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London Catholic Hospital Honors Bishop's Request to Cease Abortion Referrals

Will also no longer dispense abortifacient morning after pill

By Hilary White

LONDON, November 27, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The fashionable London Catholic hospital in a two-year dispute over ethics has acceded to the requirement not to refer patients for abortions or distribute artificial contraceptives, in accordance with an ethics document from the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, Cormac Murphy O'Connor. St John and St Elizabeth Hospital has agreed to stop dispensing abortifacient drugs and referring for abortions, the Daily Telegraph reports.

The hospital, of which the cardinal is the patron, may have to refuse to lease office space to GP's who are obliged by the National Health Service to refer for abortions.

In February 2006, an investigation by Lord Brennan, instigated at the Cardinal's request, revealed that the hospital was referring patients for abortions and dispensing the abortifacient morning after pill.

The hospital, popular with celebrities and known locally as "John and Lizzie's," later announced that it would refuse to adhere to a code of ethics devised by the Cardinal's office. Lord Bridgeman, the hospital's chairman said, "Under General Medical Council code of practice, which all UK doctors must observe, the doctors must provide information to patients who request abortions or contraceptives. So they will be referred to external services for advice and counselling."

In early October this year, Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor told an interviewer that the hospital was risking its identification as a Catholic institution for its refusal to give up abortion referrals. "If it came to crunch I would say this is no longer a Catholic hospital but I won't want to do that. I want it to be a pro-life hospital."

"I do think it is important for me to get it right. It seems to me that what is being asked is not unreasonable or not impossible to fulfill," he said.

The Telegraph reports that some members of the hospital's board who had supported continuing abortion-referrals may resign.

Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

London Catholic Hospital Referring for Abortions says Labour Peer
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/feb/06021308.html

London Catholic Hospital Fighting Cardinal for Right to Continue Abortion Referrals
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/mar/06032007.html

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