Thursday, April 19, 2012

Call to change Catholic health provider over abortion

The Civil Liberties Council of WA is calling on the State Government to reconsider who will get the tender to provide health services at the Midland Health Campus after it was revealed that the preferred option, a Catholic group, refuses to perform procedures such as abortions and vasectomies, reports WA Today.

The Acting Health Minister yesterday confirmed that religious beliefs were likely to affect what services were provided at the Midland Health Campus which is due to open in 2015.

At this stage of negotiations, these procedures would not be carried out at the new hospital because the likely service provider, St John of God Health Care, does not allow their staff to perform them.

Acting health minister Troy Buswell said that he did not expect such procedures to be done at the Midland Health Campus.

"It is expected that these services (pregnancy terminations, sterilisation procedures and contraception procedures) will not be provided at the Midland Health Campus, but will be available free of charge in the community or other public hospitals," he said.

St John of God Health Care's mission is set out on its website.

"To continue the healing mission of Jesus Christ through the provision of health care services that promote life to the full by enhancing the physical, intellectual, social and spiritual dimensions of being human," the mission reads.