Ironically this was the Council of Europes resolution to a Swedish proposal designed to help women in countries with a strong anti-abortion movement to get care. The background is a Polish case where a pregnant woman with intestinal problems, died after doctors refused to perform the necessary surgery because of fear of damaging the fetus.
The vote was held in Strasbourg on Thursday afternoon, when most of the 313 delegates of the Parliamentary Assembly had gone home.
In contrast, the Councils abortion opponents rallied round, and pushed through changes so that the final resolution had the opposite effect: "No person, hospital or institution shall be coerced, held liable or discriminated against in any way for refusing to carry out, facilitate, assist or perform an abortion" or "any act that may cause the death of a human fetus or embryo," reads a couple of formulations.
The resolution was pushed through by 56 votes to 51.
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I ask myself, "Is healthcare for the patients or for the healthcare professionals?"
Healthcare professionals who have moral qualms about performing such procedures should either be prepared to carry out their work or switch to other areas of healthcare where they can avoid any conflict with their own moral choices.
Healthcare workers have every right to have any objections, reservations or scruples, but it is they themselves who must take responsibility for this not their employers or the patients.There are lots of areas within healthcare where medical personnel do not have to face this moral dilemma.
I finally also ask myself "Where the f**k, were the other 206 well paid parliamentarians and how could they be so naive as to allow this to happen?"
SDS
