Doctors who follow church teaching should ‘emigrate’

Catholic doctors who follow church teaching on sexual ethics cannot work as gynaecologists in Britain, the Catholic Medical Association (CMA) conference was told last Saturday.

Charlie O’Donnell, a consultant in emergency and intensive care medicine, said the best advice he could give to an “orthodox” Catholic wishing to specialise in obstetrics and gynaecology would be to “emigrate”.

Dr O’Donnell told the conference at Ealing Abbey, west London, that a Catholic training to be a consultant in obstetrics and gynaecology would soon find he or she had conscientious objections to such tasks as prescribing artificial contraceptives, giving unmarried couples fertility treatment or Viagra to gay couples.

He said that supervising consultants do not have the backup to allow trainees to opt out if they have moral objections to such work. However, conscientious objection to abortion is allowed because of specific provision in the 1967 Abortion Act. “To be a sound Catholic regarding sexual ethics, it is not possible to train as a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist,” he said, adding that this was not down to discrimination but because of a clash between Christianity and contemporary culture. Jim McManus, vice chairman of the Healthcare Reference Group for the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, said that any move that would result in Catholics being excluded from practising as gynaecologists would be unlawful.