Victoria’s public, Catholic-run hospitals would lose their ability to object to providing abortion and contraception services at their facilities under a new crossbench proposal. Source: Herald Sun.
The public hospitals Mercy for Women and Werribee Mercy do not provide abortions or contraception where the purpose is to prevent conception on religious grounds.
A new report into abortion access, by Animal Justice MP Georgie Purcell and Legalise Cannabis MP Rachel Payne, has called to end such policies at publicly funded hospitals.
It detailed several barriers that limit access, including affordability, provider “deserts” – particularly in regional areas – and “corporate conscientious objection”.
St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne does not provide maternity services, but has similar rules for contraception.
Ms Purcell said “medical advice or care should never be shaped by any imposed religious faith”.
“In the public system, where patients can’t choose their provider or are literally zoned to them, it should be a crime for hospitals to deny basic health services,” she said.
The report did not suggest ending conscientious objection for private hospitals, or individual practitioners, but said oversight to ensure individual objectors referred patients to a provider was needed.
It also recommended making abortions free and offering surgical abortions in all public hospitals that offer maternity care.
Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists vice president Nisha Khot said abortion access had improved “considerably” but there were still gaps and Catholic-run public hospitals had staff who would happily provide such care.
The state Government does not support changing conscientious objection rules, but pointed to their other work expanding access.
“We’re continually expanding the availability of medical and surgical abortion care across our public hospital network,” Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas said.
Mercy Health spokeswoman Cathy Jenkins said they believed in both women’s “right to follow her conscience in medical decisions” and that “institutional conscientious objection … should be upheld”.
Mercy Health and St Vincents Hospital Melbourne both said patients were always given information and connected to care for services they do not provide.
FULL STORY
Fight to end abortions ban at Victoria’s public, Catholic-run hospitals (By Sarah Booth, Herald Sun)
