Society

Archbishop Threatens to Close Hospitals if Abortion Law Passed in Victoria

Catholic hospitals might close their maternity and emergency departments if a proposed new abortion law is passed in Victoria this week, Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart has warned. Archbishop Hart said Catholic hospitals would not provide referrals for abortions - nor perform them - which would be mandatory under the law. "In the worst-case scenario, if a government is determined to enforce such laws, we have no option. We might get out of hospitals altogether," Archbishop Hart said.

"Catholic hospitals cannot be part of any abortion. That has to be respected in the community. Even providing a referral is a co-operation in evil, and that impacts very strongly on us as Catholics," he said. He said the law would require Catholic doctors and nurses with a conscientious objection to abortion to break the law. "This poses a real threat to the continued existence of Catholic hospitals."

Archbishop Hart has written to all state MPs asking them to reject the bill, which has been passed in the lower house, as an unprecedented attack on the freedom to hold and exercise fundamental religious beliefs. "It makes a mockery of the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and the Equal Opportunity Act in that it requires health professionals with a conscientious objection to abortion to refer patients seeking an abortion to other health professionals who do not have such objections.

The Bill is currently being debated in the Victorian Upper House with a vote expected any day.


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