Hospital Doctors Refusing to Perform Abortions - Tóibín

15.11.2018

Doctors at three hospitals, in Kilkenny, Letterkenny and Cavan, have decided that they will not perform abortions. This is according to Deputy Peadar Tóibín, who made the claim during a health committee meeting last week.

A spokesman for the Ireland East Hospitals Group, which includes Kilkenny, insisted that “all hospitals [in the group] will comply with the law of the land”. Queries to the hospitals in Letterkenny and Cavan were diverted to the HSE national press office, which said: “The HSE, in consultation with the Department of Health and other stakeholders, is working on developing an implementation plan for the delivery of the termination of pregnancy service by January 1, 2019.” When asked again if doctors in Letterkenny and Cavan had said that they would not provide such services, the HSE did not comment.

Mr Tóibín, who has been suspended from Sinn Féin because of his stance on abortion, co-sponsored an unsuccessful amendment that would have included institutions within the scope of the section of the bill dealing with conscientious objection. He said that Peter Boylan, former head of the Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, had been in discussions with maternity hospitals and was told that some would not provide terminations. Dr Boylan declined to comment.

The Times. November 13.