Catholics and Pro-lifers Being Forced Out of Ob/Gyn Profession
ST. JOHN’S, Nfld., May 2 (2001) – Dr. Robert Walley, Founder of MaterCare International and one of the organizers of a conference in Rome sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care, has said that the West is forcing its anti-life philosophy on mothers in developing countries through agencies of the UN.” The comments came in an interview published yesterday by Zenit News promoting the June 17-20 conference entitled “The Future of Obstetrics and Gynecology: The Fundamental Human Right to Be Trained According to Conscience.”
Dr. Walley, professor of OB-GYN at Memorial University in St. John’s, said, “MaterCare is offering to provide emergency obstetric services for mothers in East Timor. At the end of June there will be no obstetrician in the country with a population of 700,000 and only 23 local doctors none of whom are trained in obstetrics.” However he noted further that “UN officials – mostly from the West – have expressed concern that MaterCare will try to impose its ethical values on the country. Meanwhile, the UN is promoting reproductive health, which is the euphemism for abortion and contraception, to the population. Who is imposing whose values? The UN wants one choice to be available: the choice to abort.”
In the interview Dr. Walley also expresses his concern that “there is discrimination against Catholic and pro-life doctors in many countries who wish to specialize but who refuse to participate in abortion or birth control.” He noted that the Rome meeting will focus on “the serious decline in Catholic pro-life obstetricians.” He said, “this should be a grave concern for the Church, for pro-life organizations and most importantly for mothers who want to feel that they can have both life and hope rather than death and despair, which is what the abortion doctor offers.”
For the whole interview see Zenit News at: https://zenit.org/english/archive/0105/ZE010501.htm#5058
See also www.Matercare.org