Greg Daly
Baroness Nuala O’Loan 
Ireland medical professionals will face dilemmas around abortion and conscience similar to those faced by their British peers if constitutional protections for the unborn are abolished, Baroness Nuala O’Loan has said.
Speaking to The Irish Catholic following the second reading in the House of Lords of the Conscientious Objection (Medical Activities) Bill, which she introduced, Baroness O’Loan said: “As Ireland faces into the campaign to repeal the Eighth Amendment, the UK is facing dilemmas which will Inevitably come to Ireland”.
The bill, which aims to prohibit discrimination against medical professionals who object on conscience grounds to indirect participation in abortions or the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment, now passes to the committee stage.
“There is growing evidence of doctors choosing not to go into obstetrics and gynaecology – the specialism through which women are helped to carry and deliver safely a much-wanted baby – because they may also be required to assist in abortions if they want to progress in their chosen career. The same is true of nurses who must now carry out all the tasks apart from the actual termination of the life of the baby in the womb,” Baroness O’Loan said.
Treatment
Pointing out that “most people don’t become healthcare professionals to participate in end of life treatment indirectly”, she said: “This is what health care practitioners in the UK now face.”
Young British medical practitioners are emigrating to get jobs where they are not obliged to act against their consciences, she added, saying that for Ireland the question must be: “How many Irish doctors, midwives nurses and healthcare practitioners who chose to work in professions which demanded above all that they do no harm, will be forced to be involved in some way with ending life if the Eighth Amendment is repealed?”
While the bill only applies to England and Wales, the Church in Scotland has welcome the passage of the bill, with Anthony Horan, Director of the Catholic Parliamentary Office, calling for a similar bill to be presented in the Scottish Parliament.
“Conscientious objection is a widely respected concept with considerable international and national laws, guidance, and conventions protecting the right,” he said, continuing, “a Scottish Bill would bring Scotland into line with international norms”.
