OTTAWA, May 12 (Lifesitenews.com) – As politicians in the House of Commons wax eloquent about the value of nurses in honour of Nursing Week (May 10-16), they have carefully avoided the issue of nurses’ ‘conscience rights’ despite the recent high profile coverage of the violation of these constitutional rights at Calgary’s Foothills hospital and the Markham-Stouffville hospital in Ontario.
In Ontario, however, the Family Coalition Party is trying to make this a high profile issue, demanding substantive protection for these faithful women and men who care for us during some of the most painful and vulnerable times of our lives.
“Nurses in Ontario are regularly forced to participate against their will in abortions. They must agree to this violation of their religious rights or face the loss of their jobs, demotion, or other forms of job discrimination,” says John-Henry Westen, the Hastings Frontenac Lennox Addington candidate for Ontario’s only pro-family party.
In the first known settlement of its kind, after six long years of negotiations, Markham Stouffville Hospital finally agreed last month to allow its nurses to refuse to participate in abortions. Ten Christian nurses were forced to resign from their jobs and eight of them had to bring the hospital before the Ontario Human Rights Commission before an agreement could be reached.
“These nurses suffered discrimination and stress due to unjust policies disregarding the rights of pro-life health care workers,” said Westen. “This is only one hospital; situations like this are rampant throughout the province and the country.” These are the nursing issues that should be addressed by politicians who want to be acknowledged for their recognition of nurses.