By Gudrun Schultz
OTTAWA, Ontario, May 15, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Canadian pro-life doctors are asking for support in defending their right to refuse to perform or refer for abortions, after an action last week by US-based abortion activists seeking to force all Canadian doctors to participate in abortion.
The National Abortion Federation, which represents US abortionists as well as Canadian physicians, sent a letter to the Canadian Medical Association last week demanding that the CMA’s conscientious objector policy be altered to prevent physicians from refusing to carry out abortions or refer patients to abortion providers. The CMA’s current policy protects the religious and moral convictions of doctors by allowing them to opt out of providing any abortion-related service.
The NAF’s direct attack on Canadian doctors’ freedom of conscience is the latest development in an ongoing volatile debate over the issue that was unleashed last July, when two pro-abortion lawyers misrepresented the CMA’s policy in a guest editorial in the CMA Journal. Sandra Rodgers and Jocelyn Downie claimed that doctors who refuse to refer for abortion are committing “malpractice.”
While CMA ethics director Dr. Jeff Blackmer clarified the CMA’s position in the April 24, 2007 issue of the CMAJ, he was quoted in the National Post May 5 as saying that “a huge groundswell from the membership one way or another” could force a reevaluation of CMA’s abortion policy.
“If CMA’s policy were to be changed so that doctors were compelled to make abortion referrals against their conscientious or religious beliefs, Canada may one day find itself without any practicing pro-life doctors,” warned CPL spokesperson Barbara McAdorey.
In response, Canadian Physicians for Life is asking all pro-life Canadians to contact the CMA and request increased protection for the religious and moral freedom of doctors with regards to abortion.
“If you, as a member of the Canadian pro-life public, are concerned about the pressure that is currently being put on pro-life doctors to participate directly or indirectly in an abortion, please consider writing to Dr. Blackmer and to the president of CMA, Dr. Colin McMillan, the president-elect, Dr. Brian Day, and the editor-in-chief of the CMAJ, Dr. Paul Hebert, THANKING them for upholding and clarifying the CMA’s abortion policy, while politely asking that the protections for doctors with respect to freedom of conscience be strengthened.”
Contact info for CMA/CMAJ:
Dr. Jeff Blackmer, Executive Director, Office of Ethics (email: [email protected])
Dr. Colin McMillan, President (email: [email protected])
Dr. Dr. Brian Day, President-Elect (email: [email protected])
Dr. Paul Hebert, Editor-in-Chief, Canadian Medical Association Journal, (email: [email protected])
See related LifeSiteNews coverage:
All Canadian Doctors Should be Forced to Perform Abortion, National Abortion Fed. Demands
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/may/07051405.html