded from it either.”
Angelo Bottone of the pro-life Iona Institute wrote this week that if institutions were not allowed religious exemptions, Catholic hospitals could be forced to “refuse public funds and reduce its activities, or to close down its maternity department and continue to offer its services in other areas,” significantly decreasing the medical centers’ capability to meet the needs of their communities.